Bumblefoot Question (Photos)

[Isaac 0]

They just said it was too hard for their feet to stand on. That wild ducks don't spend nearly the same time on their feet, and when they do they are on grass or dirt.

This is 100% correct. By domesticating ducks, we've also significantly increased their weight, therefore more weight is applied to their feet, so it becomes even more crucial to provide them with a soft bedding material to the best of our ability, as wild ducks are lighter in the first place, and for the most part are either in water, or on uncompacted soil.

A lot of the times Bumble foot is just unavoidable, but taking some time out of the day to consider what might be the underlying cause of the bumblefoot is likely just as important as treating.

Usually that tends to be due to hard compacted grounds, but can also be avoided by correcting any nutritional issues, providing dry/clean bedding, or taking care of any preexisting conditions the duck/s might have that is enabling them to put more weight one foot more then the other, or to be inactive in general.

AS far as the pictures you provided, Farrah seems to be the one who actually has Bumble, the rest have some sores that could develop into Bumble (so they are prone), but it might be able to be prevented just by correcting any management issues, since you caught it very early.

There are a few different ways of treating Bumble, so choose whatever technique you feel comfortable with. What I might suggest for Farrah, is scrubbing her foot off with a soap water or an antiseptic like chlorhexidine, or diluted betadine. Then applying a generous coat of a triple antibiotic ointment to the area, bandaging the foot, taking it off a few days later, and assessing if the core in question can be removed easily with the use of a pair of tweezers and scalpel. Of course, after the core is removed, more badaging will be needed as a protective layer as the wound will then again be prone to reinfection.

https://inpractice.bmj.com/content/36/7/356

 

[AzDuck]

This is 100% correct. By domesticating ducks, we've also significantly increased their weight, therefore more weight is applied to their feet, so it becomes even more crucial to provide them with a soft bedding material to the best of our ability, as wild ducks are lighter in the first place, and for the most part are either in water, or on uncompacted soil.

A lot of the times Bumble foot is just unavoidable, but taking some time out of the day to consider what might be the underlying cause of the bumblefoot is likely just as important as treating.

Usually that tends to be due to hard compacted grounds, but can also be avoided by correcting any nutritional issues, providing dry/clean bedding, or taking care of any preexisting conditions the duck/s might have that is enabling them to put more weight one foot more then the other, or to be inactive in general.

AS far as the pictures you provided, Farrah seems to be the one who actually has Bumble, the rest have some sores that could develop into Bumble (so they are prone), but it might be able to be prevented just by correcting any management issues, since you caught it very early.

There are a few different ways of treating Bumble, so choose whatever technique you feel comfortable with. What I might suggest for Farrah, is scrubbing her foot off with a soap water or an antiseptic like chlorhexidine, or diluted betadine. Then applying a generous coat of a triple antibiotic ointment to the area, bandaging the foot, taking it off a few days later, and assessing if the core in question can be removed easily with the use of a pair of tweezers and scalpel. Of course, after the core is removed, more badaging will be needed as a protective layer as the wound will then again be prone to reinfection.

https://inpractice.bmj.com/content/36/7/356

I can’t thank you enough. I have some large sized buckets from work (they resemble the cat sand buckets) that I can soak them in for their epsom salt baths if you think that would help at all?

I have some bacitracin I purchased for this today too (for coating their feet) as well as athletic tape and extra vet wrap. I do also have betadine in my horse medicine cabinet that I can use. I’m super worried about wrapping their feet though because they don’t hold still very well and I don’t want to hurt them pulling their feet into position. I’m also scared about the stress I put them through catching them/holding them to bandage, but I guess I need to just get over it to treat this.

I’m going to try and take out all the river rock in their duck run tomorrow. It will be just be dirt and mud at that point, so what would you suggest I buy to put down now? Also, they free range (when we are home) and run around in my garden boxes which may splinter...I’m scared that is it, but I can’t remove them there are so many. Maybe they just need to stay in their run 24/7 or only supervised outside visits.

Thank you again. I’m attaching a picture of my run, if you have any ideas for the ground outside. The inside is a mix of pine pellets and chopped straw + rubber stall mats.

