Bumblefoot Surgery... (graphic pics)

[SilkieSisters]

For awhile one of my hens has been limping when she walks. It's clear that she has bumblefoot in one foot and I got the supplies together to get hopefully get rid of the infection.This was my first chicken with bumblefoot so I'm new to this. I started by cleaning her foot in a warm epsom salt bath for about 5 minutes.

The plug was very obvious. I cleaned her foot with betadine and used a scalpel to cut around it. I was able to get it out along with some yellow cheesy stuff. There wasn't too much of it and nothing more came out when I pushed on other parts of the foot. There is still two other lumps in her foot that are hard and when I tried cutting to get to see what was in her foot, she started bleeding and it wouldn't stop. I rinsed it out multiple times with water, but it kept bleeding. I definitely thought that there might be more infection in those spots but I just couldn't see any more yellow tissue.

This was all that I was able to get out and her foot is still very big. I didn't want to keep hurting her and making her bleed if it wasn't doing any good. I wasn't sure if I should continue cutting into her foot to see if there's still infection or wait and ask and then keep working on it tomorrow. For now I filled the hole with Neosporin and bandaged it up. When I put her outside she was walking around a bit better than before. The question is . . . what should I do next to further take care of her foot to get rid of the infection?

 

[SilkieSisters]

Does anyone have any advice on bumblefoot?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

@KikisGirls @casportpony can help you out.

 

[Kiki]

Good job for digging out the pus.
She should start to heal soon, sometimes it take a while for it to heal, there is a hole that needs to recover so give her some time.

I think you might want to trim her nails a little bit while you are doctoring her up.

 

[SilkieSisters]

Good job for digging out the pus.
She should start to heal soon, sometimes it take a while for it to heal, there is a hole that needs to recover so give her some time.

I think you might want to trim her nails a little bit while you are doctoring her up.

Okay thank you. I noticed her nails were getting long so I'll trim them, but should I try to cut out those bigger bumps on her foot or just leave it?

 

[Kiki]

Okay thank you. I noticed her nails were getting long so I'll trim them, but should I try to cut out those bigger bumps on her foot or just leave it?

I would not cut anything more right now.

 

[SilkieSisters]

I would not cut anything more right now.

Alright, thank you for replying!

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Do you let your birds free range? Id give them some concrete blocks or something for them to walk or scratch on. That might help with the long nails in the future. I hope your bird recovers from surgery!

 

[SilkieSisters]

Do you let your birds free range? Id give them some concrete blocks or something for them to walk or scratch on. That might help with the long nails in the future. I hope your bird recovers from surgery!

Yes, they free range daily and are in grass mostly. They also walk on the driveway sometimes, but I also have concrete blocks I could give them.