A flock with bumblefoot: Journey back to health

[sunflour]

You are doing such a great job. Looks like you may finally have it all licked. Really appreciate your sharing this trying experience.

 

[deacons]

Day 53 Treatment (Wednesday)

This is going to be an oddly toned down post for something that should be a real celebration...As of tonight, ALL bandages are OFF. Wouldn't you know it, I was not able to get any pictures!

It was a cold, dark, rainy night, and the light in the garage was terrible, and the flash on my phone camera didn't work properly so all my pictures have strange streaky lines through them. You can't make out anything in them. So let me explain how things wrapped up.

1. Ro looked great. Her footpads were clear and smooth. One of her blisters looked a little open, but I just felt like it was time to get the bandages off. I cleaned the blister, sprayed it with vetericyn, and she headed right for the roost.

2. Poor Pretty Girl. I honestly think she probably needed another round of bandage changes. BUT, she is in full blown molt, feathers everywhere, shivering with the cold chill, and I wanted those wet bandages OFF her feet. She has a few pin feathers around her neck where she's being picked on- they were ever so slightly bloody. I will need to dig out my blue kote tomorrow and try to stop the pecking before it gets out of hand. It's supposed to be sunny, if cool, the next two days, so I may grab her in the morning and bandage the feet again when I apply the blue kote. But with her being this stressed out with the molt, I don't want to add to the stress by continuing to handle her with the bandage changes. She's been the one that's fought the process the most all along, so I know it seriously stresses her out. I wish the pictures of the feet had come out so you all could take a look and tell me if you'd just let it go or continue bandaging. I'll see what I can do about pictures in the morning when I reassess.

Here is the poor thing, looking half naked and a little concerned:




I did tuck her in between a couple of the plumpest Wyandottes on the roost so am hoping they'll keep her warm on this chilly night.

 

[deacons]

Day 54 Update (Thursday)

OK, back with an update and foot pictures! I took at a look at Ro to make sure I didn't make a big mistake removing her bandages. With just a day of them being off, the blisters were all nearly gone, a little dry looking, but not raw or scabby. So I am going to stay confident about keeping her bandages off.

See the last blister up in the top right corner?


With a slight flick of a fingernail, it actually came right off and was just a little dry underneath:


Here's the other foot- you can still see where the outline of where the sore was, but this was mostly just dirt, not scab, so I cleaned her up and sent her on her way:


I did not catch Pretty Girl as I'm really trying not to handle her while the poor thing is so uncomfortable with her molt. Here she is in all her pathetic looking glory:


I am going to take a leap of faith and assume that her blisters will heal the same way Ro's and Robin's have, drying out quickly once unwrapped. I know that it may not go as well for her since her little body is pulled down right now with the molt. I'm hoping in a week or so, I can comfortably pick her up again and take a look to confirm she's still doing ok.

I also did a spot check of the Goldies and Robin. Everyone is still looking clear with no relapses.

Dare I say we have this thing kicked?!

 

[sunflour]

Looks like this horrific experience may be at or near the end…You and your flock are in our prayers…You are my hero!

Please keep the thread going, and let us know how things are going.

 

[deacons]

@sunflour, you're making me blush!! Thanks for the kind words. It is SO satisfying to see all the girls running around without bandages on!

I will definitely check in on this thread with future updates...

 

[sunflour]

@sunflour, you're making me blush!! Thanks for the kind words. It is SO satisfying to see all the girls running around without bandages on!

I will definitely check in on this thread with future updates...

Honestly,I have been described many times as brutally honest…if you slip is showing, I tell you. If theres ah something hanging from your nose, I tell you. It takes a lot to impress me, but you are awesome and deserve praise for what you have accomplished. Honestly, I don't know I have the fortitude to have endured the trials and tribulations you have demonstrated.

Thank you so much for posting your journey in this horrific adventure.

 

[azygous]

This thread has been a tremendous help to me, and I thank you so much for all the time you've taken to carefully document every phase of treatment with your charming patients.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I, too, was embarrassed upon discovering several cases if bumblefoot in my flock some weeks back. It's one of those things that I noticed in passing when handling my hens, but somehow it didn't sink in that I was looking at something serious. Like many moments of enlightenment, it occurred to me as I awoke from a dead sleep in the middle of the night. It was almost like a thunderous voice from the heavens, "The Welsummers have bumblefoot, you bumblehead, and it's all your fault!"

Then, it was followed closely by the realization that their roosting perch was too high, and they were injuring their feet jumping down every morning. So next morning, I obediently took down the perch and fixed it so it is now just inches from the floor, also solving the problem with it being slightly too short for five hens to flap their wings jumping up to it.

