Bumblefoot - really bad and I don't know what to do - Please Help

[RedBrush Farm]

I have only had chickens about a year. I have a beautiful rooster that has become a wonderful pet. About a month ago we noticed his foot swelling, We had been doing construction and thought he may have poked it or something. We assumed he would just get better. It did not, It just kept getting bigger and bigger. We thought swelling? It got really hard on the bottom on the sides and between the toes. He never acted as if it was causing any problem. 3 days ago he refused to leave the roost. When I sat him down he would put no weight at all on the foot. When I looked at the bottom there was a black spot the size of a quarter. I scratched it with my finger and it came off.... Under was bloody looking meat? skin? it did bleed but not much. I did some research and found an article about bumblefoot. I cleaned the foot. Soaked in ebsom salt and with tweezers pulled out a yellow hard mass a little larger than a pea. I thought that would be the end of things. It has had more and more of the hard stuff work out. I also felt "stuff" between the toes. I made a cut between one toe and got out another pea size lump. When I gently probe I can feel LOTS of hard stuff in there. Should I keep probing and pulling out? Should I keep packing it with antibiotic and wrap and hope the little pieces come out? Is there stuff in there that is yellow that I should NOT be trying to get out? I just don't know what to do. Please give advice.
Thanks in advance,
B.K.

 

[Kevin565]

http://backyardchickens.yuku.com/topic/6681#.Tw5WGKU7VvA

 

[sherylreno]

You can also try the no surgery one. I bookmarked this a while ago so just in case I have an issue with bumblefoot.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/303829/vet-suggestion-for-non-invasive-bumblefoot-cure

 

[RedBrush Farm]

Thanks for the information. I just want to help him. He does not seem to be in pain when I poke and pull stuff out. I just don't know if I got it all. It is still sooo large. It may just be swollen. Does anyone know where I can find a picture of what the "inside" of a chicken foot SHOULD look like. I am afraid in our efforts to remove the "bad" stuff we may remove something we should not. I wish we had known about the non surgical option prior to starting. We would take him to a vet but we live in an area that would laugh us out of town and the vet would probably suggest "last rights" as the only option.

 

[klmclain1]

The non-surgical does not always work. Especially when it's as far along as your rooster's. I have a hen healing from "surgery" for 5 days now. I had to cut between her toes too. Just do your best... feel around for lumps. You can tell the diff between bone and the staph lumps. I pulled out about 6 - 5 the first day, then an additional one the second. I had to cut pretty deeply on the bottom. I change the dressing daily, spray with blukote and put a large dollop of neosporin on. I'll find my posts - I posted a link to another thread that has pictures. I followed those.

 

[klmclain1]

The non-surgical does not always work. Especially when it's as far along as your rooster's. I have a hen healing from "surgery" for 5 days now. I had to cut between her toes too. Just do your best... feel around for lumps. You can tell the diff between bone and the staph lumps. I pulled out about 6 - 5 the first day, then an additional one the second. I had to cut pretty deeply on the bottom. I change the dressing daily, spray with blukote and put a large dollop of neosporin on. I'll find my posts - I posted a link to another thread that has pictures. I followed those.

ok.. here it is https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=236649

 

[RedBrush Farm]

Thanks sooo much... I was afraid I would not know if i was pulling out bone. If it is in slivers or lumps I suppose it is infection and not bone?

 

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

Bumblefoot is very difficult to heal. It took us about 4 months of constantly cutting,soaking,squeezing,meds and wrapping, over and over. It was a nightmare for us and her. If you don't stay with it they will get an infection and die.

 

[RedBrush Farm]

We have been changing wrap and cleaning every day. We were just not sure how much to probe in the wound to see if there is more infection (hard stuff). His foot is still very hard feeling.

 

[tmfineg]

I had a chicken with Bumble Foot that got really advanced. I tried to treat her myself then finally took her to the vet. He gave me some good antiboitics, but it was too little too late.

The mistakes I made were to try to treat her with over the counter antibiotics and not realizing how serios she got.

What I did right, was I soaked her foot in epsom salts daily and cleaned the wound as others have described. Additionally, the vet showed me how to make a foot wrap with a donut made from gauze on the bottom of her foot. This allowed her to walk without putting pressure on the wound..

She acted fine the whole time I treated her, which was about 8 weeks, and did not appear in pain. She never did put any pressure on her foot though, which I guess was the biggest red flag, The vet monitored her weight and she was losing weight which told him she was in pain and was suffering, so we chose to end her suffering. The infection had probably gone into the bone at that point.

This was my first injured chicken, so I learned a lot. I feel a lot more confident now. I suggest you be aggressive with the treatment and bring in an expert if you feel it warrants it. Good luck!