Bumble Foot in Farm Flocks

[Fn87]

I've read quite a few articles from pet chicken owners giving advice on how to treat bumble foot. I know it can eventually spread to the bone or the blood or something and make the chicken go lame, so it is a concern that generally can't just be ignored until it goes away. Most articles talk about submerging and soaking the chicken's foot in warm water (sometimes with epsom salts), then either trying to pull out the kernel or cut it out with a scalpel. I've even seen an article or two recommend use of a biopsy punch for easier removal. But my issue is that I take care of a flock of around 90 hens. 13 have bumble foot. Last year, I singled out one hen and tried my damndest to remove the kernel. But several weeks of cage life, warm foot baths and two or three surgeries to remove kernel later, I still hadn't removed it and I felt it was unfair to keep the hen in a cage any longer. I treated the foot with iodine and vaseline and changed her dressings every day or two.
She's still kicking although I picked her up the other day and she still has a black scab and a hard kernel on that foot. So, what I'm getting at is as follows:

1) HOW bad is bumble foot? Is it the sort of thing that kills a hen in five years? Two years? One? What signs should I look for for severity of the condition?

2) Is a biopsy punch a good investment? Does anyone here use biopsy punches and are they more successful than a scalpel?

3) If I have 13 chickens with bumble foot and I work on a farm, what measures can I take to deal with bumble foot in terms of more reasonable time use? I just do not have enough time to go through what I went through with the hen last year with 12 more hens. But it seems drastic to cull them when they don't seem too bothered by the malady. I know this site is called BackYard Chickens but any farm yard chicken owners out there?

4) Was my failure last year just the result of a novice chicken handler? Is bumblefoot notoriously difficult to treat or am I just bad at treating it? Anyone have any tips that an article WOULDN'T cover?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[sloanbychoice]

Good questions...
First, untreated bumble can actually be fatal in some cases. Now, I don’t know how often or how severe it needs to be to have that happen, but you definitely want to try to get it under control.
I am unfamiliar with the punches. And I haven’t had to go the scalpel route either. The only bumblefoot I’ve had here was the typical textbook type black scab showing kernel. I soaked her foot in a cup of epsom while I held her until it softened, and I used a tweezer around the edge and got it out. Definitely easier the softer it is.
Finally, if there are that many with the issue and/or it’s a common problem in your flock, I would definitely start trying to figure out why it’s happening.
Roosts: they should be smooth and free of splinters. They should be flat rather than rounded.
Ground: make sure they aren’t walking around on sharp objects, metal wiring, wood chip bedding, or standing on hardware cloth or other “drip-through” cage bottoms.