Bumblefoot Mystery

[BigBlueHen53]

Neosporin ointment does treat staphylococcus and other bacteria. It consists of 3 antibiotics—neomycin, bacitracin, and poly mix in B. That is why it is used for skin wounds, and in eye ointments. Neomycin treats both gram positive and gram negative bacteria, and poly mix in B is effective against gram negative. Bacitracin is antiinfective.

Thanks for the correction, Eggcessive. I learn so much from you and the other Educators. I have corrected my post.

 

[RubyLady]

My cousin that is a retired vet told me to take an old toothbrush and scrub the neosporin into the bumble scab for 2 minutes. It will push the antibiotics down below the surface of the bumble so they can treat the deeper infection not just the surface scab. It’s the method I have been using for years and heals it right up.

Our vet has seen a couple of our chickens though he doesn't normally have chicken experience (he's very nice). I called him about the bumble foot going on and told him about this and he really liked the toothbrushing idea. I happened to have some Mupirocin ointment and he said that ought to really knock it out, so I'm using that.

I wanted to ask you how often you unwrapped, re-treated, and re-wrapped their feet and how long it took for the scabs to fall away and their feet to heal up. Also, once the scabs fall off, did you keep applying the ointment and wrap their feet? If so for how many days longer until you were sure it was healed enough?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Our vet has seen a couple of our chickens though he doesn't normally have chicken experience (he's very nice). I called him about the bumble foot going on and told him about this and he really liked the toothbrushing idea. I happened to have some Mupirocin ointment and he said that ought to really knock it out, so I'm using that.

I wanted to ask you how often you unwrapped, re-treated, and re-wrapped their feet and how long it took for the scabs to fall away and their feet to heal up. Also, once the scabs fall off, did you keep applying the ointment and wrap their feet? If so for how many days longer until you were sure it was healed enough?

It depends on how bad the infection is. For deeper bigger bumbles, the first 2 days I scrub in and re-wrap daily. After that usually it is looking quite a bit better and I do another scrub, wrap then wait 48 hours to check. By day 4-5 my chickens feet look pretty good so i just scrub in the neosporin and don’t wrap it for a day or two after it looks like it’s almost healed. About 5-6 days max for mine it takes and those are the bigger ones. For the smaller bumbles I scrub in the neosporin daily and don’t even bother wrapping. Bumbles are kind of like zucchini if you can catch them right away they are small and manageable, but the moment you miss one they get big fast lol

 

[RubyLady]

It depends on how bad the infection is. For deeper bigger bumbles, the first 2 days I scrub in and re-wrap daily. After that usually it is looking quite a bit better and I do another scrub, wrap then wait 48 hours to check. By day 4-5 my chickens feet look pretty good so i just scrub in the neosporin and don’t wrap it for a day or two after it looks like it’s almost healed. About 5-6 days max for mine it takes and those are the bigger ones. For the smaller bumbles I scrub in the neosporin daily and don’t even bother wrapping. Bumbles are kind of like zucchini if you can catch them right away they are small and manageable, but the moment you miss one they get big fast lol

Oh, this sounds like a much faster healing than peeling off the scab and digging around and then having to heal an open wound!

I'm assuming the scabs just fall off themselves as the staph is eradicated and the new skin forms underneath?

Fingers crossed. Thanks so much for responding!

 

[RubyLady]

It depends on how bad the infection is. For deeper bigger bumbles, the first 2 days I scrub in and re-wrap daily. After that usually it is looking quite a bit better and I do another scrub, wrap then wait 48 hours to check. By day 4-5 my chickens feet look pretty good so i just scrub in the neosporin and don’t wrap it for a day or two after it looks like it’s almost healed. About 5-6 days max for mine it takes and those are the bigger ones. For the smaller bumbles I scrub in the neosporin daily and don’t even bother wrapping. Bumbles are kind of like zucchini if you can catch them right away they are small and manageable, but the moment you miss one they get big fast lol

UPDATE: After one treatment using Mupirocin instead of Neosporin (clean the foot off, brush it in for 1 minute, bandage with gauze and bit of Mupirocin and vet rap), their feet already look SO much better. One scab is almost non-existent and the others look like they are literally shrinking and new skin forming around them.

We will continue to treat and wrap until the skin is well-formed and scabs gone.

Thank you so much for sharing this method!

 

[Themellowyellows]

UPDATE: After one treatment using Mupirocin instead of Neosporin (clean the foot off, brush it in for 1 minute, bandage with gauze and bit of Mupirocin and vet rap), their feet already look SO much better. One scab is almost non-existent and the others look like they are literally shrinking and new skin forming around them.

We will continue to treat and wrap until the skin is well-formed and scabs gone.

Thank you so much for sharing this method!

Pics? So glad she is better!

 

[RubyLady]

Pics? So glad she is better!

Oh gosh, I'm afraid I didn't take any but next time we treat them I'll take some. There are 5 of them with varying stages 1 and 2. Maybe 3, I'm not sure how to tell, exactly. But it's working anyway to reduce the scab size and the one who was limping is no longer limping within 3 days. We wanted to retreat them at 2 days, but I was working and my hip arthritis and now a new shoulder tendonitis/bursitis is making me miserable and I just forgot. We treated them for the second time yesterday and will treat them again and rewrap tomorrow.

 

[Themellowyellows]

Oh gosh, I'm afraid I didn't take any but next time we treat them I'll take some. There are 5 of them with varying stages 1 and 2. Maybe 3, I'm not sure how to tell, exactly. But it's working anyway to reduce the scab size and the one who was limping is no longer limping within 3 days. We wanted to retreat them at 2 days, but I was working and my hip arthritis and now a new shoulder tendonitis/bursitis is making me miserable and I just forgot. We treated them for the second time yesterday and will treat them again and rewrap tomorrow.

Its okay! Hope you feel better

 

[Preston Bowslaugh]

Dealing with the same thing.. Apply prid for about a month. Keep in mind, this takes along time to go away, and you might need to peal back the scab 2-3 times to get to puss. This is what happend to me.

You could try penicillin

 

[Gazergirlstar]

we are going through the same thing with my girl and it just takes a long time, keep at it and good work