Bumble foot “surgery”

[msteacho]

Hi, y’all
I have a few chickens with bumble feet. And today I decided to try to “operate” on one of them. I watched a lot of videos and read a lot of information and felt like I was ready, but it was harder than what I thought. It was awful, actually. I soaked my hen for 45 minutes two different times. I used a straight edge razor and tweezers and pulled the scab off. There wasn’t a “kernel” that popped out and it looked like there was white, fleshy stuff in the hole. She bled during this ordeal, but I did get something out but it was soft. I’m just at a loss. I don’t want to hurt them, but I need to get it out! Any help would be appreciated. This is one of my girls with it. This is what came out during surgery.

 

[chickentrains]

Seems like you did a good job. You'll have to do it again, you'll learn from your mistakes today and do better next time. Its gonna hurt them.. just keep going til there is no more puss

 

[HeatherKellyB]

The white stuff is likely pus. Their pus is almost rubbery and at times a bit chalky/cheesy. The actual flesh will be various shades of pink. Keep those incision sites COATED with triple antibiotic ointment, or even better, silver silvadene, and bandaged up at all times. This will possibly help bring the pus down to the incision site, but yes, you may have to go back in. I still commend you for the effort

The last time I had to remove pus from my ducks foot, the hole where it was removed from was alarming. There was a crater in her foot. If you come across this, rest assured that it will heal up with proper care. Pack it full of triple antibiotic ointment (plain variety) and bandage ~ same way. The longer they've had the infection and the more build up of pus, the larger the hole.

 

[Aunt Angus]

That looks about right. I have one hen who seems to get bumblefoot pretty frequently (my others don't). I had to do this same thing for her last night. I have only gotten a "kernel" once. The rest of the time, it's been that stringy, soft pus. Just gotta clean it out as best you can, pack the resulting hole with antibiotic ointment, cover it with gauze, wrap it with vet wrap, and clean it out every other day or so until it heals.

Try to figure out why they are getting bumblefoot. When I first started keeping chickens, I had 2 pullets get bumblefoot. Turns out their roost was too high, and it was causing injury when they jumped down (silly biddies wouldn't use the ramp). I lowered the roost, and neither has had problems since.

Now if I could just figure out why this one hen keeps getting it...

 

[dawg53]

You have to SQUEEZE the footpad as HARD as you can to get the pus out. It wont hurt the chicken. Squeeze again and again until it's all removed. There will be blood, soak it up and dig around some more and squeeze the heck out of it until it's all gone.
Once the infection is removed, flush with betadine and pack it with neosporin. Then put gauze over it and wrap it up with either vet wrap or duct tape. I use duct tape.
Leave it wrapped up for 3 days, remove the vet wrap or duct tape. Then remove the gauze and inspect the hole and footpad for redness and swelling. If there is still redness and swelling, that means you didnt remove all the infection and you're going to have to start all over again. If there isnt no redness nor swelling, repack the hole with neosporin and wrap it up again.
Then leave it wrapped up for 4 more days and it should be completely healed.

 

[msteacho]

Seems like you did a good job. You'll have to do it again, you'll learn from your mistakes today and do better next time. Its gonna hurt them.. just keep going til there is no more puss

Thank you! I’m already thinking what I can do different next time. I’m glad some of it came out so the swelling will go down some.

 

[msteacho]

The white stuff is likely pus. Their pus is almost rubbery and at times a bit chalky/cheesy. The actual flesh will be various shades of pink. Keep those incision sites COATED with triple antibiotic ointment, or even better, silver silvadene, and bandaged up at all times. This will possibly help bring the pus down to the incision site, but yes, you may have to go back in. I still commend you for the effort

The last time I had to remove pus from my ducks foot, the hole where it was removed from was alarming. There was a crater in her foot. If you come across this, rest assured that it will heal up with proper care. Pack it full of triple antibiotic ointment (plain variety) and bandage ~ same way. The longer they've had the infection and the more build up of pus, the larger the hole.

Thank you! I looked up silver silvadene and found results for different ointments. Is it called Silver Silvadene or is that the type of ointment?

 

[msteacho]

That looks about right. I have one hen who seems to get bumblefoot pretty frequently (my others don't). I had to do this same thing for her last night. I have only gotten a "kernel" once. The rest of the time, it's been that stringy, soft pus. Just gotta clean it out as best you can, pack the resulting hole with antibiotic ointment, cover it with gauze, wrap it with vet wrap, and clean it out every other day or so until it heals.

Try to figure out why they are getting bumblefoot. When I first started keeping chickens, I had 2 pullets get bumblefoot. Turns out their roost was too high, and it was causing injury when they jumped down (silly biddies wouldn't use the ramp). I lowered the roost, and neither has had problems since.

Now if I could just figure out why this one hen keeps getting it...

Thank you! I will be on the lookout to try to figure it out. I definitely don’t want this a constant problem

 

[msteacho]

You have to SQUEEZE the footpad as HARD as you can to get the pus out. It wont hurt the chicken. Squeeze again and again until it's all removed. There will be blood, soak it up and dig around some more and squeeze the heck out of it until it's all gone.
Once the infection is removed, flush with betadine and pack it with neosporin. Then put gauze over it and wrap it up with either vet wrap or duct tape. I use duct tape.
Leave it wrapped up for 3 days, remove the vet wrap or duct tape. Then remove the gauze and inspect the hole and footpad for redness and swelling. If there is still redness and swelling, that means you didnt remove all the infection and you're going to have to start all over again. If there isnt no redness nor swelling, repack the hole with neosporin and wrap it up again.
Then leave it wrapped up for 4 more days and it should be completely healed.

Thank you! I didn’t want to hurt her so I know I didn’t get it all out. I finally gave up because I was crying I’ve got a few more pointers so hopefully next time will be better.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I took a picture of my tube. Triple antibiotic ointment (neosporine) of the plain "original" formula also works well, but I've found this to be better. Soaking in Epsom salt baths is also beneficial, so keep that up with the other hens that you haven't done surgery on. Daily soaks and constant bandaging covering the ointment coated area, is very beneficial before surgery. After surgery, I leave the area bandaged up to 48 hours. Be prepared though. There's a possibility that you will have some areas that have become a bit stuck to your bandage, especially if it's dried out. If you have to peel it away, there's a chance it will bleed. Just apply pressure to help control the bleeding and proceed in locating the remaining pus.