18 plus birds suddenly plagued with bumblefoot. I've never had a single case before. Affecting many

[centrarchid]

It could be excessively wet conditions. Possibly a bacteria build-up, or maybe them walking on overly acidic wood chips or poop or something . Whatever you say is wrong with their feet looks extremely minimal.

The above.

Can you move pen to another location that is drier?

 

[Potrack]

View attachment 1798458 View attachment 1798459 View attachment 1798460 View attachment 1798461 View attachment 1798333 View attachment 1798334 View attachment 1798335 View attachment 1798336 View attachment 1798337 View attachment 1798338 View attachment 1798339 View attachment 1798340 Last night while counting my birds at lockup; I noticed one of my hens (an Easter Egger) was hesitant to put her foot down. I inspected her feet and sure enough, she had bumblefoot. I was surprised as this was the first case I'd ever had. I wondered what had caused it. I knew I had better check the rest of my flock the following day. Fast forward to this morning.
When I opened my coop this morning; I checked each of my bird's feet before letting them out. My second bird in, I had another with bumblefoot(another Easter Egger)! When I grabbed my third chicken and it also had bumblefoot (Easter Egger), I knew something bad was afoot. Out of my ten birds, only three were unaffected (2 Easter Egger hens and a Bantam Cochen rooster)! That's not to say that they all had the worst stage of bumblefoot. However, it was alarming that so many of them were affected and 4 of them need surgical intervention.
With so many of my flock in bad shape, I wondered about my roommate's flock. I started looking at their birds. The first two I grabbed, were the same as mine. One was a French Copper Maran, and one was a Brahma. They both need surgical intervention! I moved on to their big coop and checked their chicken's feet one- by- one. The majority of their chickens were also affected. They have multiple breeds. Easter Eggers, WellSummers, Marans, Dominiques, Brahamas, and a lone Silkie. The Silkie was completely unaffected in anyway at all. I don't know if she's just lucky, or resistant. Every other breed had a member who suffered from some stage of bumblefoot.
About 3/4 of our entire population has been plagued by this outbreak. Including our Guinea hen who lives among our chickens and shares a coop with them. The bumblefoot has an unusually presentation.
I've noticed that on some of the birds that the are black spots on their feet, legs, or nails that were not there previously. They are related to the bumblefoot. In addition, this "agent" seems to literally be eating holes into their feet. I am suspicious that it might be a fungus instead of a Staph.
I am located in Barnesville, Ga. About two weeks ago were had a tremendously powerful storm come through. It blew the lid off of the chicken feed and some rain got into it. I was told to dump the entire top of it, about 20lbs or so to get rid of the wet food and then to sprinkle D.E. over the top to absorb any leftover moisture. If I could've had my way, I would've dumped it all and started with fresh food. I don't have any money and work for my chicken's food though, so i did as i was told.
Of course when I got towards the bottom of the barrel, the food was moldy and packed to the sides. Our chickens started suffering diarrhea. I dumped the rest of the moldy food immediately and explained that I needed yogurt for probiotics.
I was told to give the chickens D.E. that it would kill any lingering fungus in the digestive tract. I've been dusting their food, but most still suffer from watery stools.
When I separated out the chickens today, I asked for help with surgery. I was told that a salve would work and no surgery was required. I disagree and want your opinions. I will be posting pictures.
Our chickens are free range but are fed gamecock conditioner feed. They get fresh water from a hose everyday. I scrub their water container everyday or every otherday. All water containers are prone to grow algae so it is a must.
I am allergic to oysters. As such, we wash our egg shells and feed them back to the chickens. It has been very hot here. The coops were recently cleaned out. Please let me know if you need more pictures or if you have any questions. View attachment 1798333 View attachment 1798334 View attachment 1798335 View attachment 1798336 View attachment 1798337 View attachment 1798338 View attachment 1798339 View attachment 1798340

I’ve had guineas for 25 years and have dealt with one ‘outbreak’ of bumblefoot several years ago. I would take the bird down and lance the affected area, usually stabbing the black center with a large needle, then draining it and liberally applying triple antibiotic OINTMENT to the area. I would reapply each night and re-lance when needed. Be sure and use OINTMENT it is better than cream, better absorbed, etc.
I had a large number of birds get it seemingly within a few weeks time and was treating it for a couple of months and was beginning to think it would just be part of the routine of owning guineas. But it resolved in much the same way it appeared, fairly suddenly.
During the time they had it we had particularly wet weather and they have a pitcher plant bog nearby that they frequently forage around in and I assumed it may have been partly due to them being in an environment conducive to the infections. When the weather began drying up, so did the cases.
I live in Jeff Davis County, GA and we are currently in a drought. But if you have had a wet spell, it may have been a similar situation to what happened to mine. Fortunately, once it stopped, it stopped, and they’ve been bumble free for 6-7 years now.
Doing the treatment can be pretty nauseating and sickening, but the birds are grateful, and it DOES work, and eventually the plague leaves thank God.
BTW, penning them away from their usual foraging areas may help too, as I quarantined mine in their pen during the problem to try to keep them from accessing wherever they were getting exposed and hoping it wasn’t occurring inside the pen. I think that helped as well.

