Bumblefoot surgery - with pics and "how to"

[DiamondSwan]

My husband just did a bumblef ooh surgery on one of our chickens yesterday got as much of the infection out never saw a plug. We cleaned wound packed with triple antibiotic and wrapped and today when we unwrapped to check and clean again the wound had a bad smell and seemed to look black. Heart (the chicken ) still eating and drinking and moving around yard. So we soaked in Epsom salts, put colloidal silver on and wrapped again. And suggestions on why it looks black under were the incision was made.

Could you get a picture of it?

 

[0die]

are these bumble feet? it has the tell tell scab but the foot pad does not look swollen and they are walking around fine. I just did surgery on another bird that had a HUGE swollen foot...

I'm not sure there is a plug in there...could it just be a scab from a cut but without anything plugged inside? I would really hate to to surgery only to fine nothing

 

[MrsBachbach]

My husband just did a bumblef ooh surgery on one of our chickens yesterday got as much of the infection out never saw a plug. We cleaned wound packed with triple antibiotic and wrapped and today when we unwrapped to check and clean again the wound had a bad smell and seemed to look black. Heart (the chicken ) still eating and drinking and moving around yard. So we soaked in Epsom salts, put colloidal silver on and wrapped again. And suggestions on why it looks black under were the incision was made.

I wouldn't soak the foot after it's been opened or cut into. You can introduce bacteria back in the wound especially if the chicken poops in the water which they tend to do or if their feed are dirty. Plus, I imagine it stings like heck sitting in that salt water after being opened? Anyway, I would say you might be seeing bruising or old blood if it looks black, but if it smells, it could be infected. Make sure your water is sterile when you clean the wound, keep applying a good antibiotic and very important to wrap very good with vetwrap(not too tight) and bandaging tape to keep dirt and poop out of foot. Also, chicken has to be caged for the first few days on clean shavings and kept dry so foot can start closing up. Don't let it run around in the chicken yard. Dirt will find a way in. If in a few days it still smells infected, looks infected, you may have to get some Penicillin G from feed store and give the bird injections for a few days. It is in their refrigerator. Get a small 1ml syringe and an 18ga needle. The dose is no more than a tenth of one ml. Very small dose so very small syringe is needed. Remove from fridge and let it come to room temp while shaking it well. Then draw out amount with needle and I would give in breast muscle(alternate) for three to five days. That's what I would do, but owners have to make their own call. I would toss all eggs for a few weeks afterward also.

 

[MrsBachbach]

are these bumble feet? it has the tell tell scab but the foot pad does not look swollen and they are walking around fine. I just did surgery on another bird that had a HUGE swollen foot...

I'm not sure there is a plug in there...could it just be a scab from a cut but without anything plugged inside? I would really hate to to surgery only to fine nothing

Yes that is it. Maybe just beginning. So, you can start soakings and then put an iodine/sugar poultice on it, slap a piece of guaze pad over that and wrap with vetwrap. Do the soakings and poultices a few times a week and see if that will loosen that scab/plug. Surgery may be minimal when they are still small like that.

 

[0die]

How is it that just soaking and dressing it will fix it? I thought it required cutting out? I thought bumble foot was from a foreign object imbedded that a cyst or plug grows around? Isn't cutting it out the only way or can the body naturally expel it?

I guess I'm caught between not cutting into a minor wound, hoping it will repair itself....or interfering with the body's natural healing process....

Or waiting on the body to exspell it naturally and it just gets worse and then I got a bigger problem that could have been cut out real easy before it got big...

****** if I do and ****** if I don't

 

[DiamondSwan]

How is it that just soaking and dressing it will fix it?  I thought it required cutting out?  I thought bumble foot was from a foreign object imbedded that a cyst or plug grows around?  Isn't cutting it out the only way or can the body naturally expel it?

I guess I'm caught between not cutting into a minor wound, hoping it will repair itself....or interfering with the body's natural healing process....

Or waiting on the body to exspell it naturally and it just gets worse and then I got a bigger problem that could have been cut out real easy before it got big...

****** if I do and ****** if I don't 

There are two different types off bumble foot. One is caused by something piercing the foot and bacteria getting into the wound causing infection. The other is basically rubbing wounds caused by walking on hard surfaces often causing multiple scabs in different places and there is no infection involved. It looks as though yours is the infection kind. The foot pads look a little swollen and the scab is the piercing wound. It gets bigger over time. Clean the foot and soak, then remove the scab with tweezers and see if you can find any infection. A bright light will help. If you can't find any thing, just keep checking the foot every few days as you wouldn't want this to go unattended if it is infection.

 

[Woobsie]

Beating a dead horse on this one but since I had a case of bumblefoot I treated today I will share with you how I have successfully treated bumblefoot in many chickens and ducks.
I believe that if you take a piece of gauze, apply Bactine or even polysporin to it over the bumbles and secure with vet wrap for around 1 to 2 weeks (do not let it go uncovered but change it every 4 days) it will soften the foot pads so much that you will be able to easily scrape off the scab or pop out the kernal without risking cutting a tendon. This basically does a better and less stressful job to the bird than the epsom salt foot bath. Once you have removed the scab or kernal (not all bumbles have a kernal...some just have a scab and pink flesh underneath), spray with alcohol and bactine, apply polysporin to a piece of gauze and wrap the foot securely with vetwrap. Key is to ensure the vetwrap does not fall off by cutting a 1 to 2" slit up the end of the vetwrap, flip one side over and tie a knot as if a sling bandage. Change the dressing every 3 or 4 days with new polyspoin, gauze and vetwrap. I would keep the bird confined to a small cage with a sheet over top of it and minimize disturbing it. It needs to rest. Monitor any increased swelling. If after 1 week of removing the scab or kernal you should have decreased heat and swelling otherwise I would get them on oral antibiotics because bumblefoot can lead to many other infections internally if it gets worse. I have never had a bird not respond well to this treatment and have had to do this nearly dozens of times now

 

[Hishigata]

I agree. You needn't cut into the foot to treat bumblefoot. My hen recently had a pretty bad case so I took her into see an avian veterinarian. He removed the scab and squeezed out a bit of yellow pus like material (for testing) then just added some antibiotic ointment and wrapped up her foot. He also prescribed oral antibiotics just in case. I have since successfully treated all cases of bumblefoot with just cleaning, antibiotic ointment, and wraps changed a couple of times a week. Cutting into the foot seems unnecessary in most cases and as likely to cause more infection as it is to help.

P.S.
If you add an extra layer of wrap with tabs that the birds can pull they will usually just tug on that and leave the main bandage alone (hen mind games).

 

[0die]

OK, I thought bumble foot was "specifically" when some foreign object, like a splinter or such, got imbedded inside the foot and a hard kernel/cyst developed around it that needed to be surgically cut out.

Just a cut or puncture wound with no foreign object left inside is a little different I would think...still clean the wound site but doesn't the scab seal and protect the wound while it heals on it's own? Doesn't picking the scab off interfere with the body's natural healing process?

I would think only to remove the scab if there was a foreign object imbedded underneath...but I guess you don't really know until you remove the scab to see what's underneath...so remove it in all cases, see what if anything is there, and wrap it up?

 

[0die]

Beating a dead horse on this one

nope...never stop discussing and learning....