Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.... Bumblefoot

[ChickPrincess]

I had noticed a tiny bug on one hen a couple days ago, so I treated everyone today with permethrin. It went amazingly smooth. I put the powder in an old cotton sock and puffed it all over, under their wings, tops and their vents really well. Dusted the roosts, etc. I will do it again in about 8 days.
As I was watching them, making sure none had reactions, I noticed one hen with a swollen foot. Sure enough... bumblefoot. It looks like one big cyst between her toes. Poor thing. I'm a baby when it comes to any kind of surgery, so I went ahead and bought Tricide-neo on line (found koiacres.com that has a free ship special). I also found Preperation H (Equate brand) and vetrap on Amazon. I got 10 rolls of vetrap... it was a good deal and I can't resist a good deal! lol
There's a reason my title says "dumb, dumb, dumb". When we built the coop in the spring, hubby used road millings all around the outside... including in the run. DUH. Full of rocks. I spent hours tonight raking and hauling rocks away with more to do tomorrow. I'll get a truckload of sand to cover it after that. I also had my roosts much too high, but I have already changed that.
Sigh... all these things I wish I had known earlier.

Hopefully she pulls through the bumblefoot okay! I should get everything delivered by Aug 3rd or 4th and will start soaking with epsom salt tomorrow while we're waiting.
Shhhhhhhhh... hubby doesn't know what I've spent.

 

[DTchickens]

I had noticed a tiny bug on one hen a couple days ago, so I treated everyone today with permethrin. It went amazingly smooth. I put the powder in an old cotton sock and puffed it all over, under their wings, tops and their vents really well. Dusted the roosts, etc. I will do it again in about 8 days.
As I was watching them, making sure none had reactions, I noticed one hen with a swollen foot. Sure enough... bumblefoot. It looks like one big cyst between her toes. Poor thing. I'm a baby when it comes to any kind of surgery, so I went ahead and bought Tricide-neo on line (found koiacres.com that has a free ship special). I also found Preperation H (Equate brand) and vetrap on Amazon. I got 10 rolls of vetrap... it was a good deal and I can't resist a good deal! lol
There's a reason my title says "dumb, dumb, dumb". When we built the coop in the spring, hubby used road millings all around the outside... including in the run. DUH. Full of rocks. I spent hours tonight raking and hauling rocks away with more to do tomorrow. I'll get a truckload of sand to cover it after that. I also had my roosts much too high, but I have already changed that.
Sigh... all these things I wish I had known earlier.

Hopefully she pulls through the bumblefoot okay! I should get everything delivered by Aug 3rd or 4th and will start soaking with epsom salt tomorrow while we're waiting.
Shhhhhhhhh... hubby doesn't know what I've spent.

Bumblefoot isn't that hard of a "surgery" to do, I've had two cases of it; one didn't even bleed when I removed it but one was a pretty serious case. Didn't even use all of the "must haves" most people write about in their articles. All I used was a simple pocket knife, hydrogen peroxide, water and some large bandaides (didn't have vetrap). Neither of the cases came back, didn't really cause the birds pain or anything at least enough so that they tried to get away. I held them in my lap as I did it actually without even using a towel to keep them still.

I do intend on getting some supplies though to use in case of serious surgeries. I hope I never need them and as of now in 18 years of poultry experience I have never had anything that required it, those were actually my first two cases of bumblefoot. But anyway, hope your bird gets better!

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[Haunted Chicken]

I went ahead and bought Tricide-neo on line (found koiacres.com that has a free ship special).

I just completed surgery on my hen's foot earlier tonight. Same issue here, gravel everywhere (tons). No clue how we will ever get rid of all of it, but I'll try to start hauling in mulch to cover it. I took her to an avian vet a few days ago and he told me to continue soaking in Epsom salts and wrapping it. I can only get a fraction of the antibiotics down her throat. Most ends up on her neck or me. Anyway....She was miserable so I went ahead and cut it out. So happy I did. I could tell she was happier with the pressure gone. But this way of administering meds is for the birds, lol. I'll be ordering the Tricide-Neo tomorrow. Do you know if I can still soak her feet in it if she has open wounds now?

When you ordered from koiacres.com was the free shipping only on $99 orders or more? Thanks

 

[ChickPrincess]

Thank you, Daniel. The more I'm researching the surgery, the less scared I'm becoming. I'll find out when I'm actually doing it!

Haunted chicken, I had to use the code tricideshipfree in the coupon code at checkout. I think it was $22 and I had it in like 2 days. They were awesome.

I have the tricide neo. I'm just waiting for the vetrap and I can start! Hopefully that comes today. I ended up buying 10 rolls of the stuff (5 yd rolls) because it was so cheap. With shipping, it came to about $2 a roll! And I have enough vetrap to treat bumblefoot for the next 50 years!

Good question... does anyone know if the tricide neo can be used on open wounds???

I'll post my progress. Thanks for the confidence boost!

 

[yokohamamama]

No clue on the open wounds thing, but my fiancee and I did our first bumble foot surgery two weeks ago, (i do recomend having help, I got too squeemish at the cutting and he had to do it ) But she pulled through amazingly well, all healed up in 5 days and back to terrorizing the coop Just make sure to get all of it
Hope she gets bettter

 

[ChickPrincess]

Here goes! I got my vetrap in today, so I can finally get started. Yay! That stuff is awesome!
Here's my girl getting her foot soaked in epsom salt and warm water.



After she was soaked I discovered bumblefoot on BOTH feet, thought the left foot isn't swollen on top. She just has a scab that looks the same as her right foot. Both feet are hot to the touch.



She has an awful cyst on the top of her right foot. On the plus side, it looks like it almost split on the top, so it may open up after a few good soaks.



Here she is all wrapped up. She behaved very well. When I first put her out in the run, everyone rushed to her and started pecking at her feet. Within a minute they all forgot about it and she's been fine ever since.


For now, I just used an epsom salt soak and preperation H under the gauze. Just before she roosts I'll do a tricide-neo treatment.
Do these things ever break open from the top of the foot?
I'll keep you updated.

 

[TwoCrows]

Looks like you did a great job! Now check the foot daily for a few weeks to make sure it is healing. Dont' mess with the scabs unless they look pusy. If they are a blood red in color, then all is healing well. Keep the bandages on until the scab falls off. If you remove them too soon, they can get reinfected.

 

[ChickPrincess]

Good to know. I was debating if I should try to scrape the scabs off. I'll leave them alone. Thanks! Don't I treat with tricide-neo once a day for like a week though?

 

[TwoCrows]

You can soak if you wish. Don't soak beyond one week as you want the scabs to start to dry out. Keep the feet bandaged. Clean and dry is the key to healing.

 

[ChickPrincess]

You can soak if you wish. Don't soak beyond one week as you want the scabs to start to dry out. Keep the feet bandaged. Clean and dry is the key to healing.

I think I will still soak with epsom salt in the mornings to help make sure it stays clean. I'm glad she was so good about being bandaged. Good for a newbie! I could take my time.