First time treating bumblefoot and very worried about my hen!

[Juliefred07]

I have always had chickens but now I have one with bumblefoot! We noticed that she had a lump on the top of her foot. I looked at the bottom and I saw the black scab. I soaked her foot in Epsom salt and warm water, we cleaned it and used an xacto knife to remove the scab. We also removed any chunky bits seen. It has been about a week of soaking daily, cleaning with chlorhexadine, applying an antibiotic ointment and wrapping her foot. I also have been adding antibiotics to her water. The bottom of her foot is looking better and the hole is starting to close but she still has a large, hard lump on the top of her foot. She walks on it just fine but when I push on the lump it seems to hurt her. Should I be worried about the hole closing while she still has the lump there? She is eating great and drinking great, I just don’t want her to be in any pain! Any advice would be helpful!

 

[chickengirl2016]

I have always had chickens but now I have one with bumblefoot! We noticed that she had a lump on the top of her foot. I looked at the bottom and I saw the black scab. I soaked her foot in Epsom salt and warm water, we cleaned it and used an xacto knife to remove the scab. We also removed any chunky bits seen. It has been about a week of soaking daily, cleaning with chlorhexadine, applying an antibiotic ointment and wrapping her foot. I also have been adding antibiotics to her water. The bottom of her foot is looking better and the hole is starting to close but she still has a large, hard lump on the top of her foot. She walks on it just fine but when I push on the lump it seems to hurt her. Should I be worried about the hole closing while she still has the lump there? She is eating great and drinking great, I just don’t want her to be in any pain! Any advice would be helpful!

Welcome to BYC
I dealt with bumblefoot on the bottom of the foot last year, but I never saw the bump from the top so I don't have experience with that. However there are quite a few people in here that do.
However, could you post photos for the professionals to see when they get on? Also, is her leg hot? That was the indicator for the infection still being in my chickens foot after I thought I got it all out (I had not, and I had to go digging again).
I will be praying for your baby!

 

[Juliefred07]

Welcome to BYC
I dealt with bumblefoot on the bottom of the foot last year, but I never saw the bump from the top so I don't have experience with that. However there are quite a few people in here that do.
However, could you post photos for the professionals to see when they get on? Also, is her leg hot? That was the indicator for the infection still being in my chickens foot after I thought I got it all out (I had not, and I had to go digging again).
I will be praying for your baby!

It is a little warm but not super hot and I’ve attached some pictures

 

[chickengirl2016]

It is a little warm but not super hot and I’ve attached some pictures

Excellent work on keeping it clean!! You're doing a great job . In my opinion, having only dealt with this one time, I would say something is still in there keeping it swollen and aggravated. My chickens foot didn't swell that much, but once I got the other piece of the infection out, the swelling went away pretty quickly, like within 3 days.
I'm gonna call in some of the wise chicken elder reinforcements for this one, @TwoCrows , maybe you can help or know someone who could?

 

[TwoCrows]

Great that you were able to get the bumblefoot on the pad cleaned up. Make sure to keep it bandaged every day for about 1 month or until the puncture wound heals and the scab falls off on it's own. If you don't keep it bandaged, it will reinfect. Change bandages daily, use a topical anti bacterial cream on the wound.

Swelling on the top is never good, it can mean they have Mycoplasma Synovea, which is a nasty bacteria that is very difficult to kill off in the birds. It is contagious. The infection stems in the synovial fluid and foot joints, the pus draining into the pad of the foot, hence the bumblefoot. Do not cut into this top swelling, it will not fix the issue.

What type of antibiotics are you putting in the water? She will need to be on something strong to get into the deep tissue.

 

[Juliefred07]

i attaches a picture of what I’m giving her now but I’m almost out of it so I ordered 250mg amoxicillin, it says its for fish but I read in a few places that it works for chickens too, I hope that it is the right stuff but I’m not sure about the dose.
thank you so much for your help!!

 

[TwoCrows]

i attaches a picture of what I’m giving her now but I’m almost out of it so I ordered 250mg amoxicillin, it says its for fish but I read in a few places that it works for chickens too, I hope that it is the right stuff but I’m not sure about the dose.
thank you so much for your help!!

Yes you can use the fish stuff for chickens. What breed is she, and how much does she weigh? A 5 lb. Bird would get 250mg 2 times daily orally.

 

[Juliefred07]

She is a red sex-link and weighs about 4 pounds

 

[TwoCrows]

She is a red sex-link and weighs about 4 pounds

Great! Once you get the 250mg Amox, give her 250mg in the morning, 250mg in the evening, spaced about 12 hours a part. If you have an empty syringe, you can crush the meds down and put it in 1ml of baby food or even apple sauce and squeeze onto her tongue. Continue with the Amox for a while, let us know if she starts to improve at one week.

 

[Juliefred07]

Thank you so much! I will let you know.