bumblefoot: to cut, or not to cut?

[Kustom]

Hi, I have been researching bumblefoot for a few days now. Everywhere I look online, it says to cut around the scab and pull/squeeze out the "kernal". As a last minute try to get someone experienced to do it, I asked the wild bird sanctuary lady in my town about it. She has had hundreds or thousands of chickens there. She said NO! NEVER cut open the bird's foot for bumblefoot, just soak in epsom salt, put preperation H and DMSO(horse linament?) on it, and keep it wraped and clean.

So......... should I cut open my chicken's foot, or Prep H and wrap? It's a "medium sized" swelling, and the scab came off cleanly after 15 - 20 minutes of soaking. My rooster does not seem to be limping since the scab came off.

 

[Eggcessive]

The kernel, when it develops in bumblefoot is essentially an abscess of staphylococcus, a bacteria. It needs to come out. In early bumblefoot, soaking and even antibiotics may help. But if it is fairly advanced enough to cause limping, or a red and swollen footpad, then it probably should be expelled by doing the surgery. I have bumblefoot fairly often in my flock due to many sharp small rocks in my soil. However, I only do the surgery if I see swelling with redness, or there is limping. Here are some good links with videos of the surgery:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/07/bumblefoot-causes-treatment-warning.html
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/how-to-treat-bumblefoot-in-chickens.aspx
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bumblefoot-in-your-flock

 

[Kustom]

well, I just bandaged his foot up, with a tiny bit of neosporin where the scab was, and a thin layer of preperation h around the swelling. Will be out of town tomorrow, I will try to post a picture the next time I take the bandage off. It is about a 1/2" lump on his sole, not the toes, and it does not have any redness on the lump.

 

[dawg53]

After soaking in warm epsom salt water, I cut directly into the scab and squeeze the heck out of the footpad to get the infection out. Sometimes it requires resoaking to draw out infection as well as digging a little deeper and squeezing. The key is getting ALL the infection out the first time. I then flush the hole with betadine, pat dry and pack the hole with neosporin. I put some betadine on gauze, topped with neosporin and place it over the hole, then wrap it with duct tape. I change it out in 2 days, repeat betadine and neosporin and rewrap for another 2 days. By the fifth day the footpad is healed up most of the time. If not, I'll repeat for a couple more days and it's all healed up by then.
If you dont get the infection out, it will work its way to the legbone. Once it gets to the legbone, the bacteria quickly spreads through the chickens system and there's no amount of antibiotics that will save the bird...game over.

 

[Kustom]

 

[dawg53]

I have seen scabs go away on their own. I've done a couple of unnecessary surgeries without telltale signs of redness and swelling. I wont do surgery unless there's redness, swelling and in or around the scab.

 

[enola]

I have also discovered that not every scab on a chicken's foot is bumble foot. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that just soaking would clear bumble foot without surgery. In my opinion, just soaking bumble foot would not cure the problem. Since bumble foot is caused by a staph infection, my limited medical knowledge tells me the core would HAVE to be removed. I suspect any cases 'cured by soaking' were not actually a staph infection. If i am thinking wrong, someone please let me know.