Back to the bumblefoot, I soaked their feet in epsom salts and pulled off the scabs and kernels, but then I didn't follow up with any more treatment and the scabs returned in a few weeks. That's when I discovered your thread with the step by step descriptions of your treatment protocol, and two days ago, I rounded up the ones whose scabs had returned, and I did a proper job on all of them this time.

Today, it was bandage changing day, and I was so excited to see dramatic healing! Smooth, new, pink skin was showing where two days ago, there were bloody craters. I didn't have any Vetericyn, so I just dabbed some triple antibiotic ointment on the sores, put a non-stick bandaid over it, then wrapped the foot in vet wrap. I was skeptical they'd leave the vet wrap on, but beyond pecking at it when they initially saw it on their feet, none of them had any problems with bandaged feet, going about their business of scratching around in the dirt, and roosting like they didn't have anything on their feet at all.

I'll be keeping a close eye on their feet from now on, and thanks to you, I discovered it's not difficult at all to treat bumblefoot, and it's easiest of all to catch it when it's just a small black scab, rather than waiting until it's swollen, infected, and painful.

 

[deacons]

@azygous-sorry to hear about your girls, but glad you've found the thread helpful. Hope things continue to improve for all of you. I'm on the mobile site, so can't see where you're from, but are you in a snowy/cold weather location? I was getting a little worried about bandages in below-freezing temps. Hopefully that won't be an issue for you!! Let us know how your girls are doing, and feel free to add any pictures here if you want.

 

[sunflour]

This thread has been a tremendous help to me, and I thank you so much for all the time you've taken to carefully document every phase of treatment with your charming patients.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I, too, was embarrassed upon discovering several cases if bumblefoot in my flock some weeks back. It's one of those things that I noticed in passing when handling my hens, but somehow it didn't sink in that I was looking at something serious. Like many moments of enlightenment, it occurred to me as I awoke from a dead sleep in the middle of the night. It was almost like a thunderous voice from the heavens, "The Welsummers have bumblefoot, you bumblehead, and it's all your fault!"

Then, it was followed closely by the realization that their roosting perch was too high, and they were injuring their feet jumping down every morning. So next morning, I obediently took down the perch and fixed it so it is now just inches from the floor, also solving the problem with it being slightly too short for five hens to flap their wings jumping up to it.

Back to the bumblefoot, I soaked their feet in epsom salts and pulled off the scabs and kernels, but then I didn't follow up with any more treatment and the scabs returned in a few weeks. That's when I discovered your thread with the step by step descriptions of your treatment protocol, and two days ago, I rounded up the ones whose scabs had returned, and I did a proper job on all of them this time.

Today, it was bandage changing day, and I was so excited to see dramatic healing! Smooth, new, pink skin was showing where two days ago, there were bloody craters. I didn't have any Vetericyn, so I just dabbed some triple antibiotic ointment on the sores, put a non-stick bandaid over it, then wrapped the foot in vet wrap. I was skeptical they'd leave the vet wrap on, but beyond pecking at it when they initially saw it on their feet, none of them had any problems with bandaged feet, going about their business of scratching around in the dirt, and roosting like they didn't have anything on their feet at all.

I'll be keeping a close eye on their feet from now on, and thanks to you, I discovered it's not difficult at all to treat bumblefoot, and it's easiest of all to catch it when it's just a small black scab, rather than waiting until it's swollen, infected, and painful.

Thanks for sharing your info which may help others with similar situations. Good detective work on figuring out the roost as the cause. I would not have even thought of the roost height or length being the culprit. The only issue I ever came across about that was the potential for leg/foot fractures when too high for the heavies. I would have looked for splinters, rough edges.

Nothing to be embarrassed about, I think it is human nature to have some denial at first in most of our own or pets issues.

This thread caught my attention in the beginning, because it does seem that at some time all of us will have to deal with bumble foot, and y'alls experiences will help a great many of us

Guess I could be the next one to be "embarrassed" if my girls get bumble foot…..yesterday I noticed their ramp looks like it may start splintering in one section. Did nothing, but am concerned. Gonna do something about it today before it does become an issue.

Thanks again for your post.

 

[aart]

I thought bumblefoot is an infection that gains entry into the foot pad tissue by some kind of a cut/puncture wound, rather than just an impact injury?

Tho probable that impact activities, such as jumping down from too high onto a hard surface, would exacerbate an infected foot pad.

Whatever causes it, it's nasty any serious infection could be fatal so treatment details are like these are invaluable.