Smallish swollen bump on mallard foot

I have a female Mallard that started limping a few days ago. I looked at her foot and saw nothing. Last night I checked again and saw on the bottom of her foot the middle toe has a bump on it. It looks like a blister would or a big pimple. It is soft and swollen. Any advice? I'll try to get a picture later.

Could be bumblefoot, could be a splinter or something in the foot, still, also.

If you have a vet, that is best.

If you need to take care of it yourself, then start with a little time in a lukewarm tub of water - no soap. Gets the pressure off the foot and softens the skin.

Then wrap the foot in a compress of Epsom salt solution (two tablespoons E.s. in half a cup of warm water, soak it up with a clean cloth and wrapt that around the foot).

Follow that with either a drop or two of clear iodine in the center of the bump, blow on it to dry (I really do understand how tricky this can all be. Just breathe and be amused at the whole concept), then it may be good to keep her somewhat confined overnight, and see how she looks in the morning. Usually it takes a few days for the thing to start getting better.

Anyway, if you use the clear iodine method, after 3 to 5 days, there will likely be a dark spot, kind of like a scab, that can be soaked and pulled off. When Haunted55 did this, the scab brought a bunch of yuck out with it.

Here is what she posted last year
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.






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Another option after the Epsom salt compress is to slather the foot with triple antibiotic ointment. It also takes a while, but I have been able to get rid of several cases of bumblefoot that way.


Speceider recently reported reading that bumblefoot has been associated with low levels of Vitamin A. So giving a good poultry multivitamin three times a week in her water may really help, also. I buy a four ounce packet for about $5 and it lasts for months, this one just calls for a quarter teaspoon per gallon of water.

This is her left and right foot. It doesn't look the same but maybe it is just starting.

Ducks have little callouses on their toes normally. It is tough sometimes to be sure something is a callous and not a very early bumble. I think the clear iodine would be worth a try.

Or, you could use triple antibiotic ointment without painkiller after the Epsom salt soak. That has always worked for me.

We couldn't find clear iodine but we have been soaking her foot and then using antibiotic ointment. Tonight we were actually able to get some of it out! We are excited that she should be getting better soon. Thanks everyone for the solid advice!

Good news! Keep it up! Bumblefoot can take a while to really clear up. But it does, with steady attention.