Bumblefoot in multiple hens

[NewsmallflockCT]

Hi all,
I noticed one of my girls had a swollen foot yesterday which prompted me to check everyone's feet, and I have multiple hens with various degrees of bumblefoot. (I'm fairly new at this and I feel awful - clearly I should have been checking their feet regularly which I will do going forward.)

I feel good about my treatment plan based on reading online, but I want to prevent this from happening in the future. I think arborist wood chips in my covered run are the culprit. Some of the pieces are fairly sharp, and I know there are some pine and spruce needles in the mix as well. Does this sound like it's probably the issue? It has been very rainy here the last few weeks so the run stays a bit damp.

My coop has 4-6" of pine shavings and straw. The roosts are smooth lumber. They are 16-24" off the floor, but my heaviest chickens' feet look fine. The worst affected hen is actually my most petite girl so I think the roosts aren't the problem. They also do some free ranging most days, primarily in a grassy area, but there are some thorny plants at the edge of my woods that they sometimes venture into as well. I am shoveling out all the chips and thinking of replacing them with pine pellets. Does this sound reasonable? Do you think I need to keep them from ranging into the edge of the woods as well?

Thanks for any input!

 

[Saveria]

Do you want to put up some pictures of your hens feet just in case that lends some clues?

I think that sounds like a reasonable plan to ditch the pokey wood chips. You should probably be fine switching over to pine shavings, that works fine for my chickens. My birds don't have any trouble with being in the forest, but if yours seem to have issues after the wood chips are gone, we may have to do some more detective work to be sure it isn't something else causing it. You can keep me posted about how it goes.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

Do what you can, but honestly don't beat yourself up. It is really common and as long as you are doing your best to respond to it and treat it, you are doing your duty. Some of mine have mild cases I've been able to monitor and see improve on their own, but we've had a really damp, floody summer, so the yard never quite dries out, and I think that's contributing here. GL!