Bumble foot or weird calluses.

I have 2 ducks that are about 10 weeks old. They have the run of my backyard which consists of grass, a wood deck, bricks, and a bit of concrete. They live in a little temporary rabbit/chicken hutch. It has a wire floor but it's covered in straw. They go in it after dark and leave it as soon as the sun is up. This is a temporary living arrangement while I finish their run and get their little house in order. The ducks spend a lot of their time with the chickens in the yard.
This particular duck has had a callus area on her foot since the week she came to me. I've had her since she was a few days old. I had discussed treating it, but it never seemed to bother her and one day it seemed better, as if it were gone. I had commented on another thread and I think we agreed it was a callus and not bumble foot.
Just the night before last, I was waiting for her to enter her coop. Her sister walked right up the ramp, but she wouldn't. I gave her another chance and she almost seemed to limp. Last night I tried again, but she would not do it at all. She seems much heavier than the other bird. I took photos of both feet, but this one seemed worse and the others were blurry.
Ok, so I think that's all the info I have. If you guys have any other questions, let me know.
Also, this bump, looks less like a scab only because it seems to "jut" out in different directions. It's almost very wart like to me.
I'm sorry, I'm not very knowledgable, but am prepared to do the surgery. I'd just hate to open her feet up if it's not bumble foot.
Are ducks more susecptible to bumble than chickens?
Photos:



Ugh, I'm looking at these and I just feel terrible. This is totally bumble, isn't it? She is a hatchery bird, could this be a deformity? Does that happen? I feel like such a bad duck mom. My chickens have never had this before.

That doesn't look like bumble foot at all. Bumble foot looks like a rounded, buffy area, and then there's usually a large, hard brown scab in the middle of it. Honestly, the foot doesn't look bad. Just looks like calluses to me. Could there be another problem? Eggbinding will make them walk funny....

I am doing bumble research, she is getting an Epsom salt soak right now. Should I get her vitamins and bring her inside?

After her soak!

This is the second foot. There is the strange formation up under her toenail, too.
I picked at the weird jutting out areas and they seem very attached. The other duck does not look like this AT ALL. She has a few smaller cracks but not at all like this.

chicmom said:

That doesn't look like bumble foot at all.  Bumble foot looks like a rounded, buffy area, and then there's usually a large, hard brown scab in the middle of it.  Honestly, the foot doesn't look bad.  Just looks like calluses to me.  Could there be another problem?  Eggbinding will make them walk funny....

Click to expand...

They haven't neared laying yet. As far as I know... These girls were supposed to be runners, but they appear to look like a cayuga or mix of cayuga. So I'm not sure when they'll start laying!!!
She walks totally fine other than trying to get up and down her very short ramp. Both girls run in the same manner as well.

It's hard to tell because of the coloring on her feet. But it looks like cracking, or you're right maybe warts (do ducks get warts?). If it is warts, that is usually a viral thing (at least in humans). In humans, the virus is usually there to stay, but the warts can be treated. Still talking about humans--if the warts are on the bottom of the feet, they can definitely become painful because the warts put pressure on surrounding tissues, like pinching, so people have them "burnt" off with lasers or dry ice. Now back to your duck--after soaking her feet in epsom solution again, try pinching one of the growths without getting any skin in the pinch or scratch the area. If they are warts, theoretically she might not be bothered by this as they normally don't have much feeling (or maybe I'm confusing them with calluses). If it hurts her, maybe it is some kind of infection.

I don't know, maybe this is all crazy talk. You might at least be able to find out if her discomfort is from the actual growths. Sorry if I've only caused confusion, hopefully some of my hair brained ideas will help.

I have to say that I've even done the bumblefoot surgery, and that just doesn't look like bumblefoot. I just am not sure. Wish I could be of help. Do they have a pond or a pool or anything to swim in? Could they have dry skin? I sure wish I could look at those feet up close......LOL

TracyLovesDucks said:

It's hard to tell because of the coloring on her feet. But it looks like cracking, or you're right maybe warts (do ducks get warts?). If it is warts, that is usually a viral thing (at least in humans). In humans, the virus is usually there to stay, but the warts can be treated. Still talking about humans--if the warts are on the bottom of the feet, they can definitely become painful because the warts put pressure on surrounding tissues, like pinching, so people have them "burnt" off with lasers or dry ice. Now back to your duck--after soaking her feet in epsom solution again, try pinching one of the growths without getting any skin in the pinch or scratch the area. If they are warts, theoretically she might not be bothered by this as they normally don't have much feeling (or maybe I'm confusing them with calluses). If it hurts her, maybe it is some kind of infection.

