Baytril for Bumblefoot?

[humblehillsfarm]

I've been dealing with chronic bumblefoot for a two years now in at least one hen, but now in addition to her, I have three others with it. I don't understand! I do all the right things. I have low roosting bars, the cleanest coop litter on the planet, a good diet, free choice calcium, all the things!! I've tried antibiotics twice, surgical removal, epson salt soaks, triple antibiotic ointment, many times all of those things at once. The only thing I haven't done is try to surgically remove it myself. On two hens I had actually soaked them each for an hour a day, wrapped the feet with silver sulfadiazine during the day, and had them on an SMZ/TMP suspension antibiotic. The bumblefoot never did soften enough for me to feel comfortable removing.

Here's my confession though, after using the antibiotic TWICE, I realized I had been giving them the wrong dosage. The vet gave me a one milliliter syringe, told me to give 1.5 ml to the chicken. Well I'm an idiot and never once realized what I was measuring out was 0.15 ml. because it was a ONE MILLILITER SYRINGE, like that's all the syringe would hold and I just never paid that much attention. I could crawl under a rock right now. Smh. So no wonder THAT never had any effect. I'm far too embarrassed, and broke with this being FOUR BIRDS, to even tell the vet. I can't even speak with him directly, nor am I allowed into the office due to Covid. My birds feet are so bad, one hens toes are being bent and distorted from the swelling. I'm at my wits end.

Anyways, I came across Baytril today and saw that it covers staph infections, and used to be used on chickens. Has anyone used this to treat bumble? All of my birds are moulting and not laying, but quite frankly I don't care about the eggs, I just want my birds to be healthy. This also says to administer via their water, but that just is not practical, and I would like to directly syringe it into the mouth. Can I do this? I can't find info anywhere. Please help!

 

[One Lucky Momma]

Is there a chance the antibiotic would be effective if given at the proper dosing? Maybe worth another try? I realize $$$ but maybe worth it if it works. The vet will be fine.

Good luck with this. It's obvious you only want the best for your girls. If I could knit, I would make them all some padded booties.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Is there a chance the antibiotic would be effective if given at the proper dosing? Maybe worth another try? I realize $$$ but maybe worth it if it works. The vet will be fine.

Good luck with this. It's obvious you only want the best for your girls. If I could knit, I would make them all some padded booties.

It would be $120 for his meds and $30 for the Baytril. I wish I didn’t have to be concerned about money. On top of that if he requests that I bring the birds in, since I obviously wasn’t smart enough to follow directions the first two times, then it’s a minimum of a $40 office visit. I wish I could communicate these things to him personally instead of a secretary over the phone.

I don’t know if there’s a chance the old stuff would work. I want to say maybe. On one hen the bumble had almost entirely disappeared, now she’s the one that had the distorted foot.

 

[kimberley848]

I've been dealing with chronic bumblefoot for a two years now in at least one hen, but now in addition to her, I have three others with it. I don't understand! I do all the right things. I have low roosting bars, the cleanest coop litter on the planet, a good diet, free choice calcium, all the things!! I've tried antibiotics twice, surgical removal, epson salt soaks, triple antibiotic ointment, many times all of those things at once. The only thing I haven't done is try to surgically remove it myself. On two hens I had actually soaked them each for an hour a day, wrapped the feet with silver sulfadiazine during the day, and had them on an SMZ/TMP suspension antibiotic. The bumblefoot never did soften enough for me to feel comfortable removing.

Here's my confession though, after using the antibiotic TWICE, I realized I had been giving them the wrong dosage. The vet gave me a one milliliter syringe, told me to give 1.5 ml to the chicken. Well I'm an idiot and never once realized what I was measuring out was 0.15 ml. because it was a ONE MILLILITER SYRINGE, like that's all the syringe would hold and I just never paid that much attention. I could crawl under a rock right now. Smh. So no wonder THAT never had any effect. I'm far too embarrassed, and broke with this being FOUR BIRDS, to even tell the vet. I can't even speak with him directly, nor am I allowed into the office due to Covid. My birds feet are so bad, one hens toes are being bent and distorted from the swelling. I'm at my wits end.

Anyways, I came across Baytril today and saw that it covers staph infections, and used to be used on chickens. Has anyone used this to treat bumble? All of my birds are moulting and not laying, but quite frankly I don't care about the eggs, I just want my birds to be healthy. This also says to administer via their water, but that just is not practical, and I would like to directly syringe it into the mouth. Can I do this? I can't find info anywhere. Please help!

