Sick keet

[frsheggs]

I recently got 7 keets. They all seemed healthy, then two days ago one of them couldn't walk. He seems to be trying to walk on his "elbows". His feet are alittle curled, but he doesn't seem to be in pain. Does he need vitamins? I read some where to wash his legs in Mcquesten's extractor. I've never heard of it, nor can I find where to purchase it. Thanks for your time.

 

[PeepsCA]

How old is the keet?

It sounds to me like the tendons have slipped out of the groove on the back of both of his hocks/knees, and the feet are probably curling from the lack of being used now that he's "hock walking", (as I call it). They usually don't recover from this when it's in both legs, because they will just continue to walk in their hocks instead of trying to get up on their feet... and sadly will eventually need to be put down.

If you can see the tendons slipping to the inside or outside of the joint as you bend the legs then you can try wrapping a very thin (16th of an inch) strip of tape (duct tape or some type pf medical tape) around just the center of the hock joint) at least a couple wraps, wrapped onto itself) in the opposite direction that the tendon is slipping to. The longer the tendons are out of the groove the worse his recovery chances get. Sometimes it can be genetic, but I recently read this article on the msu website that talks about a choline deficiency causing leg issues/problems with the hocks, so adding poultry vitamins that have choline in them to his water may possibly help... but you need to make sure he actually gets to the waterer and drinks them for them to do any good. You may want to check his starter feed for choline listed in the ingredients too. I have treated/healed a couple of keets with one slipped tendon with the tape fix successfully before (no extra vitamins), but I have not treated a keet with the hock walking issue to know if the tape and vitamins will help or not. Neither condition is common in my flocks' hatches, but I typically just put the hock walkers down, in case it actually is a genetic defect. If you aren't feeding your keets high protein game bird, pheasant or turkey starter feed (which is what keets should be raised on) that may also help him.

I've never heard of that extractor stuff you mentioned... so I can't offer any input on that.

Good luck, and if he doesn't improve within a few days of treatment IMO it would probably be best that you put him down... he is in pain, will eventually start going down hill, and if by chance it is a genetic problem the condition will most likely show up each year in your future hatches if this bird breeds.

Sorry to be the bearer of such grim news