I don't know, maybe this is all crazy talk. You might at least be able to find out if her discomfort is from the actual growths. Sorry if I've only caused confusion, hopefully some of my hair brained ideas will help.

Click to expand...

They do totally look like warts! Don't worry about confusing me more, because I'm pretty sure I'm as confused as they come. Your thoughts are helpful, because they don't seem to bother her when I did exactly as you had suggested.
I should submit her to Mystery Diagnosis.

chicmom said:

I have to say that I've even done the bumblefoot surgery, and that just doesn't look like bumblefoot.  I just am not sure.  Wish I could be of help.  Do they have a pond or a pool or anything to swim in?  Could they have dry skin?  I sure wish I could look at those feet up close......LOL

Click to expand...

Omg, right!?! That's what I did for 15 mins after her soak. I poked, prodded, pulled and pinched. Then she took a good pop at my chin. This was after I had righted her and was no longer peeking at her feet. (Yes, those last 2 Ps were used very strategically!)
They very much look like a part of her and not a scab. Grrrr, this is frustrating! I don't want her to hurt.
They sadly have a short Rubbermaid as their pond. They do spend a lot of time in it, taking turns and even at the same time. Building them a pond is on my "GIANT to do" list.

Bumblefoot can look a little different in some ducks. That very first photo looked like early bumblefoot.

It is also possible she could have a fungal infection.

You do not have to cut the feet with bumblefoot.

Epsom salt soak is a good start - no drinking the water, it is a laxative! That is why I use either a tiny flat bottomed bowl or a compress (clean cloth soaked in E.s. solution).

Here is a post from Haunted55 about how she handled bumblefoot with her duck.

On July 1st, I found one of my Pekin ducks with what I would consider a bad case of Bumblefoot. Both feet were involved and I'm ashamed to say, the only way I found it was she was limping. One foot had 7 and the other had 3. I was able to grab her and bring her into the house and put her into a warm bath to clean and soak. Two water changes later and softened feet, all I had time to do was paint the bumbles with colorless iodine, grabbed the wrong stuff, and put her into a dog crate in my house until I could get everything ready to operate and get them gone. Did I mention the thought of this scared me half to death?

Sad to say it took 6 days before i was able to get everything together and someone to help out with the 'cure'. The following pictures are what we found after the bath we gave before the planned surgery to remove these things.




















As can be seen, there really wasn't much to operate on, even though I was prepared to do just that. No matter how much squeezing or prodding or soaking, there just wasn't anything more to come out, it was all on the scabs that were covering the sores. The swelling was down from the 'marbles' I saw when I first found them. I poured betadine over the ones I had opened and painted the ones that I hadn't again with the iodine and put her back into her crate with clean bedding.

the next pictures are of the same Pekin and anothe duck, Dottie the Mallard, who was also found limping.












As can be seen in the first two pictures, the bumbles have been dramatically reduced on the Pekin with just the iodine application and the smaller ones totally gone. The last four pictures are of the Mallard who is still under going the iodine applications.

As can be seen, this is how the left and right foot look tonight on the Pekin duck. The heels being the worst are still showing infection and need for more treatment. tomorrow, I will again give a bath and pull/cut out the scabbing and treat with straight iodine this time. These spots are now flat or as flat as they should be considering the part of the foot they are on. I will still touch up the places that had the spots before as well.

………….

If it is bumblefoot, soaking in Epsom salts, or even letting her paddle around in lukewarm water for half an hour to soften the skin, then applying a few drops of clear iodine (the clear seems to work with this method) and checking the feet over the next few days would, I think, start to look more like what these pictures show.

On the other hand, if it is a fungal infection, I would think it would respond to anti fungal treatment. This is where a vet's help would be good, to help distinguish. Also I do not know what a safe anti fungal would be. It may be as simple as using an athlete's foot medicine, but I want to emphasize I do not know!

There are also herbal antifungals, such as pau d'arco, coconut oil, and I think oil of oregano may have anti fungal properties.

These things happen sometimes. For some reason, the microbes that cause these things have a population explosion, perhaps the duck's immune system gets stressed, and you have bumblefoot.

One other note - if there is a splinter in the foot, that needs to come out or it will keep swelling. Potato bandages and drawing salve are alternatives to cutting. My vet is gifted at finding and removing the tiniest splinter, and she really helped Romy one time - I don't know how the vet even saw where the splinter could have been.

All three of my 4 week old ducks have this same cracked calluse like stuff on their feet, the vet said it wasn't bumble foot wen i sent them pictures.and none of my ducks seem to have problems with walking. I was really worried about it and after giving them longer time to play in the tub and changing their bedding from straw to pine shavings, it seems to be clearing up.. and when they put up with a little man handling a little coconut oil applied to the feet after baths seems to also keep it from getting worse.