Bumblefoot!! NEED ADVICE

[MapleBiscuits49]

Hello!! Prior to joining, I have been lurking around this forum for a few years now, and it has been extremely helpful. You are all so kind and knowledgeable!! I’ll cut to chase: my 2 yr. old EE (Blue) has a mild case of bumblefoot. I have been soaking her foot 30 minutes daily, rinsing it with saline, applying sugar-dine to the scab, and bandaging it. I have not opened the scab yet, for fear of reinfecting it. (One of our previous hens had it and it kept reoccurring.) I have no idea how to go about this… I just want to help her. She’s such a good hen!!!

I have photos of her scab and bandage… but don’t know how to attach them. *cough*

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC!

This guide may help you through uploading your photos.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-attachments-images-to-the-new-byc.1174493/

 

[MapleBiscuits49]

Awesome, thank you! I'm using my computer now... hopefully it works!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like the bandages are causing some irritation, so I'd watch that.

Try squeezing the foot after soaking to see if a Kernel will pop out.

 

[MapleBiscuits49]

Awesome, thank you!! I will try that tomorrow. Also, I had never considered irritation from the bandages... Do you know of any ways I could change that? I have normal gauze as well. It's much softer!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Make sure the foot is dry before wrapping and that it stays dry. Check to make sure the wrappings aren't too tight as well.

 

[MapleBiscuits49]

Will do. I'll update on how it's going. Thanks for the help!!

 

[MapleBiscuits49]

Hello again! So, I soaked her again for roughly 40 minutes and wasn’t able to squeeze out a plug… I felt around her pad, didn’t feel much, and tried scraping off the scab to see if I could find anything underneath. I only saw red skin. (Maybe there’s something deeper down?) I dried her foot, just applied some ointment, (I wanted to keep it super dry) and wrapped it with soft gauze.

Do you think I should've gone deeper, or has it not developed enough? Do I just leave it alone?! Clueless over here.

Thank you SO MUCH for your help!!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It looks like it's healing.

Does she limp? If she's able to walk on it with no issues, then I'd leave it and just monitor her for a few weeks, see if it heals completely up.

 

[MapleBiscuits49]

REALLY?! She is not limping. Sometimes she'll even stand on that leg flamingo-style. I'll monitor her very closely. When do you think I should remove the bandage?

I guess I was just super paranoid.

Again, THANK YOU!! I hope you and your hens have an excellent night. Speaking of-- how many hens do you have? Just curious.