Bumblefoot Cure

[Clucktown]

I wanted to share a treatment that FINALLY cured my bantam sebright hen of a chronic case of bumblefoot. After 4 bumblefoot surgeries and a month of Baytril, I decided to take Grace to the vet. He instructed me to stop cutting into her and to bandage her with a donut-like splint on the bottom of her foot. I used pipe insulator my husband had and used his drill press with a half inch bit to cut holes in the insulator material. I then used vet wrap to fasten it to the bottom of her foot, with the hole over the infected area. The idea was to relieve the pressure on the infected area. I changed it every 2 to 3 days, as the pipe insulator would become compressed and needed to be replaced. After 6 weeks, the hard mass came to the surface of the foot and could easily be pryed out with no bleeding. I then wrapped for an additional week to be sure all was healed. Thankfully, after 7 long months, Grace is finally healed. Despite my constant web searching, I never found this treatment, which finally cured her. I hope someone finds this treatment helpful, and I
would be happy to provide any pics.

 

[sunflour]

Thanks for sharing your experience. A picture would be helpful, but your description is clear.

Did she try to peck/remove the bandaging ? Did you isolate her or just leave her with the flock?

7 months !!! A long struggle and I am sure It was quite frustrating. Glad she is better.

 

[Clucktown]

I am attaching a picture of both the template the vet made out of vet wrap (left) and my modified version with pipe insulator, which is lighter and more conforming (right). When I was cutting a new splint every other day, I would trim it to be certain the fit was good and would cut a little section out for that back toe so it wasn't being pushed up at an unnatural angle. The swelling between both toes showed huge improvements within the first week. A rock hard center then began to form where the hole in the splint was and continued to push its way out over the next 5 weeks. She could not put her foot down to walk without the splint because of the size and hardness of the infection as it was making its way out. However, with the splint she was fast as ever and could roost and scratch as well as the others. I never isolated her and neither she or the other chickens picked at her bandage. Initially, they all gathered around to get a look at it, and then it was forgotten. Grace was such a good patient that she would lie on my lap while on her back and allow me to change her bandage every other day - I can only imagine what she thought about the whole ordeal. I checked her foot yesterday and the skin is super soft with no scarring or swelling. The other thing that the vet recommended is that I cover all the roosts and perches with some sort of fake grass material, but I used outdoor carpeting. Lowes has cheap outdoor carpeting by the foot which can be hosed off. Apparently, they do that for the raptors at the Birds of Prey center where he volunteers. Again, I hope this helps someone whose chicken is struggling with bumblefoot. Despite repeated surgeries of removing the "bumble", I could never get a total cure - just slight improvement that would worsen again over the next month. Relieving the pressure allowed the infection to push its way out without surgery; however, it did take a considerable amount of time. By the way - Amazon has some great 1-inch generic vet wrap that is totally cheap. Link is below...........

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NHB4BY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[lalaland]

really good info! thank you for taking the time to post it. I put a link to this thread in the Natural Chickenkeeping thread -

I've had bumblefoot issues on and off for about 8 years - I think it is related to the blackberry brambles - so am glad to read about this. Am not treating most bumblefoot because it seems to resolve on its own, but this is good to know for those cases where the chicken is having trouble.
thanks again!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I saw your post because @lalaland gave us a link on the Natural Chicken Keeping Thread.

Good post. I, also, have quit cutting unless I see an obvious infection. I don't do anything if there is just a black spot only. I think that we were all taught to over-react when seeing a spot and often times caused more damage doing surgeries that were unnecessary. If I see the spot I observe the bird over time to see if any active infection shows before doing anything and, like lalaland, I haven't had to treat anything for a long time.

I am definitely going to remember this if I ever need to treat again in the future. Thank you for posting!

 

[lazy gardener]

I had one girl that was a bit gimpy, and had a couple of very dark scales on the bottom of one foot. This came on after I forcefully pulled her out of the raspberry patch, and I'm certain that in her haste to get away, she got a thorn, though I never saw it. She stayed a big gimpy last summer, I wrapped it once or twice, didn't see any benefit to that, so let nature take it's course. She's fine, no further development. All appears to be well with her. I agree, we tend to micromanage every little detail of our flocks, sometimes to their detriment. But, aren't chickens just plain FUN!!!!

 

[seminolewind]

I will certainly do that tomorrow on my roo. Great idea!

 

[Aunt ruth]

does this look like a good fit?

 

[Aunt ruth]

does this look right?

 

[Diannastarr]

a possible Bumblefoot ...?? I just found a big black pea size hard black bump on the side of my young NHR toe, she is 25 weeks old or so, and she was not as healthy looking compared to the other NHR at the same age, she was smaller & her comb was a pink color so Im upping her nutrition, because a healthy animal or plant should not develop an infection so easily, plus i was worried that she had Bumblefoot , so i applied some neosporin on the first night after i found it, that was the only thing i had in the house on that evening, then the next day we got some blue kote at the feed store in Hereford AZ and painted it on both legs & feet , so now we are calling her purple girl....lol..

