10 day old Cornish cross chicks with possible bumblefoot

[Northern.Ontario]

Hi everyone.

It may be too early to diagnose bumblefoot but I think it's the leader. I have 5 ten day old Cornish cross chicks out of 100 who have developed a limp over the last 2 days. They use their wing to balance themselves on the side with the leg that has inflammation and swelling. They can navigate their way to food and water just fine. But one leg is noticeably red and inflamed. On closer examination of their feet, the bottom pads of the good foot appear soft while the red and inflamed leg has a small hard mass or cyst/abcess in the middle of the bottom of the foot. One chick had a black scab over this mass.

I'm thinking it's a contender for bumblefoot. The other contender is a leg sprain, tendon or ligament injury.

They are meat chicks so i don' want to bring them to an expensive vet. What are the best treatment routes? Should I attempt an incision on the bottom of their foot and remove any foreign objects? I have vetricyn, polysporin and blu-kote plus wraps and gauze bandage

 

[Kiki]

Can you post a picture of the chick that has the black scab?

 

[Dawnclucks22]

I've found that, caught early enough, warm water and some gentle massaging can help take off the scab. I've done it twice and bandaged it with non-medicated neosporin which healed well.
I hope you get this figured out!

 

[Northern.Ontario]

We tried lancing their feet but only got a bit of blood. Their feet are now covered in Blu-kote so it's hard to show.

I can best describe their injury as a prominent lump on only one of their feet located on the bottom and in the exact middle of the foot.

They use their wings to balance themselves. Their poops are normal and they eat and drink like pigs.

 

[Northern.Ontario]

Our plan is to do surgery. Cut 2/3 of the way around the base of the lump and flush out any foreign objects. The sanitize with isopropyl alcohol and polysporin. Then wrap up.