Bumble foot surgery

[TinyBoxTim]

So I discovered my eldest hen has black scabs on the bottom of both her feet, I soaked them in epsom salts for a few nights and today I used tweezers and small surgical scissors to get off the deeper of the two and cleaned, soaked, squeezed and repeated on that side but no plug or pus was evident at all, no hard bits or anything. So I washed my hands and re soaked her foot I worked on, packed it with neosporin and wrapped her up in band aids. The other foots scab seems to be loose and not swollen so I am going to take a wait and see approach, is there any recommendations for how I should go about cleaning/packing the wound? Was surgery even necessary if I didn't find a plug or pus?

 

[MrsBachbach]

So I discovered my eldest hen has black scabs on the bottom of both her feet, I soaked them in epsom salts for a few nights and today I used tweezers and small surgical scissors to get off the deeper of the two and cleaned, soaked, squeezed and repeated on that side but no plug or pus was evident at all, no hard bits or anything. So I washed my hands and re soaked her foot I worked on, packed it with neosporin and wrapped her up in band aids. The other foots scab seems to be loose and not swollen so I am going to take a wait and see approach, is there any recommendations for how I should go about cleaning/packing the wound? Was surgery even necessary if I didn't find a plug or pus?

Sometimes if a black scab is seen but there is no obvious swelling, it could be a sign it has resolved itself or just hasn't progressed to a worse stage. So observation is needed in any case. Sometimes it's best to just remove it so it doesn't get worse. I also have often found nothing after removing a scab. You still need to put the antibiotic on and a good bandage job that won't allow dirt to sneak back in the wound. So, change the dressing at least every other day until it looks healed enough that it won't open back up and allow infection to set in once again. I use a gauze pad on the bottom, follow with vet wrap all around and between the toes, then put bandaging tape or sports wrap tape around that. It does take some small sharp scissors to remove it all when it is time for a changing, but the bird is able to return to the flock. Unless the weather is wet and ground is muddy. Then it's best to keep them caged until things are drier.

 

[TinyBoxTim]

Thank you, I've got a triple antibiotic on it and wrapped it tight enough to keep dirt out of it, the ground is very dry where she's at and I'm not going to worry about the other foot