Bumblefoot Cure

[Diannastarr]

i ended up using corn/callus pads on their feet (the hole is already cut). all 4 girls have bumblefoot. so I needed to shave off some time. curious if that has been attempted / successful? i used a combination of treatments based on each foots condition. i was also able to cut this down to 2 hours and met a fantastic family thay also own chickens right in my neighborhood. a friend of a friend connected us. we had never met and they came to assist me on their friday night. AMAZING!!! ❤❤

WONDERFUL...!!!!KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK...!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Going to my vet today with a suspected Bumblefoot on BOTH hen's feet but the crusts are on the bottom close to the front toes and not on the balls of the feet. I've been wrapping the crusts in Triple Antibiotic Ointment to keep the crusts soft using a round makeup pad to keep the ointment against the crusts and using paper tape to secure the soft cotton makeup pads. Poor hen has been isolated in-house because I don't want her running around outside getting her feet possibly worse. So glad I read this BYC first so I can discuss treatments w/ the vet who used to work in the poultry industry too.

 

[Birds of a Feather]

That's amazing that there are non-surgical bumblefoot cures!

 

[Sylvester017]

Went to my vet yesterday w/ my Bumblefoot hen. Told him I've been keeping the feet paper-taped w/ Triple Antibiotic Ointment on cotton makeup pads on her crusts and he thought that was great. The crusts are starting to work away from the skin. The vet saw no infection or inflammation and thought she was in great health and to continue doing what I was doing until the crusts came off. Keeping the crusts moist is causing them to naturally peel away from the skin. Vet said after the plugs fall/come out to keep antibiotic ointment along with vitamin E liquid on the healing hole to expedite healing. He's a great advocate for vitamin A and/or E applied to chicken skin/face/beak/legs/feet/toes for good skin care/healing. I often just use vitamin E oil to massage into my feather-toed Silkies legs/toes/toenails (feathers and all) in the evening and wipe off excess oil and put her back into her roosting box for the night. By morning the vitamin E has absorbed into her feathers and skin and there's no oily residue like the kind left by vaseline. Plus the vitamin oil is a health benefit to the chicken's skin.

I asked about using an internal antibiotic like clindamycin but since our girl is still laying eggs our vet saw no signs of infection said that he would hold off on prescribing antibiotics. Only if the open holes showed infection or lacked signs of healing would he then prescribe an internal antibiotic. He said not to have her perching while the healing process is going on. Just provide a box with straw for her to sleep in and no perch. Then he advised having our coop's 4-foot wood perch for the hens to be wrapped in burlap. IMO burlap is pretty rough fabric so we opted to buy four ACE bandages 4" x 3-feet long and wrapped them around the perch to pad it. We'll probably have to change it out as it gets soiled but I'll do whatever necessary in my budget to make the girls comfortable and keep them well.

This treatment is a pain in the butt but I sure didn't want to see surgery to remove the crusts. This is a longer process to get the Bumblefoot plugs out but worth it to us not to cut and dig into a chicken's foot where there are delicate tendons and tissue.

 

[DWilkins]

I am attaching a picture of both the template the vet made out of vet wrap (left) and my modified version with pipe insulator, which is lighter and more conforming (right). When I was cutting a new splint every other day, I would trim it to be certain the fit was good and would cut a little section out for that back toe so it wasn't being pushed up at an unnatural angle. The swelling between both toes showed huge improvements within the first week. A rock hard center then began to form where the hole in the splint was and continued to push its way out over the next 5 weeks. She could not put her foot down to walk without the splint because of the size and hardness of the infection as it was making its way out. However, with the splint she was fast as ever and could roost and scratch as well as the others. I never isolated her and neither she or the other chickens picked at her bandage. Initially, they all gathered around to get a look at it, and then it was forgotten. Grace was such a good patient that she would lie on my lap while on her back and allow me to change her bandage every other day - I can only imagine what she thought about the whole ordeal. I checked her foot yesterday and the skin is super soft with no scarring or swelling. The other thing that the vet recommended is that I cover all the roosts and perches with some sort of fake grass material, but I used outdoor carpeting. Lowes has cheap outdoor carpeting by the foot which can be hosed off. Apparently, they do that for the raptors at the Birds of Prey center where he volunteers. Again, I hope this helps someone whose chicken is struggling with bumblefoot. Despite repeated surgeries of removing the "bumble", I could never get a total cure - just slight improvement that would worsen again over the next month. Relieving the pressure allowed the infection to push its way out without surgery; however, it did take a considerable amount of time. By the way - Amazon has some great 1-inch generic vet wrap that is totally cheap. Link is below...........