I don't know about the Baytril, never heard of it, but then, I went to my vet for antibiotics for one of my girls who's had bumblefoot several times now. She's had in both feet 3 times now. The first time, the vet did the surgery, giving me a lesson in DIY. He used tweezers after soaking the feet in Epsom salts and cleaned it out. I've done it the other times and so far this is the longest she's gone without getting it again. I think mine was stepping on a tiny sliver of wood I found on their ramp into the coop. I also kept her feet wrapped up, but allowed her to stay with the flock and wander around. I just changed the bandages daily. (Before opening the coop door, I would take her out, change the bandages, cut her loose then open the coop door.) These 3 infections lasted about 1.5yrs total. This is the longest she's gone without getting it back (knock on wood!) and all I can figure is that the last surgery was a good one and I got everything removed. She has dimple scars on her feet from the surgeries, but is fine. (Her last time, she went broody while still being bandaged, and once she hatched her eggs, I ended up removing the bandages completely and hoped for the best without any further treatment because she went nuts wanting to be with her chicks-she's a great mama). I had my best results after digging everything out of her feet the last time. It was a bit bloody, but it seems to have worked. (I also used tweezers, couldn't bring myself to cut into her feet.) Best of luck, and sorry I couldn't help with the Baytril question.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I don't know about the Baytril, never heard of it, but then, I went to my vet for antibiotics for one of my girls who's had bumblefoot several times now. She's had in both feet 3 times now. The first time, the vet did the surgery, giving me a lesson in DIY. He used tweezers after soaking the feet in Epsom salts and cleaned it out. I've done it the other times and so far this is the longest she's gone without getting it again. I think mine was stepping on a tiny sliver of wood I found on their ramp into the coop. I also kept her feet wrapped up, but allowed her to stay with the flock and wander around. I just changed the bandages daily. (Before opening the coop door, I would take her out, change the bandages, cut her loose then open the coop door.) These 3 infections lasted about 1.5yrs total. This is the longest she's gone without getting it back (knock on wood!) and all I can figure is that the last surgery was a good one and I got everything removed. She has dimple scars on her feet from the surgeries, but is fine. (Her last time, she went broody while still being bandaged, and once she hatched her eggs, I ended up removing the bandages completely and hoped for the best without any further treatment because she went nuts wanting to be with her chicks-she's a great mama). I had my best results after digging everything out of her feet the last time. It was a bit bloody, but it seems to have worked. (I also used tweezers, couldn't bring myself to cut into her feet.) Best of luck, and sorry I couldn't help with the Baytril question.

This vet had been reluctant to do surgery saying it doesn’t always work. I had another vet do it but she wouldn’t give me antibiotics and the bumble came back. I probably should just take them all to the vet. Gosh this is the worst!

 

[One Lucky Momma]

Have you considered tea tree or CBD massaged into feet?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Have you considered tea tree or CBD massaged into feet?

No I haven’t but I really don’t feel confident either of those would work for the degree of infection

 

[One Lucky Momma]

No I haven’t but I really don’t feel confident either of those would work for the degree of infection

Maybe not, but neither of them would do harm, and they might help, especially if you are soaking their feet in epsom salt solution in conjunction. Do you have a friend close by who’s good with essential oils? They should be able to give you guidance.

And I’ve never seen it mentioned on BYC, but I haven’t searched, either, but honey is antimicrobial and makes an effective wound dressing. I haven’t figured out how to best bandage a chicken’s foot, but I read of it being done.

Good luck with this. We are feeling your frustration.

 

[kimberley848]

This vet had been reluctant to do surgery saying it doesn’t always work. I had another vet do it but she wouldn’t give me antibiotics and the bumble came back. I probably should just take them all to the vet. Gosh this is the worst!

I get it, I had to read up on bumblefoot, and talked my vet into it, so he showed me what to do because he didn't want to do it again. (I saw a video of someone using an exacto (sp?) knife, which I won't do, but the tweezers worked pretty well in pulling off bits and pcs until there wasn't anymore dark spots left.) It wasn't as bad as I feared, but I did wonder if I got all the infection out. My vet isn't cheap either, he charges $100 office visit because he considers hens to fall under the "exotic" category. But luckily the other 2 times he gave me the antibiotics without an office visit. I would try the surgery on your own first, and just try your best to keep it somewhat clean afterwards if you don't want any vet costs. I use Vetricyn (sp?) to clean and sprayed it during each bandage change. I used that stretchy athletic wrap for it just making sure it wasn't too tight and used regular medical tape to keep it on. (I used one wrap around the leg, then go under the foot upwards with holes for toes with a small pc of gauze under the foot for padding and then a wrap around the leg again to hold in place. It leaves her "back toe" open between the wrapping. It did allow some dirt in it, but a good cleaning each day worked.) Mine had her bumblefoot on the bottoms of both feet. Best of luck!

 

[Liz Birdlover]

A few hens that I rescued had bumblefoot when I got them, and it has been an ongoing battle for 2 yrs. I have tried everything mentioned, including various oral medications, cleaning, soaking, tweezing & squeezing out gunk, topical cleansers & ointments, wrapping feet making sterile healing booties, all unsuccessful long term. My coops are cleaned regularly, perches are low. I've tried different medications & will keep trying. I do think that once a bird has had bumblefoot bad, especially as long as these poor girls did before I got them, perhaps it will never truly go away. I've also added muti vitamins & oregano oil supplements, to boost immune system. It seems to improve or heal, but never totally goes away or stays away long. It's very upsetting.