Bumblefoot that never goes away, what to do?

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

I have several ducks who all have different stages of what appears to be bumblefoot, I have treated it last year on one of my runners, she had very pronounced bumps that were cracking on several joints and had some bleeding... she is better now.

Now I am noticing much larger growths with less to no cracking on the main pads of the feet in my hybrids. They look like tumors-large, soft, fatty tissue, there is no bleeding either. Is this still bumblefoot or are my ducks getting growths due to the harder surface of their yard? The rocks aren't sharp, they are tumbled and kidney bean sized...so I don't quite know.

Also, is it bad if my duck's legs seem ashy? like they are on the dry side, they don't get to swim every day so maybe thats why they aren't as oiled and moisturized as other waterfowl's legs.
ugh, what is going on?

 

[Amiga]

I'll make a few guesses here.

Sometimes bumble foot occurs in clusters . . . the bacteria that cause it may be "blooming" for some reason. Are there standing puddles that get kind of yucky? Perhaps you can work on getting rid of those, if there are any.

What you describe sounds to me like bumble foot, and the ducks need treatment right away. If you can catch it early enough, two or three times a day treatment with triple antibiotic ointment works, slowly, but it works without cutting the foot, which then requires "sick bay" time. Open foot wounds are not safe to run around the yard with.

Something may be abrading the ducks' feet. See if you can find it. Sometimes bedding additives can irritate their feet.

It would help them out to be able to bathe daily. That can prevent infections and sometimes certain parasites, I think.

 

[Amiga]

Any updates on the flock?

 

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

sorry, I went on vacation a day after I posted and had no web access for a week and a half. We had our cousin watching the ducks, I let her know about my gimpy duck and gave her some ointment and instructions, but by the looks of it, she did very little if anything more than the bare minimum of feeding and tending the flock. I have my sad little duck quarantined in a separate cage with fresh bedding and I made a couple pairs of duck socks for her feet to put on after I put on her ointment so I only change it daily and its getting better so far. I think the infection was pretty intense because her ankle was a little swollen and hot.

I don't have any standing puddles in my yard, its all well draining, tumbled round pea gravel, but the dang ducks spend all day long around their automatic waterer and consequently they all poop in the same spot and I am sure there is a bacterial plume going on thanks to that. I try to move the icky mess around and then hose it off and let that dry every couple of days but its a constant problem...

one foot has no open sore whatsoever but the main heel pad is awfully large and knobby like the other that has a sore from the looks of it. This is such a frustrating problem to deal with so often, I wish I could sanitize their yard in some non toxic way.

 

[Amiga]

I think you may be able to sanitize the yard in a less toxic way, but it will take some time and experimentation. So frustrating! When we deal with infestations from time to time here, there is that awful, and too-long period when I cannot find the answer no matter what. Then, so far at least, something occurs to me or a friend familiar with the issue, and it takes time and too much effort, and we get it sorted out.

Think about how you might change the pH, but not so much as to harm the ducks. Try raising the pH with peat moss, oak leaves, or something like that.

Or, try the Sweet PDZ and see if that changes the chemistry enough to reduce the bacteria load.

Meanwhile, tweak their diet. could the addition of some flaxseed flour give them some vitamins that make their feet less likely to crack and then get infected?

Could you remove or just dry out their watering area for a week or so before hot weather sets in (if it has not yet)? Be sure, as you know because you know these things, they have their fresh drinking and face wash water.

These are all ideas for consideration. I hope something in here gives you your own good idea for how to work at this knotty problem.

Meanwhile,

for you and the ducks.