Abscess on foot. **pic** UPDATE

[badnfluinz]

I hope I never have to do this. I feel nauseas just reading and picturing me doing it!

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I DID IT I DID IT!!!! Don't mean to hijack this thread but I want to thank you so much for the pics and the info! I just finished "surgery" on my Clarabelle and it went well. I'm just crossing my fingers that I got it all. Maybe this will help others; here's what I did:

I pulled off the black scab (and mine wasn't nearly as big as the OP's) and it pulled right off with a chunk of yellowish white stuff. Oh - I soaked her foot first in warm water, salt, peroxide and betadine (just to cover all bases

) I squeezed on the absess and some grayish stuff came out. Soaked, squeezed, dabbed. I knew I wasn't getting the plug but didn't know where it was. I tried to make the scab hole bigger but my knife and scissors were too dull and I was afraid to hurt her. I decided to cut into the absess from the top and as soon as I did, this thick yellow stuff, like egg yolk, came running out. Cut a little more and she started bleeding harder so we soaked again. Then I got my nails in there and managed to pull out the plug - it was like a little kernel of corn. I couldn't see anything else and so I put antibiotic ointment on, along with a sterile pad and then wrapped her foot with that sticky gauze tape. She is recuperating in the dog cage with lots of treats.

To all of you who may be afraid to attempt this, I gotta tell you - I was scared as heck to do this, but I managed it alone (DD and DBF weren't home). Just have everything ready and at hand. I'm not one to ever handle my birds and my rooster scares me; I locked him up before I even attempted to catch Clarabelle. She was so calm through the whole thing and even clucked like she was saying "thank you"!

I know if I can do it, ANYONE can so thank you so much again for the advice!

(Oh - and I did wash before, after, and sanitized

)

 

[devora]

Dang dang dang----I've two lovely birds w this and I was hoping it would just GO AWAY. Thanks all for such great advice. Tomorrow begins the surgery, ugh.

One tip I learned (does not always work) is to gently put the bird on its back and cover its head w a light towel so it can't see. They tend to go dormant that way.

 

[charlielynnsingletary]

You folks are all welcome. And thank you for the ones that talked me through my time of need.

 

[Attack Chicken]

I have treated my one hen that had bumble foot. I got rid of it and now it's back on both feed AND my pullet has it. I've tried soaking,cutting, and bandaging them up but nothing seems to work. You don't even know they have it until I pick them up and see the little scab underneath. Only my girls get it!lol

 

[Catalina]

So, how long do you keep the hen separated, or in a dog cage, for?

How do they handle being cooped up? My girls go crazy if they can't go outside and scratch around.

Can you bandage the foot and let them go outside?

I have a hen with (what I think is) bumblefoot. I took her to the vet last year and he laughed at me and said it wasn't bumblefoot. He refused to lance it and instead gave her an antibiotic injection in her breast.
Then he put some ointment on her foot and wrapped it with cast wrap. He had me come back a week later and he changed the dressing, but told me not to bother coming back.

She still has the scab on the bottom of her foot and now she has a bare patch on her breast where her feathers fell out after he injected her, they've never grown back in.

She gets around very well and the scab size hasn't changed much in 12 months, but I think it still needs to be taken care of, so................I'm reading this thread and trying to get my courage up to DO IT!

 

[charlielynnsingletary]

I kept mine by herself for just a few days. You might need to check and make sure you got the whole core. It took me two times to get mine all out.

 

[Attack Chicken]

Catalina : I used a baby sock on my hens feet and let them run outside. It kept her foot nice and clean except for on rainy/wet days.

 

[Lach Cnoc Farm]

This thread freaked me out, i have to go check all my chickens now!!

 

[crtrlovr]

Quote:
Is there considerable swelling in the foot? Is it red/inflamed or does it feel hotter than the other foot? Is she limping? If not, it may just be an old area of previously infected skin that has hardened or discolored permanently. If there are no signs of an active infection, I don't think I'd open it and risk an infection if there's not one already. JMO