Bumblefoot--how should I go about treating?

[Skye'sDucks]

Hello! I noticed today that one of my chickens has what looks like the start of potential bumblefoot. She has a small black scab on the bottom of her foot. No swelling, redness, and no limping or signs of pain. I did notice an even smaller scab on one of my other chickens when I looked all of them over. Same thing--no pain, redness, swelling, etc.

I generally know how to treat bumblefoot--I've seen several threads on here even though I've never had to treat it myself in any of my birds.

Clearly my case is small and not major (yet) but I was curious about what exactly I should do for it? I was thinking soaking it with epsome salt water, but I'm not entirely certain if I should try to pull the scab? What is recommended to put on it, either way? I have a veterycin antibacterial spray but I would need to pick up any kind of antibiotic ointment, and of course vet wrap because I don't have any right now.

Thanks for any help--I'll try to get some pictures in a little bit, but right now it's raining and I don't feel like going out again quite yet

 

[picklestheduck]

Hello! I noticed today that one of my chickens has what looks like the start of potential bumblefoot. She has a small black scab on the bottom of her foot. No swelling, redness, and no limping or signs of pain. I did notice an even smaller scab on one of my other chickens when I looked all of them over. Same thing--no pain, redness, swelling, etc.

I generally know how to treat bumblefoot--I've seen several threads on here even though I've never had to treat it myself in any of my birds.

Clearly my case is small and not major (yet) but I was curious about what exactly I should do for it? I was thinking soaking it with epsome salt water, but I'm not entirely certain if I should try to pull the scab? What is recommended to put on it, either way? I have a veterycin antibacterial spray but I would need to pick up any kind of antibiotic ointment, and of course vet wrap because I don't have any right now.

Thanks for any help--I'll try to get some pictures in a little bit, but right now it's raining and I don't feel like going out again quite yet

Sounds like you have a good idea of what to do but here’s what I would do.

•Soak in epsom salt for 10-15 minutes
•Try to pull the scab off. If it feels too hard to pull out just wrap it and soak again the next day and retry.
• after the soak or after pulling the scab off, pack the hole with neosporin or triple antibiotic cream used for people but make sure it does NOT have pain relief in it. I would wrap the foot with gauze over the cream and then vetwrap, but you don’t want thr graze to get stuck I the wound so you must be careful to keep the wound covered well with neosporin etc.
• then I would let your bird free but make sure they are in a dry environment. If you can do this twice a day that would be great but I usually just do once a day. I would also treat the other bird who has the start of bumblefoot. Good luck and if you have any more questions let me know! This is what my hens foot looked like after just one soak and I plucked the scab out of her foot. I then packed the hole with cream and wrapped the foot.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Sounds like you have a good idea of what to do but here’s what I would do.

•Soak in epsom salt for 10-15 minutes
•Try to pull the scab off. If it feels to snug just wrap it and soak again the next day and retry.
• after the soak or after pulling the scab off, pack the hole with neosporin or triple antibiotic cream used for people but make sure it does NOT have pain relief in it. I would wrap the foot with gauze over the cream and then vetwrap, but you don’t want thr graze to get stuck I the wound so you must be careful to keep the wound covered well with neosporin etc.
• then I would let your bird free but make sure they are in a dry environment. If you can do this twice a day that would be great but I usually just do once a day. I would also treat the other bird who has the start of bumblefoot. Good luck and if you have any more questions let me know!

Thanks so much for the help! That sounds very similar to what I was planning, I just need to pick up the right stuff (namely wrap and possibly some antibiotic cream. I have to raid the cabinet to know what we even have here at home lol)

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Well, I got the scab off and her foot wrapped up nice and good! Didn't get pictures because it was getting late in the evening--we've had family over so I've been running to stores and treating the chicken around that lol!

Honestly her foot barely looked bad at all once the scab was off. I stupidly didn't relook at a video for how to wrap a chicken's foot, so I just figured it out It seems like I got it pretty good and she's gone to roost for the night so hopefully she'll stop picking at it. Perhaps I shouldn't have chosen bright orange vet wrap!

I'll have to get to Miss Miriam (the other hen) tomorrow. Her's was the one that was a very small scab, so I'm not too worried. Miss Esther my patient tonight was very good for me! Only splashed me with water once lol.

 

[dawg53]

Sounds like you have a good idea of what to do but here’s what I would do.

