Bumblefoot recovery not going so well ;(

[MTCoop]

Hi there. Just hoping for a little direction as we are still pretty new at this whole chicken thing. We have had our girls now for a year without any problems until last week one of them developed bumblefoot. Thanks to BYC we were able to find out what it was as well as perform the surgery. We were able to cut it open and remove the plug. We flushed it out, put some gauze on it with neosporin and wrapped it up in vetwrap. We changed her dressing everyday and applied new ointment. We had her isolated for a few days but she seemed to be making a bit of progress so we put her back with the others. She is eating, drinking and laying but her foot does not seem to be healing. There seems to be another 'sore' on the top of the same foot. It does not have the trademark scab but the toe is very swollen and she is very hesitant to put much weight on it. We opened up the foot to see if we could get anything out but only got a bit of whitish liquid and a bit of blood. We soaked it in epsom salt bath and re-wrapped it as before. We have her isolated again and will try soaking it again later today.
I am really worried about her. She is so sweet and just lets us work on her with very little complaining. I just want her to get better.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!

 

[MTCoop]

Okay, I have an update.
Her foot is still not any better and she is no longer laying. She is still eating and drinking.
We have her isolated but have let her out a few times to free range with the other girls during the day. It seems like she has lost her spot in the pecking order and the other chickens are not very nice to her. They chase her and peck at her and just won't really leave her alone.
Should we give her an antibiotic from our feed store? Should we leave her isolated or put her back with the rest of the flock.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Oldhawkins]

Neosporin is not enough to keep an open wound free from infection. You have to use an anti septic rinse like hydrogen peroxide to kill infection.I have heard opening the wound and packing it with Cayenne pepper will also disinfect. An oral antibiotic would probably help also. Yes the chicken should be isolated for her safety from the other chickens pecking,and so she isnt stressed.

 

[MTCoop]

Thanks for the input. We have been using Blue Kote on it as well, but the hydrogen peroxide is a good idea. I think we will try that first before moving to an oral antibiotic. I have never heard of the cayenne pepper treatment. I will have to look that one up! Thanks

 

[Oldhawkins]

 

[MTCoop]

Thank you for the information - I never knew Cayenne was good for so many things! We opened up our chickens foot the other day and got another hard core out of it as well as a bunch of pus. Her foot is still very swollen but does not feel hot any more. She is eating and drinking but is still not laying. I am going to try the cayenne. Thank you so much!!!