Bumblefoot observation

[jher77]

A while back (I guess last summer) I noticed most of my hens had bumblefoot. There was no limping or no sign it was bothering them. I decided to operate on one and successfully did the operation and removed the kernel. Then I decided to let the rest go to see what happened but was prepared to do the surgery if they went to limping or the foot went inflammed.

Well fast forward to today and none of my hens have bumblefoot, just a normal looking footpad, except the hen that I operated on. The very same foot has the bumblefoot calous thing and has had it since the operation. There is no limping or redness on the top.

I can't help but to wonder that if I had just left it alone then it would have healed back to normal on its own by now since the other hens did. I also wonder about people using the epsom salt soak method that it actually worked or the feet healed up on their own anyways. Anyone else ever notice this?

 

[CurlyQuail]

It’s possible you didn’t get everything out or it’s possible that by opening the foot you left a wound open for more infection to come in. Did you wrap the foot afterwards? Did her foot look worse than the others?

As for the Epsom salt, I used it on my chicken (once a day for about a week and no other treatment) and she healed herself, but I tried it on my quail with no success. I’d guess it depends on how bad the infection is and how good their immune system is.

 

[jher77]

Got the kernel out. Wrapped and put regular neosporin in the wound. Healed fine I thought. The thing is everyone elses bumblefoot just healed theirselves.

The chicken that was operated on, only has the calous on the pad now, no redness, no limping. But back then, she did have a red spot and protrusion on the upper side of the foot so she was worser than everyone else.

I'm gonna say alot of times bumblefoot will heal itself but keep an eye on the foot.

 

[CurlyQuail]

Got the kernel out. Wrapped and put regular neosporin in the wound. Healed fine I thought. The thing is everyone elses bumblefoot just healed theirselves.

The chicken that was operated on, only has the calous on the pad now, no redness, no limping. But back then, she did have a red spot and protrusion on the upper side of the foot so she was worser than everyone else.

I'm gonna say alot of times bumblefoot will heal itself but keep an eye on the foot.

Can you share a picture of the callus? It seems to have healed so it’s possible there’s just a scab/ scar left from the surgery

 

[2467]

I have treated my rooster for bumblefoot 3x this last year, all requiring surgery and wrapping. This last time I just lanced it, it was huge, red, full of puss and I took out the nasty pussy yellow core and left it open to drain, after soaking it for 30 min in warm water with bleach and dawn dish soap. I let him out early in the morning to get the wet dew grass on his foot. He is healing nicely! No antibiotics, no wrapping his foot. He seems to be on the mend. Much more quickly than when i wrapped it. Just a thought.

 

[dawg53]

Got the kernel out. Wrapped and put regular neosporin in the wound. Healed fine I thought. The thing is everyone elses bumblefoot just healed theirselves.

The chicken that was operated on, only has the calous on the pad now, no redness, no limping. But back then, she did have a red spot and protrusion on the upper side of the foot so she was worser than everyone else.

I'm gonna say alot of times bumblefoot will heal itself but keep an eye on the foot.

Sometimes the scabs disappear on their own, even if there's a little redness. I've done surgery on the footpad with a scab and there wasnt any infection at all. That means I caused undue stress to the hen all for nothing.
Unless there's a scab with redness and swelling, that's the only time I'll do bumblefoot surgery.
There's always non surgical treatment with Tricide Neo. I've used it and it works but can be time consuming depending on the size of the scab/infection.

 

[jher77]

I didn't really mind the surgery part. Took maybe 30 minutes. I'm just kinda wondering if I had done nothing, that it would have cleared up on its own, kernel and all.

 

[dawg53]

I didn't really mind the surgery part. Took maybe 30 minutes. I'm just kinda wondering if I had done nothing, that it would have cleared up on its own, kernel and all.

Hard to say. I think you made the right decision since there was infection. I most likely wouldve done the surgery.

 

[jher77]

Hard to say. I think you made the right decision since there was infection. I most likely wouldve done the surgery.

Yea. It certainly didn't hurt to do it I don't think.