A flock with bumblefoot: Journey back to health

[aart]

I've been thinking about those 'bandage blisters'...I had the same thing happen after hand surgery, the plain gauze was rough enough and rubbed enough along the edges to form small painful blisters/sores like that...so maybe the nonstick will help as it's smoother.

 

[deacons]

I've been thinking about those 'bandage blisters'...I had the same thing happen after hand surgery, the plain gauze was rough enough and rubbed enough along the edges to form small painful blisters/sores like that...so maybe the nonstick will help as it's smoother.

Interesting! I suppose I'll never know for sure if the materials caused the blisters, but I will definitely stick with the non-stick pads vs. gauze.

 

[deacons]

Today was the first day this season that we've had below freezing temps and frost on the ground. I was really hoping to have all bandages off by the time the temps were below freezing- I definitely don't want to add frostbite to our list of problems! But, the girls seemed to keep the coop about 10 degrees warmer than outside, so it was in the high 30s in there, and they didn't seem too uncomfortable walking around outside this morning. Luckily it will be warming up fast today and stay above freezing for the rest of the week, so hopefully we'll make enough progress to get most bandages off before the next below-freezing day!

 

[iwiw60]

Today was the first day this season that we've had below freezing temps and frost on the ground. I was really hoping to have all bandages off by the time the temps were below freezing- I definitely don't want to add frostbite to our list of problems! But, the girls seemed to keep the coop about 10 degrees warmer than outside, so it was in the high 30s in there, and they didn't seem too uncomfortable walking around outside this morning. Luckily it will be warming up fast today and stay above freezing for the rest of the week, so hopefully we'll make enough progress to get most bandages off before the next below-freezing day!

I live in snow country, too, and have been doing a lot of thinking about the run. Mine's dirt and when we freeze down for the winter it is rock-hard. I think I'm going to take a full bale of pine wood shavings along with a half-bale of clean straw and put down in there. That way my girls' feet aren't directly on the frozen ground. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I think this will work.

 

[deacons]

I live in snow country, too, and have been doing a lot of thinking about the run. Mine's dirt and when we freeze down for the winter it is rock-hard. I think I'm going to take a full bale of pine wood shavings along with a half-bale of clean straw and put down in there. That way my girls' feet aren't directly on the frozen ground. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I think this will work.

Sounds like my run too. Last year I put 2-3 straw bales down once we were consistently getting snow. My run has a hardware cloth "roof" for predator protection and two of three sides wrapped with thick plastic, but not a solid roof to keep out the snow. So, when I can anticipate heavy snow overnight, I actually rake the straw into half the run and cover with a tarp. After the snow stops, then I shovel out the bare ground, shovel off the tarp to get access to the straw, and rake the straw back out. On days when there is really heavy snow or extreme cold temps during the daytime, we have "temporary shelter" in our garage- one corner of it that is blocked off with chicken wire and also bedded in straw so they can be a bit more protected. They hate staying in the coop during the day but hanging out in the garage seems like a field trip to them. It's definitely a battle to get them through the winter as comfortable as possible.

The Goldies had their first winter last year- despite all my efforts, they got pretty bad frostbite on the tips of their combs, but they eventually lost those tips and the combs are now a bit smoother- I'm hoping that will help them a bit this year. In our area, they are calling for the same bitter cold as last year, but not as much snow.

 

[iwiw60]

Sounds like my run too. Last year I put 2-3 straw bales down once we were consistently getting snow. My run has a hardware cloth "roof" for predator protection and two of three sides wrapped with thick plastic, but not a solid roof to keep out the snow. So, when I can anticipate heavy snow overnight, I actually rake the straw into half the run and cover with a tarp. After the snow stops, then I shovel out the bare ground, shovel off the tarp to get access to the straw, and rake the straw back out. On days when there is really heavy snow or extreme cold temps during the daytime, we have "temporary shelter" in our garage- one corner of it that is blocked off with chicken wire and also bedded in straw so they can be a bit more protected. They hate staying in the coop during the day but hanging out in the garage seems like a field trip to them. It's definitely a battle to get them through the winter as comfortable as possible.

The Goldies had their first winter last year- despite all my efforts, they got pretty bad frostbite on the tips of their combs, but they eventually lost those tips and the combs are now a bit smoother- I'm hoping that will help them a bit this year. In our area, they are calling for the same bitter cold as last year, but not as much snow.

Sounds like a lot of work with that hardware cloth roof...eek! Plain old galvanized metal roofing is still relatively cheap...that's what I used. As for the frostbite, put a little Vaseline in between your fingers and rub their combs, etc. with it....works great.

 

[deacons]

Day 46 Treatment Update (Wednesday)

We have been having just a miserable week weather-wise. Cold, dank, steady rain, in the low 40s during the day and overnight. Tomorrow a nor'easter is supposed to blow through, but thankfully temps will stay in the 40s so it will be rain, not inches of snow. But the feet were looking a bit soggy, and it's been hard to time things right to make the bandage change worthwhile. In the midst of the rain tonight, I opted to change bandages so they'd go to bed clean and dry. I'll reassess how bad things are tomorrow and may just change them again, since I imagine they'll be pretty waterlogged after enduring inches of rain!

