Bumblefoot doesn’t seem to be healing **pictures in post**

[arfarmer]

Hello!

Looking for any advice on my Bumblefoot situation…

I am fairly new to owning chickens, this is my 3rd summer with them. I have 6 hens, 4 of which have Bumblefoot in both feet. 2 of them have minor cases in one foot. I have re-vamped their coop and run - I removed a metal wash style bin I had been using as a dust bath (my mistake, I feel terrible about it and will be switching to a couple of tires). And have also lowered their roosting bars.

I realized they had Bumblefoot on July 23 and started soaking and removing the dark plug. I removed bits of infection, but it was ribbony in all of them (except the two with minor cases, I have only been soaking theirs). I took one to the vet on July 26th and she gave me iodine and some hemostats so I could remove as much of the infection that I could. I have been doing a 20 min epsom salt soak each day and then putting a sugardine poultice on them. They just don’t seem to be getting better. So many posts say there is a kernel, but I can’t feel anything hard in the bottom of their foot, they are all fairly squishy. I have attached pictures with dates. Any help/advice is appreciated I feel like I’m not getting anywhere and am not confident that these are healing properly…

 

[Callender Girl]

I am currently treating one of my hens for bumblefoot. I am not confident in my ability to safely or completely remove the bumble, so I took Valentina to the vet Monday.

I know your approach of a sugardine poultice is more natural, and I am always in favor of such, especially as a first-line of defense.

Although I never want to overmedicate, I went a different route because I thought Valentina's bumblefoot had gone unnoticed and untreated for too long. Did your vet recommend any medicines?

Valentnia is now getting an oral antibiotic three times a day, an oral pain med once a day and gets her feet re-wrapped twice a day, after I spray Vetericyn Hydrogel on the soles of her feet.

She is walking without limping. I can still see where the bumble was, but it looks like it's starting to heal over. I hope you get your girl's feet healthy!

 

[arfarmer]

I am currently treating one of my hens for bumblefoot. I am not confident in my ability to safely or completely remove the bumble, so I took Valentina to the vet Monday.

I know your approach of a sugardine poultice is more natural, and I am always in favor of such, especially as a first-line of defense.

Although I never want to overmedicate, I went a different route because I thought Valentina's bumblefoot had gone unnoticed and untreated for too long. Did your vet recommend any medicines?

Valentnia is now getting an oral antibiotic three times a day, an oral pain med once a day and gets her feet re-wrapped twice a day, after I spray Vetericyn Hydrogel on the soles of her feet.

She is walking without limping. I can still see where the bumble was, but it looks like it's starting to heal over. I hope you get your girl's feet healthy!

I have been spraying with vetericyn as well. I think the reason we weren’t given antibiotics or pain relief is because we don’t really have a poultry vet here. The vet I took her to does deal with livestock, but generally not poultry.

 

[TillyPeeps]

That scare definitely indicates there's a kernel under it. I know it's hard for a newbie to get it. It took me several months to clean my legbar's bumble foot, since I didn't know there's still a kernel in her foot. I got a small kernel out at the first, but her foot didn't get much better. I kept soaking her feet 30 minutes everyday, and then use a sharp tip tweezer to pick dead tissues. (If there's no blood when your dig her foot, that means it's dead tissues. ) I always spray her foot with vetericyn spray and wrap with Neosporin. One day, there was a huge kernel getting loose and I was able to get it out. It's size of 1/3 of her foot! She recovered in 2 weeks and filled that huge hole in the foot unbelievable quick.

 

[Callender Girl]

It's often tough to find a vet who wants to deal with poultry, at least at the pet level. Neither my dog-and-cat vet nor my goat-and-sheep vet -- both of whom I really like -- will even consider my birds. That despite the facts that I spend a lot of money with both sets of vets, and that I'm sure veterinary schools must at least teach some rudimentary avian medicine.

I was extremely lucky that Dr. Meyer, who has her own chickens (!), once worked with both of those vets and would treat poultry even though the others didn't. She is now with a practice that is about 30 miles away, and I gladly make the drive because I know she knows what she's doing.

Once, I needed Clavamox, which is also used for dogs and cats. I asked Dr. M to call the dog vet who allowed me to get the antibiotic from him, rather than make the longer drive. She had to tell him what dosage I needed, but it all worked.

@TillyPeeps, I admire you for being able to dig out the kernel and for successful bumblefoot treatment. I'm not brave enough to dig into their feet.

 

[arfarmer]

That scare definitely indicates there's a kernel under it. I know it's hard for a newbie to get it. It took me several months to clean my legbar's bumble foot, since I didn't know there's still a kernel in her foot. I got a small kernel out at the first, but her foot didn't get much better. I kept soaking her feet 30 minutes everyday, and then use a sharp tip tweezer to pick dead tissues. (If there's no blood when your dig her foot, that means it's dead tissues. ) I always spray her foot with vetericyn spray and wrap with Neosporin. One day, there was a huge kernel getting loose and I was able to get it out. It's size of 1/3 of her foot! She recovered in 2 weeks and filled that huge hole in the foot unbelievable quick.

Thanks for the response. Sounds like I just need to stay consistent and hope that the infection works its way out. I’m happy your girl recovered well. Soaking 6 chickens for 20-30 mins a day is getting very time consuming….. I guess I’ll just keep at it!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would leave it alone for another week to heal. Or you can put a dressing with sugardine or Neosporin on it. It does takes sometime to heal once you get the infection out. There is no emergency to try and open it back up.

 

[arfarmer]

I would leave it alone for another week to heal. Or you can put a dressing with sugardine or Neosporin on it. It does takes sometime to heal once you get the infection out. There is no emergency to try and open it back up.

Thanks for the advice. I’m going to have to leave it for a day or two since I’m going back to work tomorrow and work long shifts. Hopefully it just needs time…