One of my twelve has been limping for about four days. She still keeps up with the flock and still eats, but she is clearly favouring the left leg.
They free range over a couple of acres so it could be anything. I have not caught her yet because guineas are impossible in daylight. What should I be looking for when I do get hold of her, and in what order?
Look hard for thread. A hair, a bit of twine or a strand of plastic wrapped round a toe is extremely common in free ranging birds and it cuts the circulation off, so the toe swells and discolours. It is easy to miss because the thread sinks into the swelling.
Fine scissors or tweezers if it is loose. If it is embedded, that is a vet rather than a careful attempt, because you cannot see what is underneath.
No scab and a sudden limp is often just an injury. They fly, jump off roosts and squeeze through fences.
If it is a sprain, isolate her somewhere small and quiet with soft bedding and food and water within reach. Plenty improve with rest alone. Visible break or no improvement in a few days and that is us.
Two more causes to have in mind. Frostbite in a hard winter, which shows as discoloured or blackened toes, and nutrition in keets, who grow fast and need high protein. And if several birds start limping at once, or any of them look otherwise ill, ring somebody rather than examining them one at a time.
@dark_scab_centre · 2w ago · 3 replies
Catch her at night on the roost, which is the only sensible way with guineas, and work from the foot upwards. Bottom of the foot first: swelling, heat, and specifically a dark scab in the middle of the pad, which is bumblefoot. Then the toes for cuts or anything wrapped round them. Then legs and joints for swelling, heat or bruising. Then the leg scales, raised or crusty meaning mites.
And compare everything with the other leg. Half of what looks wrong on one foot turns out to be normal once you look at the pair.
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@caught_on_the_roost · 2w ago
If it is bumblefoot, is that a wait and see or a vet?
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@dark_scab_centre · last wk.
Not a wait and see. It is a bacterial infection in the foot pad, usually in through a small cut, and it gets worse rather than better on its own. A vet can advise on cleaning and draining it. Get her onto soft clean bedding either way, because the hard ground is part of how it started.
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