I SOAKED that black bump well with blu kote , then I checked around on line to see which essential oil will kill an infection, & hoped that i had that every same essential oil in my home, and thank goodness I did , and its called thieves oil, plus it can also kill MRSA. methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus .! thank goodness we didn't have to wait for that oil to be shipped to us, so I soaked the black bump with thieves oil right away and again i put my NHR in a clean cage for the day , but by the next day ,after using the thieves oil on that ugly black bump thing it had gone down to half its size, and today the black bump had shrunk again shrinking even smaller , i soaked her toe 2 more times with thieves oil on day 4 and it looks even smaller & im sure it will continue to shrink and then eventually it will just fall off, OK TODAY IS DAY 5, and I have found that black thing has mostly fallen off, by it self , so im sure day 6 will bring a cure of this suspected Bumblefoot, I will report back tomorrow , as today is oct 13 2014 . BUT ALSO here is some very interesting info. about thieves oil , its a good thing to have on hand , and im sure that it is killing what ever this black thing is on my NHR toe..?? here below is a pic of this black thing on her toe. I have ordered more thieves oil , so make sure if you are buying thieves oil , look for THERAPEUTIC Essential Oils , it can be costly I know, but I found this one on e bay ,so I just got it, and this is a great price for thieves oil. plus i am making my own thieves OIL to....!

I got this on E BAY 4 THIEVES 100% Pure Essential Oil Blend-10 ml-Fabulous Frannie-BUY3 GET1 FREE

Item price $4.95
Quantity 1
Item number 271518956601
FREE Shipping service, Standard Shipping
, But you can also make your own THIEVES OIL, im doing that to...! & here is more INFO about THIEVES OIL = http://www.natural-aromatherapy-benefits.com/thievesoilrecipe.html This pic below is day 2, of my NHR & the black bump on the side of her toe.
AND HERE IS THE THIEVES OIL RECIPE

Homemade thieves oil Anti-infectious Recipes
In a dark glass bottle add the following essential oils:

Recipe #1
40 drops of Clove Essential Oil
35 drops of Lemon Essential Oil
20 drops of Cinnamon Essential Oil​

15 drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil
10 drops of Rosemary Essential Oil
DAY 5 , OCT 13 , 2014 the BLACK BUMP MOST OF IT HAS FALLEN OFF BY IT SELF >>> ​

I soaked it once again today in thieves oil, 3 drops will do it..!! its day 5 Oct 13 , 2014 and will see what tomorrow brings, but its looking like the thieves oil has kill IT...!

its healing now with no fuss ,no cutting, no bandage , no nothing no worries ,THANK GOD FOR THIEVES OIL , I APPLIED IT 1. TIME A DAY it takes just a few seconds to apply 3 drops of thieves oil , so in no time at all, this black ugly thing has been killed off....!! wow this is the best think ever....!! no muss no fuss and my NHR PURPLE GIRL is a happy girl once again..! but its ok to be more aggressive if you feel its necessary when using thieves oil you can always apply thieves oil 2 times a day with out worry. today DAY 6, and we found just a tiny black spot this morning that is hanging on by a thread at the edge of the skin . Im sure it will be all gone by tomorrow ,I didn't pick at it , at all , it just fell off like that on its own, so I just put more thieves oil on it today , and then we let purple girl out to play with her mates with out worry , so hey Bumblefoot step aside you are now history.....lol... and we've got your number....!!!!!!

wow today is day 7 , i didn't get a pic of the black bump because its gone....? fell off some were...???...lol.... but I applied the thieves oil any way ,& will have to take pics tomorrow and post it....! and boy im really sooo glad for theses findings, i hope thieves oil will be a great help to us all in keeping all our birds healthy...! and I want to say that many of you worked so hard and were sooo dedicated to healing your birds and did such a great job at healing them, im proud to know you all...!!!!! O and all of you are real top rate troopers and did what ever it took, to care for your birds....!!!!!

and what ever you had to do no matter what , & you did it well...!!!!! my hats off to you all....!!!!!!!!!!!!

TOOK PIC'S TODAY, DAY 8 & their is still a black scab like thing still on Purple girls toe, so i will continue to treat it with thieves oil to keep it from coming back...? but im sure it is really DEAD, but like that old saying goes, Better safe then sorry ...!!!! HERE is the next pic for Day 8, of purple girls toe . I guess this is the end of that story...? but i will report back if things change...?








PEACE OUT..! take care have a good one every one Dianna