- Nov 10, 2010
- 13
- 5
- 79
Hi there. We have 15 free-range chickens in the backyard. One particularly unfriendly hen who does not like people or being handled, was limping a few months ago. She seemed fine a few days later. Since she hates being handled, I let it go since she seemed fine. I had guessed that she bruised her foot. Then a few days ago she was limping again. I cought miss unfriendly at night. Swollen foot pad, smooth hard gray spot on center of foot pad and a small pink swollen area between 2 toes....bumble foot. I did some research and gathered the supplies. But what I found did not follow what I expected from my research.
I cleaned, soaked and sterilized the foot. Then used a scalpel to pull the core away from the skin. It did not bleed much and the core was gray/brown, smooth on the outside and hard and crumbly. It was not black or oozing. I was able to take it out in bits and cleaned a 1/4in deep hole in the foot. Then instead of the puss and cottage cheese material I was expecting, I hit live skin. It bled and the hen was not happy. I did use a 1/2 in sterile needle to flush the wound well with sterilized water, Epsom salts, tee tree oil and Betadine. It flushed out clear.
So the question: Did I do something wrong? Why is there no puss? Could it be the age of the infection? Since she has been fighting so long, is that why it is not pussy and the core was hard and worn down. What else should I do? I plan to put antibiotic ointment in the wound and rewrap it often. Just kind of baffled.
I cleaned, soaked and sterilized the foot. Then used a scalpel to pull the core away from the skin. It did not bleed much and the core was gray/brown, smooth on the outside and hard and crumbly. It was not black or oozing. I was able to take it out in bits and cleaned a 1/4in deep hole in the foot. Then instead of the puss and cottage cheese material I was expecting, I hit live skin. It bled and the hen was not happy. I did use a 1/2 in sterile needle to flush the wound well with sterilized water, Epsom salts, tee tree oil and Betadine. It flushed out clear.
So the question: Did I do something wrong? Why is there no puss? Could it be the age of the infection? Since she has been fighting so long, is that why it is not pussy and the core was hard and worn down. What else should I do? I plan to put antibiotic ointment in the wound and rewrap it often. Just kind of baffled.
