Curly toe

[Deleted]

Well, my baby guineas are safely ensconced in their new home, however, one of them has what I think is called curly toe. One foot is curled up and he/she is just flopping around on that side. I just recently read something about that, but I can't find it again. It said something about splinting the toes, but I can't figure out how I would splint something that small. They're only two days old, and very tiny.

Has anyone ever dealt with this, other than killing the affected baby?

~Lannie

[bbird]

I've never had luck helping chicks that have that. We've tried the popsicle stick treatment, but they are so fragile at this age. You also have to isolate them from the other chicks because once they notice it's hurt or has something foreign on it's leg they smother it.

If it was still walking I would say it has a chance. We've had in the past a couple adult chicken who survived, and walked everywhere even though their foot was bent but for one's who are laying down and can't be mobile we have to dispatch.

Sorry! I know that is so hard to do. You can always isolate them, try to hand feed them, pick them up and dip their beaks for them and see if they get stronger so they can walk. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you...and the guineas!

[bobclark]

I have never seen this ,but i dont have alot of experience with poultry.

i wish i could be more help

[bergere]

Lannie,
Am looking for info on splayed foot/curly toe. Can't find my link and all I am getting from the Net is those stupid anti animal web site. Gees.. I hate those,, makes it hard to find useful info.

I haven't had much luck with it in the past, though.

If you want to give it a chance, put it in an area by itself.. if you want give it a tiny teddy bear for a buddy and see if it can get over it on its own.

Know not having enough Vitamin B can cause it.

I will keep looking, that info has to got to be around here somewhere.

[Deleted]

Thanks, you guys.

I don't have any vitamin B, all I have is alfalfa pellets.

The keet IS walking, but having trouble. I guess I'll just wait and see if it gets any better. Rich said if it doesn't eat, it didn't want to be here in the first place and it will leave. I just hate to see a baby die, and I surely don't want to have to kill one.

Going back out to check on them now...

~Lannie

[Deleted]

Pipe cleaner cast/brace will work if it's only one foot and it's thriving otherwise. Do not be surprised if it lives and does well for a time and then you find it keeled over one day. I don't know why but they generally have shorter than normal life spans. Good luck.

[Deleted]

Thanks, Cricket - I tried the pipecleaner "shoe" but the little b*stard had it off within the hour. He didn't want no stinkin' shoe on his little foot!

I'm just going to leave him (or her, whatever) alone. Rich and I were discussing this earlier and he brought up a very good point. This baby only knows how he is now. He has nothing to compare with. He seems to be getting along just fine, and he'll adapt if he's able. I've seen him hop up into the food to eat, and he's drinking water OK. The only problem is when he stops running, he sits down rather than standing. But honestly, I can't pick him out of the crowd when they're all moving at once, so I guess he's not bothered by this. Just me, but I'm a worrywart mother. You should have seen us taping those tiny toes to that little chick sandal!

By the way, Cricket, it's supposed to be 113 here tomorrow, and right now it's 104. Hot enough fer ya? LOL! Where's that cold Canadian air when I need some??

~Lannie

[Deleted]

Eh, you're a weiny! LOL

Sorry about his shoe. Try white tape or vet wrap to keep it on. He really is gonna need it...The condition only gets worse if not treated.

[Deleted]

Yup, I'm a weinie when it comes to HOT! I mean, I like heat, but not this much. I'm happy between 80 and 90 degrees. ;D

It just hit 101 at 11:00, so I assume it really is going to make it up to at least 110 today. Argh!

I have some vet wrap (lots of it, in fact), but I can't figure how I would cut a piece small enough to go around his toes. That stuff is so bumply and textured. Someone else suggested we try masking tape, and I have some of that, so maybe we'll try that if nothing else works. Rich said we might as well give it another try. I think we also have some white medical type tape, but it's really old, so I don't know how well it'll stick. Maybe I'll go get that out and see if it's OK, then we'll use that instead of the masking tape.

Well, guess I'd better go get busy. I'll let you know if his shoe stays on this time.

~Lannie

[Deleted]

OK, it's been 5 hours and he still has his little sandal on. The white medical tape was evidently sticky enough. He's walking well right now, with his little ankle bent at the right angle and his toes out in front of him. I was watching him trying to catch a fly a few minutes ago, and didn't even realize it was him until he scampered and I saw the shoe. He had been standing on both legs just like normal. Woohoo!

I've heard I should leave the shoe on for 8 hours, but since it took me 2 days to get it right and get it to stay on, maybe I should leave it on him overnight. What do you think?

~Lannie

[Deleted]

I would leave it on him. Check it every day and re-wrap but I'd leave it until that bone has a chance to harden.

Honestly Lannie, I think I would melt at your place right now. 110 is a little too much...Unless you don't have the humidity. In which case it's just miserable. I spent a year in CA one week breathing that oven air. No thanks...Don't want to do that again.

