broiler with bumblefoot

[josiegirl]

hi there i just butchered a 6 week broiler because im pretty sure he had ascites. he just didnt look so hot so we figured it was ascites so we wanted to butcher him before he died on us. he did have a ton of fluid in his belly. but when butchering i also saw his feet had lots of black on them which totally skeeves me out. yuck! is it bumblefoot? or isit just footpad burn? we have them in a chicken tractor on pasture that we move every day. i haven't checked all the others for it yet, im dearly hoping they don't all have it too, i want chicken feet!! ive read a lot of people on here won't eat chicken with bumblefoot because its most likely staph. is this common for a broiler to get? or is it most likely just footpad burn? i've got pictures i can send if needed. if they've all got it we're just going to have to eat them anyway(the chicken not the feet) its just too much of an investment. but i feel like their conditions are pretty good, confused why they would have foot problems.

 

[josiegirl]

also, we butchered 14 heritage breed roosters we raised for meat. one of them had it. i am in northern wisconsin it is now fall and been rainy, i've read in chicken houses its wet litter that causes it, mabybe thats the issue? does anyone know if they use the chicken and chuck the feet? surely they don't throw away the whole thing...

 

[ChickNanny13]

Pictures would help us ID what it is. Bumble foot is a staph infection, I wouldn't eat it. It looks like scabs from pressure point "injuries". Jumping from roosts and landing on rockes/ pebbles was my thought, so I'm always removing what they dig up in their run. I've been told it could be genetics also, no clue to any truth in this. There are ways to treat but if broilers are usually dressed at about 8wks.

 

[josiegirl]

oh boy.... we just checked the other chickens. every one that we picked up has it. most are not as bad as this one but they all have it. ewwwww. we definitely can't just not eat all 45 chickens we raised though... has this ever hpapened to anyone? maybe staph is just common in our soils? does anyone have experience raising their broielrs in a cool wet climate?

 

[josiegirl]

 

[iwltfum]

I would eat the chickens, just not the feet. I've had a batch of broilers that this happened to a couple seasons ago and I'm pretty sure it was from a combination of the grass being too long and a period of lots of rainfall. Now I always make sure to mow ahead of my pasture pens to avoid it happening again and I haven't seen it since.

 

[iwltfum]

I would also definitely butcher them asap

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you are in the US I'd send that photo to your county extension office immediately. They should be able to tell you what is going on. They probably won't know but they should be able to get some expert advice from your state land grant university. I'd call and try to talk to someone to see where to send the photo and how to send it.

I think that is some kind of fungus, not bumblefoot, probably from the wet conditions. You may need to move that tractor twice a day instead of once. I think you'll be able to eat the meat without any problems but probably not the feet. Hopefully the experts can tell you what is safe and how to prevent it.

 

[josiegirl]

oh great thank you guys. i posted on the family cow forum and they seemed to say the same thing. the grass is too long i did not know that could be the problem! next time we'll do a spring batch instead since this is the rainy time of year. we raised heritage breed this summer because it was our first time raising chicks and didnt want to make such a big investment with broilers. we figured we had the hang of it and that it was our last chance to get our chicken for the year, so we went ahead and got a fall batch of broilers. its been going prety well really, only 2 lost two chicks to leg problems, except for this foot thing. not much i can do about it now i suppose except put them behind the cows where the grass is eaten down. and yes thats a great idea to contact my extension agent, i will do that today.