About 2 and a half months ago (late November) I realized that the swelling and dark spot on my hen's foot was Bumblefoot. I took her to a veterinarian, where they confirmed it, performed surgery, gave me prescriptions for the antibiotic Clavamox and an anti-inflammatory, and told me to bring her back at the end of the week to check her bandage. That was removed, I continued the meds, started doing the week of blue soaks, and wondered how long it would be 'til it didn't look swollen anymore. After that I let her out of the kennel, and let her back with her coop-mates.
Because of the antibiotic, I was told not to eat her eggs; but for how long was not clear. I only asked later, when I realized that Clavamox is the veterinary version of Augmentin, to which I am allergic (3 solid weeks of ITCHING! a few years ago, after bronchitis).
When I asked, I was told that first of all, Clavamox is not officially used for treating chickens (just dogs and cats, I think) so there's been no testing to find out how long the drug may stay in the hen's body, and therefore, her eggs. Well, as it turned out, it didn't matter anyway, as she didn't lay any eggs for 2 over months, including the time she went into a molt. But now, a couple of weeks ago, it looked like she may have some more, different swelling on the same foot. Then last week she started laying again, at last just about every day, like she used to.
Now my quandary is twofold: is it safe to eat eggs from a chicken who was on antibiotics and could still have it in her system, AND, since bumblefoot is a staph infection, and it may have come back, could anyone then become infected from eating her eggs??
Because of the antibiotic, I was told not to eat her eggs; but for how long was not clear. I only asked later, when I realized that Clavamox is the veterinary version of Augmentin, to which I am allergic (3 solid weeks of ITCHING! a few years ago, after bronchitis).
When I asked, I was told that first of all, Clavamox is not officially used for treating chickens (just dogs and cats, I think) so there's been no testing to find out how long the drug may stay in the hen's body, and therefore, her eggs. Well, as it turned out, it didn't matter anyway, as she didn't lay any eggs for 2 over months, including the time she went into a molt. But now, a couple of weeks ago, it looked like she may have some more, different swelling on the same foot. Then last week she started laying again, at last just about every day, like she used to.
Now my quandary is twofold: is it safe to eat eggs from a chicken who was on antibiotics and could still have it in her system, AND, since bumblefoot is a staph infection, and it may have come back, could anyone then become infected from eating her eggs??
I'm not aware of any reason you could not eat her eggs. I do not believe staph is transmitted through eggs. If your hen is still suffering, either the vet did not get all of the infection or a new one has developed. In either case, if you cannot afford a second trip to the vet, I'm here to tell you that I have done more than my fair share of bumblefoot surgeries and there's really no magic to it. I wrote a blog post about bumblefoot, which includes photos and information about how I perform the surgery. I also have a YouTube video that shows us performing the surgery from beginning to end. The link to the video is in the blog here: 
