Bumblefoot help!

[mhegge]

Long story short, my 2.5 year old roo has a bumblefoot on the side of one toe. It's been swollen for a month and a half or so, not heavily so I didn't fully notice it, except until 1.5 weeks ago when the spot formed. I have been soaking with Epsom salts, pulling out the scab and kernel, washing with Vetericyn, packing with neosporin and wrapping with a little gauze followed by vet wrap. It's not worse, but only slightly better, where I thought that I would see more improvement. I just spoke with the local avian vet and he said to get chlorahexadine, Nolvasan, and to soak gauze pieces in that and pack the wound with that and then vet wrap it. I'm headed to Fleet Farm tomorrow, BUT, I wanted to check and see if there is anything else I am missing or such. It has never bothered him and he has never acted any different. I really just thought his toe was a bit swollen from scratching the ground as it progresses to winter (northern Wisconsin here and birds are pastured). This is my first ever experience with this so I am open to help! Thanks!

 

[Kathy Golla]

Bumblefoot sucks.
And there are like 50 different types of it. Bumblefoot just means an infection or medical anomaly in the foot.
Personally I'd get him to the vet. The vet will take a look at it, cut around it, flush it out. Give you some sulfadene cream and antibiotics, and will hit it hard and get you over the hump so you and roo can move on with your lives.
Your time and mental effort on this will be worth way more than the $$ you spend at the vet.
If that's not an option we go from there.

 

[azygous]

It sounds like you're doing everything right. Stubborn bumblefoot cases can take a long time to resolve. What I'm going to tell you may sound pretty gruesome but it's probably going to give you peace of mind once you get used to the idea.

An infection on the toe or talon is not a big deal. Here's why. Chickens with an infected toe will eventually lose it if the infection persists. Here's what happens. The immune system of a chicken will build up tissue on the extremity between the infected part and their healthy part. Once this process isolates the infected tissue, the infected part loses its blood supply, turns black, and falls away. So even if you don't manage to conquer the infection, your rooster's body will probably resolve the issue.

This isn't meant to suggest you should just ignore your rooster's injured toe. Bumblefoot can be very stubborn. It can take months sometimes for a serious case to heal. I've been fighting a serious case on a hen for two years, and she still has a black scab and swollen foot pad. All we can do is keep soaking and treating and hope for the best. If it's on a toe, the best outcome sometimes involves losing the toe.

 

[mhegge]

It sounds like you're doing everything right. Stubborn bumblefoot cases can take a long time to resolve. What I'm going to tell you may sound pretty gruesome but it's probably going to give you peace of mind once you get used to the idea.

An infection on the toe or talon is not a big deal. Here's why. Chickens with an infected toe will eventually lose it if the infection persists. Here's what happens. The immune system of a chicken will build up tissue on the extremity between the infected part and their healthy part. Once this process isolates the infected tissue, the infected part loses its blood supply, turns black, and falls away. So even if you don't manage to conquer the infection, your rooster's body will probably resolve the issue.

This isn't meant to suggest you should just ignore your rooster's injured toe. Bumblefoot can be very stubborn. It can take months sometimes for a serious case to heal. I've been fighting a serious case on a hen for two years, and she still has a black scab and swollen foot pad. All we can do is keep soaking and treating and hope for the best. If it's on a toe, the best outcome sometimes involves losing the toe.View attachment 1202541

As much as I want to say that's gross and shouldn't make me feel better, it really does. That is exactly what my roosters toe has been looking like. None of my birds have ever had this and so it is new to me and while looking it up on this forum and others, the main concern seemed to be the infection spreading to The Blood and Bones, so naturally my biggest fear was losing my bird. The knowledge that the chickens immune system is much better than given credit for and that the body could take care of itself that way is a help. Like you said, of course I'm not going to just let it go and not treat it all, but it makes me less worried on the day today. I did talk with the vet like I said in my post and he basically said the same thing for now, that we need to just continue with the keeping it clean, putting on the anti septic, wrapping it, and keeping an eye on it. He said hopefully there should be some improvements soon, but as long as we're not dealing with it getting worse or the bird getting sick that we're just kind of at a standstill. My rooster does not act sick at all, it has not kept him from any of his normal chicken behaviors like scratching in the dirt or feeding or getting up on his Roost, anything that way. So thank you for your reply!

 

[mhegge]

Bumblefoot sucks.
And there are like 50 different types of it. Bumblefoot just means an infection or medical anomaly in the foot.
Personally I'd get him to the vet. The vet will take a look at it, cut around it, flush it out. Give you some sulfadene cream and antibiotics, and will hit it hard and get you over the hump so you and roo can move on with your lives.
Your time and mental effort on this will be worth way more than the $$ you spend at the vet.
If that's not an option we go from there.

I understand what you're saying was going to the vet, unfortunately the only vet that is close to me that treats Birds is about 45 minutes away and very limited on when he is in his office. That is the one I spoke to on the phone last night, and before doing anything else he wanted me to use a stronger antiseptic and change the way I am packing the wound when the infection is removed, packing it with gauze soaked in the antiseptic instead of packing an antibiotic like Neosporin into it. So I'm going to try that for a week or so like he said to see if there is any Improvement, and if not then I will move further. But since I've never dealt with this before I was mostly curious if anyone else has used bad anti septic or anything else that way successfully for a tougher infection. Thank you!

 

[Jessica Thompson]

Hope he gets better