Hern has painful feet suspect bumblefoot

[pheyman333]

We have a hen that has two painful feet that are swollen with a black scab in the middle. She is mostly indoors and we don’t know how she could get bumblefoot. But it appears that this is what it is. She is in pain, please can someone advise.

 

[azygous]

Yep. You're right. It's bumblefoot. Ignore the funny name. What's actually going on is a staph infection that took over a cut or abrasion. Any slight skin cut will let the staph bacteria in and it's then going to keep multiplying. Left untreated, the staph can get into the bones of the feet and legs, crippling the chicken and maybe killing her.

Unless you have a good vet that will treat chickens and you have the money to pay them, treatment is going to be up to you. I must warn you that a serious case, as this appears to be, can take weeks, months, and even over a year to get under control. You may need a strong oral antibiotic if the infection goes very deep.

First, you must decide if you are up to the job. It will require surgery for the first couple weeks to remove infected tissue (called debriding). There are no safe pain blockers for chickens so it will be painful for your patient to endure. You can, however, safely give baby aspirin to help reduce the pain.

The alternative to vet care and your committing to treating her yourself is euthanasia. If she's exhibiting pain when she walks, that's a signal the infection has progressed to a serious stage.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

We have a hen that has two painful feet that are swollen with a black scab in the middle. She is mostly indoors and we don’t know how she could get bumblefoot. But it appears that this is what it is. She is in pain, please can someone advise.

Yup, that definitely looks like bumblefoot. Go to the learning center and find the section on bumble foot. I am sure somebody on here will help you but it will help if you go and read the whole article yourself.

 

[azygous]

Yes, as @SurferchickinSB has said, we will be here to walk you through it the first time. It will require a long term commitment, more that any special skill.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Yes, as @SurferchickinSB has said, we will be here to walk you through it the first time. It will require a long term commitment, more that any special skill.

See, someone has already stepped up to the plate! This site is so great that people like you are willing to spend their time helping out!

 

[pheyman333]

I’m taking her to the vet tomorrow. Thank you all for your input. She didn’t walk anywhere dangerous so I don’t understand how she got it nor how to prevent it happening again?

 

[azygous]

Picking up a stone bruise or a splinter or a cut are some of the ways chicken's injure their feet, but I once had five Welsummer pullets with bumblefoot from jumping off a high perch without enough bedding below to cushion the landing. Since I lowered the perch, none have bruised their feet and gotten bumblefoot again.

I'm glad you're able to take your hen to a vet for this. They will be able to do the surgery necessary to get the healing process begun, and they can show you how to keep up the care and treatment required. Very good decision.

Please let us all know how it goes and what the vet does.

 

[pheyman333]

Well the vet gave her a topical treatment to put on the infection twice daily and an oral antibiotic and told me to come back in2 weeks. He wants to wait to see if she will start healing on her own without requiring surgical intervention. What do you think?

 

[MissChick@dee]

There’s so many things that can cause bumble. A Goathead a sharp edge of wire and sharp little stone. Anything that can cause a poke or a scrape.
Best wishes to you and your hen.

 

[azygous]

I do realize many vets that agree to see chickens are well-meaning and try their best to treat an animal they've never really studied. Chicken infections that produce pus almost always require debriding dead tissue and pus for healing to even start. One of the reasons for this is that chicken pus isn't a liquid like it is in most animals and therefore easily absorbed into the tissues as healing occurs.

Chicken pus is like lard. It's solid and it needs to be surgically removed from the wound. Even in eye infections, the pus is this lard-like material that needs to be pushed out of the eye to allow healing to take place.

I am of the opinion that you are still better off with the vet treating this serious case than attempting it yourself for the first time. But do try to reconcile to the fact of surgery likely being necessary.