 

[Potrack]

Looked the photos over well. That’s bumblefoot all right. And when they start playing flamingo you can bet it’s giving them pain and misery. The black spot is where the infection entered the foot. Puncture it and squeeze gently while you hold the fighting bird still with all your might. He/she will thank you later.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Incredibly minimal.
I’m really not trying to be rude, but I’m wondering if anyone who is replying to cut into the chickens feet over this has ever had a case of bumblefoot in a chicken before. That isn’t a severe case, nor will those become severe.
Don’t cut into any of their feet or you’ll be in it for the long haul. All of those spots will slough off or at some point you can pick them off with your fingers.
Look at your surfaces for suspect materials and change it up. It looks to me maybe like small rocks or bark causing it. maybe wet conditions are contributing to it. Your roosts look very high. Recommended height for bumblefoot prone birds is 18-24”. Are they jumping from the chicken ladder to rock? Do the roosts or ladder have splinters? Recommendations for bumblefoot prone birds are 2”x4”s laid on the flat edge, not round branches.

 

[Potrack]

Only the ones with the black necrotic area appear to be bumblefoot in your photos, but I would be highly suspicious of any swelling of the footpads or the bird exhibiting any evidence of pain when applying their weight to the foot. I continued treatment until the footpad no longer swelled between treatments. The black scabby area remained for quite some time, but once the swelling stopped the pain stopped, and the infection subsided and the foot was okay.

 

[Potrack]

It’s overwhelming alright, but I don’t think it’s anything you’re doing wrong. They have just managed to find a bug that is making hay while the sun shines. I blamed mine on a wet, messy bog. Try to dry up your watering area except for the bowl itself. If the infectious material is there, drying out will eliminate it. I never changed a thing with my flock other than trying to quarantine them from their previous environment and treating the cases. Coop cleaning, feed selection, and other factors never changed, but the problem resolved. So I blamed it on environmental exposure to the pathogen. I thought the first case might have stepped on an exposed nail. But umpteen birds stepping on a nail with their foot, usually in the center pad, causing a black scab, all in a few weeks? I decided nope. Something else going on around here. Something microbial.

 

[Potrack]

Incredibly minimal.
I’m really not trying to be rude, but I’m wondering if anyone who is replying to cut into the chickens feet over this has ever had a case of bumblefoot in a chicken before. That isn’t a severe case, nor will those become severe.
Don’t cut into any of their feet or you’ll be in it for the long haul. All of those spots will slough off or at some point you can pick them off with your fingers.
Look at your surfaces for suspect materials and change it up. It looks to me maybe like small rocks or bark causing it. maybe wet conditions are contributing to it. Your roosts look very high. Recommended height for bumblefoot prone birds is 18-24”. Are they jumping from the chicken ladder to rock? Do the roosts or ladder have splinters? Recommendations for bumblefoot prone birds are 2”x4”s laid on the flat edge, not round branches.

Perhaps lancing is the wrong word and sounds like slashing, but the idea is to reopen the area that the infection entered with a small sterile needle and drain the infectious material. No blood involved unless there is some blood mixed with the drainage, and that is possible. Not implying cutting or slicing any live healthy skin, just puncture the scab. Usually my bird was back on his foot the next day, even though it would usually swell again in the following days, but keep the triple a going and it goes away. Of course that’s just my experience. And I’ve had more of it than I ever wanted, with bumblefoot. Your results may vary.

 

[Potrack]

With the diarrhea problem, I can’t be of any help. I’ve never had any noticeable problem on that count. Not sure if it’s related to your bumblefoot problem, IE same pathogen. They may be unrelated. My flock had bumblefoot without any other accompanying symptoms or sequelae.

 

[CallieSFlock]

I don’t see anything too terrible. Are any of the chickens limping or holding up a leg? I got some really sharp pine shavings last year for my coop, and worried that those might cause small cuts. When there is a large outbreak of footpad dermatitis or pododermatitus in large poultry operations, sometimes the cause can be the droppings. A high pH in droppings, higher amounts of soy in the feed, or wet conditions can increase the likelihood of bumblefoot.
Here are some good articles to read about bumblefoot causes:
https://thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/contact-dermatitis-hock-burn-pododermatitis

http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/bumblefoot

I have been concerned about their dropping they have all had unusual dropping. They have all had loose and weird colored stools since the food fungal incident.

 

[CallieSFlock]

Come to think of it.... are there grasses or plants in your yard with stickers? Like those awful goatheads or something else spikey?

Yes! Yesterday I did find a sticker in one of my hen's feet! I think that might be part of the issue. We're have black berry bushes rampant around here. The thorn was straight into her foot it had to hurry like a son of a gun!