I had a hen who recently recovered from bumblefoot, and it took me 6 months to fully heal. She actually had it in both feet, but one healed in about 2 months. I had my vet perform the surgery the first time so I could learn what to do. I ended up doing it a second time on the foot that took 6months to heal. Her scab wasn't going away and seemed pretty hard and thick, so I pulled it (after soaking her foot) and once again cleaned her foot out. Once I did the second surgery, it took another 3 months to heal, but I was picking edges of the scab off daily until the whole thing came off. (I never saw another kernal but there was definitely more puss and her foot had a pink tinge to it before the surgery- it faded afterwards in a couple of days). It was a thinner scab too. She had a hole about the size of a pencil eraser on the bottom of her foot, and now has a small, hard to see dimple scar but it's pretty smooth with no issues afterwards. (knock on wood) I wrapped her feet daily in that stretchy tape (not tight) and used tape to hold it on. (cut little holes for toes to go thru and help keep out dirt). I was cleaning it once a day with vetricyn, and rewrapping too. I tried some of those pre-made chicken booties, but they didn't work for my girl, but the daily wraps worked very well. (She was never separated from the flock). My vet warned me it would take a while to heal and he put her on antibiotics both times she had the surgery. Good luck!
I would absolutely say pull it off and let it scab over again. She was much happier afterwards too, walking better and everything. (She was never separated from the others and never picked on luckily). Once I removed the scab, she recovered much faster and the scab itself had pieces that would "break" off, until I finally pulled the last small pc and it was like a new foot!
Well I'm glad I did it. Got it off and a quick squeeze and Bam. More puss! It just looks like a giant hole of a toe. Sigh. There will be no function to it. More of a stub for balance and putting weight down. I sprayed thoroughly with vetericyn and an betadine spray. Packed it with Neosporin entirely in the gaping hole. Cross our fingers.I would absolutely say pull it off and let it scab over again. She was much happier afterwards too, walking better and everything. (She was never separated from the others and never picked on luckily). Once I removed the scab, she recovered much faster and the scab itself had pieces that would "break" off, until I finally pulled the last small pc and it was like a new foot!