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NHB4BY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am attaching a picture of both the template the vet made out of vet wrap (left) and my modified version with pipe insulator, which is lighter and more conforming (right). When I was cutting a new splint every other day, I would trim it to be certain the fit was good and would cut a little section out for that back toe so it wasn't being pushed up at an unnatural angle. The swelling between both toes showed huge improvements within the first week. A rock hard center then began to form where the hole in the splint was and continued to push its way out over the next 5 weeks. She could not put her foot down to walk without the splint because of the size and hardness of the infection as it was making its way out. However, with the splint she was fast as ever and could roost and scratch as well as the others. I never isolated her and neither she or the other chickens picked at her bandage. Initially, they all gathered around to get a look at it, and then it was forgotten. Grace was such a good patient that she would lie on my lap while on her back and allow me to change her bandage every other day - I can only imagine what she thought about the whole ordeal. I checked her foot yesterday and the skin is super soft with no scarring or swelling. The other thing that the vet recommended is that I cover all the roosts and perches with some sort of fake grass material, but I used outdoor carpeting. Lowes has cheap outdoor carpeting by the foot which can be hosed off. Apparently, they do that for the raptors at the Birds of Prey center where he volunteers. Again, I hope this helps someone whose chicken is struggling with bumblefoot. Despite repeated surgeries of removing the "bumble", I could never get a total cure - just slight improvement that would worsen again over the next month. Relieving the pressure allowed the infection to push its way out without surgery; however, it did take a considerable amount of time. By the way - Amazon has some great 1-inch generic vet wrap that is totally cheap. Link is below...........

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NHB4BY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Did you then have to cut out the "kernel" or did it work its self out on it's own?

 

[Sylvester017]

I haven't used a donut pad over the Bumblefoot. I'm seriously considering the Corn Pads with the holes in the middle by paper-taping them over my chicken's Bumblefoot crusts. The crusts are slowly coming away from the skin but nowhere near ready to be pulled off yet.

 

[DWilkins]

My little hattie's foot is swollen,so I am sure it's full of infection.If it doesn't get better with us treating it, I am going to all my local vet so see if there is anything he can do.I wish we had some vets in the area that knew more about birds.

 

[JanetMarie]

@Diannastarr What is the name of the drawing salve you used? Was there a scab on the bottom of the foot too?

One of my hens has the scab on the bottom of the foot and swollen, and has a bump between the toes like yours did.

I did a surgery on the bottom of the foot for the second time a few weeks ago, and it helped temporarily. Now it's the same as before.

She defies the normal prevention because there are no roosts, just elevated platforms with shaving on top that are cleaned every day, and she is the lightest of them all.

 

[Sylvester017]

My little hattie's foot is swollen,so I am sure it's full of infection.If it doesn't get better with us treating it, I am going to all my local vet so see if there is anything he can do.I wish we had some vets in the area that knew more about birds.

My Dominique "Dana" had a hard black crust on each foot between and under her two front toes and there was no swelling. My rare breeds breeder suggested to use clindomycin or doxycycline for Bumblefoot and when I asked my vet he didn't recommend antibiotics for my Dana because 1) there was no swelling and 2) since she was still laying eggs he didn't want to prescribe an internal antibiotic. But in Hattie's case, you may want to ask your vet for clindomycin or doxycycline antibiotics and abstain from eating her eggs -- also use a probiotic in her drinking water because the antibiotics will give her diarrhea (just like in us humans LOL). If swollen infection isn't stopped it will spread throughout a chicken's body and I'm told it can/will eventually kill the bird -- not to scare you. But infection/swelling has to be stopped internally with antibiotics and then work on getting the crust off by keeping Triple Antibiotic Ointment and a round makeup cotton pad paper-taped over the crust and change it everyday. Eventually the crust can be gently peeled away with the core coming out with it. But it takes quite a few days to weeks and I keep my Dana indoors during this long process. She's been so good.