[Deleted]

I just realized I never updated this situation. "Gimpy" is now walking normally, even though his middle toe still curves a bit inward. We ended up leaving the shoe on him for 3 or 4 days, but when we took it off, he was still pretty curly, so I made a bigger one and we got that one taped on him and left it for a few more days. I guess he wore his little sandal for about a week total.

When I took it off of him, he was walking OK, and as the days went by, he got better and better. The first day, because he was used to that extra weight, he kept taking these really big steps with his left foot. But the next day he stepped the same on both of them, and now I can't tell which one he is unless I can see the middle toe on his left foot. He runs, flies, perches and otherwise acts perfectly normal now. I'm so glad it worked!

~Lannie

[thrillbilly]

did you hatch this one out of a bator or did momma hen hatch it?

[Deleted]

No, TB, it came in a box from a guinea farm in Iowa. It was 48 hours old when I received it, and it was curly then. I guess it was hatched that way, and either they didn't notice it when they were boxing the keets up, or they just wanted to get rid of it. I ordered 30 and actually got 31, so maybe they tossed in the extra one in case the curly one didn't make it.

That reminds me, I wrote to the hatchery to ask their advice when I first noticed it, and the guy said there was nothing I could do. I'll have to send him a note and tell him there IS something that can be done. ;D

~Lannie

[thrillbilly]

high temp in a bator will do it as well as a riboflavin deficiency. If you drop the bator temp about a degree and give your hens some calf manna mixed in their feed it will never happen.

[Deleted]

Well, I didn't hatch these, so I don't know what the conditions were, but what you said was interesting. I've also heard that the temperature determines whether more hens or roosters are hatched, is that right?

One of these days, since I have two perfectly gorgeous roosters out of my "all-pullet" chicken order (LOL!), I was thinking of hatching my own chicks instead of having to continue ordering from a hatchery. I probably won't have the money to buy a real incubator, but can't you use something like a cooler with a heat lamp over it (in the house, of course)?

If the guineas survive to adulthood without dying of stupidity or going on indefinite walk-about, and they produce any eggs that I can find, I might try hatching some of them, too, who knows? I'm just rollin' with the punches right now and taking each new thing as it comes along. This is my first time with poultry, and it's been a learning experience for sure, but man I love those birds! I'll never be without them again.

~Lannie

[thrillbilly]

SOme claim a temp difference of 1-2 degrees will make a difference in the sex. Im not convinced either way. I do know that I start setting eggs in the bators around Thanksgiving. After the bators are full to the tune of about 500 or so eggs I let the hens out to free range to get their strenght and bodies back in order. I tend to get more stags out of the bator during the months it is winter time and the free range hens finish laying out and invariably have more pullets on average. Also those hatching in the summer while on vacation(i quit when temps go above 80) on their own have more stags it seems. I figure the eggs arent staying as warm under the hens in the woods in winter and are naturally warmer in summer months. So I am kinda leaning to believing the story of temp equals more of one sex or the other.

If you have plenty of pullets and a couple roosters why are you buying chicks?

Five hens laying an egg each day times two weeks is a average of about 70 eggs. Thats alot of chickens for most folks. I could easily trap nest and just collect eggs and I could safely get five dozen eggs from each hen to put in the bator before giving them a break. I just dont want that many anymore. So I decide which bloodlines I need and those are bred and the ones I dont need arent asked to lay any eggs and whatever they do gets eaten.

The most I ever had at once was back in 99. I had a man come up from Jalisco and ask for 200 stags for the next fall. I cranked up the bators and hatched out roughly 800. His and the ones I wanted and all that were pullets neither of us wanted or needed were culled. SO I ended up with around 660 stags and the rest pullets. He got his 200 I kept 300 and sold the remaining stags. I donated roughly 100 pullets to friends family etc for food.

I try to stay under 400 counting brood fowl now.



If you decide to incubate let me know and I will share some plans etc for a good homemade bator that is as good as any store bought one. But with the numbers you want Id let the hens do the work.

[Deleted]

Yikes! You have a lot of chickens! I just saw your pictures, too - what a neat setup. ;D

I haven't bought any chicks except this one batch. They're just over 4 months old now. I had been planning to have to buy more from a hatchery later on when these start going downhill, egg-wise. They're Light Brahmas, so I don't know how many years they might lay. I'm figuring everything out as I go along. But I figured, since there are two roosters in the bunch, if I ever needed more for any reason, I could just hatch some of my own.

It would be in the range of a dozen or so, not hundreds! I'd love to get your input on a homemade incubator. I don't think that would be something I'd want to "experiment" on!

I have another question about the roosters, but I'll post it on its own thread.

Thanks for all the information, and the beautiful pictures!

~Lannie