Anyway, things were pretty good overall!

1. Pretty Girl was, as usual, squirmy and mad, so I didn't get any pictures of her. One foot is looking almost ready to be unbandaged, the other is looking better but I think probably still has a few more days. I cleaned out both feet, sprayed down with vetericyn, and rebandaged.
2. Goldie #2 made good progress. I unbandaged one of the feet completely, and the other (the one that was worse to begin with) is still healing, so I cleaned, sprayed, and rebandaged:


3. Ro was looking great! First, 2 of the 4 blisters looked like they had made significant healing. One foot had a loose, raised scab. When that came off, it left a bit of a crater underneath, but it came off cleanly and the skin underneath was clean too. It's a little hard to see here because unfortunately the light was bad and the picture is blurry, but you can sort of make out the divot in the middle:


The other foot was ok too, still with a noticeable scab, but I think healing reasonably well- sorry for the dirt in the picture, I snapped it quickly and then scrubbed it out again so it was cleaner before I rebandaged:


I also checked the others who have had bandages off for a few days now, and everything is still looking good, no regressing.

It's amazing how much faster it is to "only" have 3 chickens with bandages to change! Dare I say I see the light at the end of the tunnel??

 

[iwiw60]

Day 46 Treatment Update (Wednesday)

We have been having just a miserable week weather-wise. Cold, dank, steady rain, in the low 40s during the day and overnight. Tomorrow a nor'easter is supposed to blow through, but thankfully temps will stay in the 40s so it will be rain, not inches of snow. But the feet were looking a bit soggy, and it's been hard to time things right to make the bandage change worthwhile. In the midst of the rain tonight, I opted to change bandages so they'd go to bed clean and dry. I'll reassess how bad things are tomorrow and may just change them again, since I imagine they'll be pretty waterlogged after enduring inches of rain!

Anyway, things were pretty good overall!

1. Pretty Girl was, as usual, squirmy and mad, so I didn't get any pictures of her. One foot is looking almost ready to be unbandaged, the other is looking better but I think probably still has a few more days. I cleaned out both feet, sprayed down with vetericyn, and rebandaged.
2. Goldie #2 made good progress. I unbandaged one of the feet completely, and the other (the one that was worse to begin with) is still healing, so I cleaned, sprayed, and rebandaged:


3. Ro was looking great! First, 2 of the 4 blisters looked like they had made significant healing. One foot had a loose, raised scab. When that came off, it left a bit of a crater underneath, but it came off cleanly and the skin underneath was clean too. It's a little hard to see here because unfortunately the light was bad and the picture is blurry, but you can sort of make out the divot in the middle:


The other foot was ok too, still with a noticeable scab, but I think healing reasonably well- sorry for the dirt in the picture, I snapped it quickly and then scrubbed it out again so it was cleaner before I rebandaged:


I also checked the others who have had bandages off for a few days now, and everything is still looking good, no regressing.

It's amazing how much faster it is to "only" have 3 chickens with bandages to change! Dare I say I see the light at the end of the tunnel??

 

[deacons]

Day 47 Treatment Update (Thursday)
I'm such a hopeless softie with these girls-feet were soggy and waterlogged after a couple of inches of rain today, so I changed bandages again right before bed. I was moving really fast, so no pictures. But Ro was looking really GOOD! Her footpads are almost clear and blisters continued to heal. Gotta love vetericyn!

 

[deacons]

Day 50 Treatment (Sunday)
The last two updates, it seemed like we were making incredible progress, but this time, things are still improving, just a little slower.

1. Ro's two footpads looked great- the sores were largely healed up. Two of the blisters (one on each foot) were open enough that I decided to bandage at least one more time to try to get them to close up more. You can see them on each foot towards the top right corner:





2. Goldie #2- I went ahead and took her bandages off completely. There's a chance that I jumped the gun and maybe should have gone one more cycle with the bandage on, but the scab came off completely clean, and I just really wanted to be able to be done. I'll check her again mid-week to make sure it's still ok.


3. Pretty Girl was fine, a little better but still scabs that were noticable. I finally did get a picture of one of the feet at least.


Poor thing though, she is now heading into what looks like it might be a hard molt. I am half expecting to wake up tomorrow to her completely naked. It looked like a feather bomb went off in the run, and the breeze is blowing feathers off her. This is what the table looked like after I was done with her bandage change:


She's looking a little thinned out around her neck, but as far as I can tell, the worst of the feather loss is coming from around her "pants."


It's supposed to stay in the 50s/low 60s*F during the day, and mid-40s overnight for the next week, so hopefully she does this quick and starts to get feathered back in before the cold really comes.