Bumblefoot

dreamer5577

Songster
10 Years
May 16, 2011
1,380
25
201
Pennsylvania
Okay, I know, I know. There are so many bumble foot threads! I have read probably through... all of them. I still have questions. AND PLEASE do not bring up surgery yet. I am not at the stage yet. That will be my worst case scenario go to. ALSO I cannot get pictures as am alone and had no assistance. I will get some soon and add them once I do.

About a month ago I noticed 5 of my hens had scabs on the bottoms of their feet. No swelling at all and non were limping. My sister was just picking them up and I caught a glimpse. I would have never really noticed otherwise. Most of them are very small scabs and some have them on both feet. One chicken though, the scab is about the size of a dime. But the feet do not bother these chickens for some reason. I immediately inspected the coops and began washing feet and wraping them til I got my tricide neo in the post. Once I did, I began soaking their feet for 5 minutes a day and not wraping them after (Should I have done this?). It's been two weeks, I'm out of solution and I don't REALLY see any progress. Should I have seen some by now? Some of the scabs have turned a dark brown and one chicken's scab kind of turned a pink-ish. I really want to know should I be seeing progress? Or should I move on to another type of treatment (DON'T say surgery). I really just would like to see your pictures of bumble foot and hear your opinions on what you think I should do. Should I continue the soak? Should I be soaking longer and wraping them after?

Thanks!
 
I am just curious about why you are so opposed to surgically removing the scab and infected part but it's clear you are not interested in doing that. Are you opposed to using antibiotics as well? Lots of people go that route with cleaning and giving an antibiotic but that can be problematic in a lot of ways (eggs can't be eaten for a while, etc). There is a website with info on an herbal treatment.
http://walkaheadfarms.weebly.com/fa...blefoot-in-chickens-what-we-do-and-why-part-4
I've never tried it personally so I have no idea how effective it would be.

I have a hen right now with bumble foot and I did the surgery myself after soaking her foot in epsom salts for 5 minutes. After I removed the scab and the yucky stuff I irrigated it really well and used an antibiotic gel along with wrapping it. So far it looks great. Good luck...
 
I did this with my rooster, he had a scab that indicated bumblefoot and the pad of his foot swelled up quite a bit. I hold him regularly so it couldn't have been too long. anyways when I prepared to take the thing out I noticed nothing was underneath the scab. The typical video showed as soon as you pulled the scab out there was something underneath that could just be popped like a pimple and squeezed out or just kinda attached to the scab when it was pulled but I found nothing underneath the scab but pink flesh of his foot. I learned there is a scab form of bumblefoot, there's also the stringy kind where you open the foot and see a bunch of infected white strings and the kernel kind where there is a pimple kind of kernel inside their foot right under the scab. The scab form you can scrape off the scab on the bottom of their foot until you see the fleshy pink part of their foot underneath, the scab would be essentially the infection and taking it out would "cure" them. Since I took the scab out his foot had to be wrapped every day to keep it from becoming infected again. The swelling is completely gone and his foot looks normal but the scab is still there and he still has to be wrapped and kept clean. I'm with you on wondering when it will go away but all the signs of bumblefoot are gone other than the scab. The scab did turn colors again so I'm wondering if I should pick it off.
 
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But I will warn you the scab form can also be rare, especially if the infection has been there for a long time. If you have chickens with full blown bumblefoot and if you do not take it out the infection it can easily spread to their bones and tendons causing them to lose their ability to walk and eventually a horrible slow death. You know your birds better than we do you can see if their feet still look infected. If it's red or even a little swollen they may still have the infection inside their foot and just covering and treating the scab would not help
 
I am just curious about why you are so opposed to surgically removing the scab and infected part but it's clear you are not interested in doing that. Are you opposed to using antibiotics as well? Lots of people go that route with cleaning and giving an antibiotic but that can be problematic in a lot of ways (eggs can't be eaten for a while, etc). There is a website with info on an herbal treatment.
http://walkaheadfarms.weebly.com/fa...blefoot-in-chickens-what-we-do-and-why-part-4
I've never tried it personally so I have no idea how effective it would be.

I have a hen right now with bumble foot and I did the surgery myself after soaking her foot in epsom salts for 5 minutes. After I removed the scab and the yucky stuff I irrigated it really well and used an antibiotic gel along with wrapping it. So far it looks great. Good luck...

I'm mostly opposed because I have no help. I feel like I'm not prepared enough or able to do it safely. My birds are SO squirmy. Just soaking their feet for 5 minutes a day is a hassle. I have been looking into it, I just don't think it would be fair to the bird if I screwed up.

I also thought about the antibiotic route, but was not sure where to obtain them. I have no local avian vet and I haven't found a feed store that sells them yet.
 
Some antibiotics are available on line. If you need to soak a chicken's feet, put them in a 5 gallon bucket with the soaking solution already in the bucket. Cover the bucket with a ventilated object to prevent their escape. This method is much less traumatic than holding the bird and forcing the chicken to do something.
 
I just treated bumble foot, I realize now, in a hen who I have never picked up. She has been limping for over a week. Tonight I caught her and examined the pads. Both looked okay. The problem was on the top of the foot. There was a hardened mass that I couldn't identify.
Anyway, alone, I took her into the bathroom and put her foot in a bowl of warm water with Epsom salts. I am always amazed that the birds don't fight me when I am with them in the bathroom. In fact I was hands off and she just stood there most of the time. I poked the scab with tweezers and it seemed to move. I am squeamish and would say no chicken surgery for me but honestly it was like removing a giant hard blackhead. I put Nu Stock on the would which did not ooze or bleed (that worries me because I would have preferred to see blood indicating I'd got to the bottom of it.) I am sure I will have to keep treating it with soaking and Nu Stock. I will also research treatment tonight.
Another example of how the chickens "behave" once inside the house is my rotten Sultan rooster who flogs me routinely. On at least one occasion I bathed him and then blow dried him with the hair dryer all with no protest!!!!
 

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