•Soak in epsom salt for 10-15 minutes
•Try to pull the scab off. If it feels too hard to pull out just wrap it and soak again the next day and retry.
• after the soak or after pulling the scab off, pack the hole with neosporin or triple antibiotic cream used for people but make sure it does NOT have pain relief in it. I would wrap the foot with gauze over the cream and then vetwrap, but you don’t want thr graze to get stuck I the wound so you must be careful to keep the wound covered well with neosporin etc.
• then I would let your bird free but make sure they are in a dry environment. If you can do this twice a day that would be great but I usually just do once a day. I would also treat the other bird who has the start of bumblefoot. Good luck and if you have any more questions let me know! This is what my hens foot looked like after just one soak and I plucked the scab out of her foot. I then packed the hole with cream and wrapped the foot.

You did a good job, but you forgot one thing, the most important thing: You forgot to remove the infection.
You have to squeeze the heck out of the footpad to get the infection out. If you dont, all your work is for nothing and the infection will get worse possibly causing eventual death to your bird.
Please see post #2 in this link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/early-bumblefoot-how-can-i-help.1391252/#post-22835178

 

[picklestheduck]

You did a good job, but you forgot one thing, the most important thing: You forgot to remove the infection.
You have to squeeze the heck out of the footpad to get the infection out. If you dont, all your work is for nothing and the infection will get worse possibly causing eventual death to your bird.
Please see post #2 in this link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/early-bumblefoot-how-can-i-help.1391252/#post-22835178

Not always. I’ve dealt with severa bumble foot bords before and I’ve always just pulled the plug out and that was the infection itself. My Hens have healed great. It really depends on the situation.

 

[dawg53]

Not always. I’ve dealt with severa bumble foot bords before and I’ve always just pulled the plug out and that was the infection itself. My Hens have healed great. It really depends on the situation.

You didnt mention pulling the plug (infection) out in your post. That's why I commented.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

You did a good job, but you forgot one thing, the most important thing: You forgot to remove the infection.
You have to squeeze the heck out of the footpad to get the infection out. If you dont, all your work is for nothing and the infection will get worse possibly causing eventual death to your bird.

Thanks for the reply! I did remember about the plug in other posts, but oddly enough she really didn't have one? I even tried looking in it again this morning, I was squeezing and squeezing but nothing but blood was coming out. I also poked around a bit to see if I could see anything but I really can't. I don't know if I'm doing enough or if it's possible there wasn't much/any of a plug?

The second hen is a bit of a work in progress--One scab came off but it looks like there's a tough layer of skin underneath--possibly no bumble? Or do I still need to do more? There is one on her toe too that I think I can see a small plug in it, but I could not get it out. I just applied the antibiotic cream and wrapped it up really good, and I will try soaking and doing it again tonight. I just had her out for a long time and was getting nowhere with it.

Is it possible I will need to go in with a scalpel, or should I not be that invasive?

I was hoping that I would not need to do anything with the 1st hen (with only one bumble, the one I saw no plug in) today at all since I already worked on her foot and wrapped it up with a fresh bandage today.

Thank you again for the help--I'm aware I have to get the infection out, I just haven't really seen much?? As I stated I have never dealt with bumble before, and of course I have to have a seemingly weird case of it in my birds.

 

[dawg53]

When you see a scab without redness, no swelling, and no limping, there's no need to do surgery. The scabs eventually go away on their own. I found out the hard way a long time ago when I've done the surgery and never found any plug or any other type of infection at all.
I did an unnecessary procedure causing undue stress on the bird.
Scabs like that require once a week or two weeks monitoring until they disappear.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

When you see a scab without redness, no swelling, and no limping, there's no need to do surgery. The scabs eventually go away on their own. I found out the hard way a long time ago when I've done the surgery and never found any plug or any other type of infection at all.
I did an unnecessary procedure causing undue stress on the bird.
Scabs like that require once a week or two weeks monitoring until they disappear.

Alright, I figured as much and was planning on not doing that, I just wanted to check. I'd hate to not do enough, but I also understand it's best not to go crazy lol.

I once had a duck who had a bad cut/stab wound from a fellow duck's claw on his back, and I remember I didn't get all the pus/infection out of that one. He healed up fine but ever since then I've been mindful of that lesson to make sure those wounds are nice and cleaned out. I sorta presumed what you said above that there wasn't any need to do much if there was no plug, but of course I worry aha and I wanted to be sure I was doing alright!

Thank you for your input and advice, it's so helpful! I'm glad my hens obviously don't have bad bumble. I'll keep an eye on them and keep clean bandaging on their feet!