Long story but trying to help :/

[Cheyman_coldman]

Okay a little bit of a longish story. We had some neighbors that had free range guinea fowl, neighbors passed away and birds were abandoned to roam free. Slowing the flock started to dwindle until there were only 3 left and they migrated into my flock of chickens during the day. 2 ended up dying. Idk how but they did. So I’m left with one. It is not tame, it don’t let me get near it, and it definitely fights back. Well one day I noticed the one guinea was limping so I had to starve it a bit to get it to go in my chicken coop for food and was able to catch it after a lot of cuts, scrapes and scratches. Well it had a gross nasty slice across its leg so I cleaned it, put so much antibacterial cream on there and very lightly wrapped it so it could come off on its own since it’s almost impossible to catch. I continue to watch the guinea and see its progress from afar. It slowly starts putting more weight on it but the area of the cut is still swollen and white. Today I decided to catch it again, more scrapes, cuts and scratches later I have it and its leg looks HORRIBLE!!!! It’s walking on it mostly fine a little bit of a limp but not much. The white part of the leg is so incredibly hard. And it looks like there is maybe bone sticking out?!?! Its leg didn’t seem broken the first time I caught it and there was definitely no bone sticking out. There isn’t really a whole lot I can do for this bird but I guess I just want to know like what the heck is going on with its leg and will he be alright?

 

[Debbie292d]

Wow, you're amazing for trying to help this bird seeing as it's not even yours. Poor thing!

It looks like it's healing but if broken, not sure it can finish as it's probably moving.

I suppose trying to soak its leg in warm Epsom salt water is out of the question. Antibiotics would probably help but no way you could do that with it every day for a week. Could you maybe put a more permanent bandage on it that would kind of brace it like a splint?

Does this one drink over by your birds too? If so, you could put some vitamins like Nutra Drench or Poultry Cell in the water a couple of times a week.

I can't think of much else you can do for it but what you already are. Kudos to you for trying to help it though!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do you have a largish pen or dog crate you can keep it in? And is a vet a possibility?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@NatJ, who are our guinea experts?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Okay a little bit of a longish story. We had some neighbors that had free range guinea fowl, neighbors passed away and birds were abandoned to roam free. Slowing the flock started to dwindle until there were only 3 left and they migrated into my flock of chickens during the day. 2 ended up dying. Idk how but they did. So I’m left with one. It is not tame, it don’t let me get near it, and it definitely fights back. Well one day I noticed the one guinea was limping so I had to starve it a bit to get it to go in my chicken coop for food and was able to catch it after a lot of cuts, scrapes and scratches. Well it had a gross nasty slice across its leg so I cleaned it, put so much antibacterial cream on there and very lightly wrapped it so it could come off on its own since it’s almost impossible to catch. I continue to watch the guinea and see its progress from afar. It slowly starts putting more weight on it but the area of the cut is still swollen and white. Today I decided to catch it again, more scrapes, cuts and scratches later I have it and its leg looks HORRIBLE!!!! It’s walking on it mostly fine a little bit of a limp but not much. The white part of the leg is so incredibly hard. And it looks like there is maybe bone sticking out?!?! Its leg didn’t seem broken the first time I caught it and there was definitely no bone sticking out. There isn’t really a whole lot I can do for this bird but I guess I just want to know like what the heck is going on with its leg and will he be alright?

Did she keep the bandage on the whole time until you caught her again, or did she lose it along the way?


Looks like at some point the leg was broken, but is now healing over.
If the white skin is hard, then it may be forming a callus around the bone.

Is there an odor? She's eating/drinking o.k. and moving about right?

I'm tagging in @Eggcessive @coach723 and @azygous

Caging her may be an option so you can treat the leg, but the bone looks dried up to me.
Caging her may also put unnecessary stress on her as well, I'd almost be afraid she'd injure herself more trying to escape the cage.

Do you have a fairly large area you can section off outside where she's next to the chickens with her own food/water and she'd have shelter?
As for antibiotics, they may be necessary, in the photo I see some pinkish tissue which can be inflammation and infection, but not too bad.

 

[NatJ]

@NatJ, who are our guinea experts?

Unfortunately, I don't know who is a guinea expert.

But I see that one of our injury experts has showed up, and has tagged a few more, so it looks like the situation is in fairly good hands.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would follow the advice of Wyorp Rock. At first it looked like frostbite, but since the whole leg is black, I now see that it does look like an old compound fracture. Clindamycin is a good antibiotic for that. I will look to see if you can get some somewhere.

 

[Debbie292d]

I would follow the advice of Wyorp Rock. At first it looked like frostbite, but since the whole leg is black, I now see that it does look like an old compound fracture. Clindamycin is a good antibiotic for that. I will look to see if you can get some somewhere.

I thought of antibiotics for it too but how to administer it once, much less twice daily for about a week to a wild bird. If the OP can manage that, what a trooper! Like Wyorp suggested, caging it might cause more injury.

 

[Eggcessive]

You would need to get clindamycin from your vet apparently. My cat took it for teeth extractions, and dosage is 25 mg twice twice a day. Here is a link, but it is prescription:
https://www.petcarerx.com/clindamyc...EDOMH5Vow0_0hk83APR7dy3mDqT2VUahoCbV0QAvD_BwE

 

[coach723]

You can get some clindamycin here without prescription (I use this one) :
https://www.medi-vet.com/Fish-Cin-Clindamycin-p/19300.htm