GL with your girl!

@Diannastarr What is the name of the drawing salve you used? Was there a scab on the bottom of the foot too?

One of my hens has the scab on the bottom of the foot and swollen, and has a bump between the toes like yours did.

I did a surgery on the bottom of the foot for the second time a few weeks ago, and it helped temporarily. Now it's the same as before.

She defies the normal prevention because there are no roosts, just elevated platforms with shaving on top that are cleaned every day, and she is the lightest of them all.

My rare breeds breeder told me that surgery rarely works because Bumblefoot is a staph infection and can only be stopped with internal antibiotics (clindomycin or doxycycline). Chicken feet have delicate tendons -- if surgery on the chicken's feet can be avoided please don't do surgery. However, my vet did not prescribe antibiotics because my Dana did not have swelling and since she was still laying eggs he abstained from prescribing antibiotics. He will prescribe antibiotics only if I find swelling or she is not healing. He liked that I was using the Triple Antibiotic Ointment on her Bumblefoot crusts and covered with a round cotton makeup pad with first-aid paper tape - I used the 1/2 inch paper tape because I can wind the paper tape between the chicken's toes to secure and cover the cotton pad over her bottom feet and slightly over the top of her feet and finish attaching the tape to her bottom leg. I will take pictures of how we taped our Dana the next time we change out her bandages. On Dana's foot that has already lost the Bumblefoot crust, the vet wanted us to use Vitamin A or Vitamin E oil over the wound to enhance skin healing. The first day the core came out on the one foot I still used Triple Antibiotic Ointment and wrapped it (w/cotton makeup pad) but tomorrow or the next day I'll switch to using Vit E oil on the healed foot and probably still use a cotton makeup pad and paper tape the good foot to keep it clean and to keep the Vit E oil against the healing hole. The bandaged crust on the other foot is getting loose but not enough to peel gently off her foot yet.

Since the problem is recurring on your sweet bird you may need to get a prescription from a vet for clindomycin or doxycycline antibiotic for her. Bumblefoot is a staph infection and surgery alone is not enough. Check if the ladder leading up to the coop is steep or has splintered wood or if the hens are scratching hard with their feet in wooden nestboxes (I had a chicken with bleeding toes that scratched hard in the nestbox before laying her eggs -- we had to line the nestboxes with plexiglass so she wouldn't splinter her toes any more) and check if the perch has splinters. Even though our perch is very smooth my vet recommended padding the perch anyway with burlap. I thought burlap was way too rough and used several 4-inch wide ACE bandages wound around our perch and that has cushioned it so hopefully that will help the hens relax more when they roost and not rub their feet on a hard wooden perch. I don't know, but I just follow my vet's advice and he's never steered me wrong in 7 years. It helps that he actually worked in the poultry industry in his younger days! Sometimes chickens can get cuts in their feet from digging or scratching in dirt and get a cut against a wire or who knows? how chickens get injured? But infection can enter a cut and there goes a case of Bumblefoot!

Each day I do this treatment thing one day at a time. I've never had a Bumblefoot case in almost 8 years of having chickens and now have this case with my one-year-old Dana. Very time consuming to do it this way but neither the vet or I thought it wise to dig around doing surgery around delicate tendons and tissues in a hen's feet. Every owner is different and does what works best for them. I can only share MHO for what I did. I hope your girl gets better!

 

[JanetMarie]

No, I won't do a surgery again, unless the soaking, salve, wrapping, triple antibiotic ointment, doughnut bandages doesn't work. Then I would go to a veterinarian.

I've read through the entire thread, so I'm feeling hopeful that the combinations of treatments described will work.

There's no splintery surfaces on the ladders. We had filed any possible rough edges on the wood.

This bird developed multiple places of bumblefoot about as soon as she was full grown. She is healthy otherwise, but she must have a genetic susceptibility.

She also eats more than anyone else, stuffing her crop until no more can fit in there. My other birds I hold don't fill their crops so much. As with people, I think if she did some fasting to cleanse her system that would help her body to heal, but that's difficult to explain to a bird.