 

[Isaac 0]

It looks like there is a slope going down on the left side of the picture, correct? If so, you have a decent pitch, I think adding a roof to the top of their run would really help dealing with the bedding getting wet and stinking. Getting some corrugated metal panels off craigslist and tacking some on top would be an easy/somewhat cheap fix. That'd allow you to be somewhat more lenient with your run bedding options.

 

[AzDuck]

The roof is slanted to allow for snow drainage in the winter months, but their actual run is level (unfortunately). And yes, we definitely need to add the steel roof before winter!

They have a dirt ramp to enter their coop, but that’s it. Maybe we can buy a pump to drain the pool outside of the run, so we don’t flood it the way we do now when we change water. I have heard sand is a decent ground cover, but I have also heard poor reviews. I think there is also a certain type of sand that is better to use, if I’m not mistaken?

 

[hayley3]

In my experience removing the river rocks and changing the inside substrate to straw or hay (vet said sand was ok too, but I was worried they would eat it and get impacted) was enough to prevent bumbles from forming. We had recurring bumbles and since making the changes to the environment haven't had any for years.

To treat the feet I took my duck to the vet and followed their instructions. They had me wash the feet twice daily with broad spectrum antibacterial soap, called chlorhexidine I believe. It was hard to do it without getting soap on the feathers, so I cut a small hole in a plastic sack like a surgical drape. I laid my duck on her back in my lap and put her foot and leg through the hole. I tilted her so soapy water wouldn't run up her leg into her feathers. Then I washed her foot really well and rinsed it several times. Then I patted it dry and used silver sulfadiazine cream. Then I put her in duck boots overnight in her coop to keep the medication on. During the day I let her run around barefooted. Twice they had her on antibiotics, everytime they had her on a pain reliever/anti inflammatory. They never did the surgery to dig out the plug thing.

She healed up everytime, but it did return within a couple months until I made the environmental changes. It's been over 3 years bumble free now. I know other people use other substrates with no issues, but my duck can't seem to.

I use a top-entry litter box which has a hole in the top so the duck can stick it's head out while soaking the feet. LOL

 

[AzDuck]

I use a top-entry litter box which has a hole in the top so the duck can stick it's head out while soaking the feet. LOL

Thank you! We have these massive mayonnaise containers from a restaurant nearby that I brought home last night for soaks. I’m thinking of just cutting (and smoothing out) a hole in the top of each of them for my 5 babies. They are going to look like little periscopes!

 

[hayley3]

Thank you! We have these massive mayonnaise containers from a restaurant nearby that I brought home last night for soaks. I’m thinking of just cutting (and smoothing out) a hole in the top of each of them for my 5 babies. They are going to look like little periscopes!

Don't make the hole too big.....ours could be smaller because he kept trying to get out the hole so we had to keep our hand laying on it.
The periscope visual made me laugh...take pictures for us!!

 

[KaleIAm]

The roof is slanted to allow for snow drainage in the winter months, but their actual run is level (unfortunately). And yes, we definitely need to add the steel roof before winter!

They have a dirt ramp to enter their coop, but that’s it. Maybe we can buy a pump to drain the pool outside of the run, so we don’t flood it the way we do now when we change water. I have heard sand is a decent ground cover, but I have also heard poor reviews. I think there is also a certain type of sand that is better to use, if I’m not mistaken?

We cut a hole in the bottom our ducks' pool, and attached a hose that has a handle at the end of the hose that opened and closes controlling the water. Does that make sense? All the water drains far away from the aviary. We did have to raise the pool. If you are interested I can take photos, and have my partner (who actually built it) describe how he did it and what tools he used. I drain my pool everyday so I needed it to be easy.

Or you could look into getting a sump pump!

 

[AzDuck]

We cut a hole in the bottom our ducks' pool, and attached a hose that has a handle at the end of the hose that opened and closes controlling the water. Does that make sense? All the water drains far away from the aviary. We did have to raise the pool. If you are interested I can take photos, and have my partner (who actually built it) describe how he did it and what tools he used. I drain my pool everyday so I needed it to be easy.

Or you could look into getting a sump pump!

I’d love to see! We definitely need to figure out a siphoning method due to how often we change the water. Thank you

 

[3bird]

I use a top-entry litter box which has a hole in the top so the duck can stick it's head out while soaking the feet. LOL

That's a great idea! We just use a bowl or old pot, but I like the way you think!