Bumblefoot - what else can I do to prevent

[troppoli]

Yesterday my daughter noticed our austrolorp has a swollen foot. Much reading later and I now know more than I ever thought I'd need to know about Bumblefoot (She has the black scabs on both feet). We are not planning to take her to the vet ($100 to walk in the door and they said it would be several treatments so we can't spend hundreds of dollars on one chicken).

Last night and this morning we soaked her feet in epsom salts, put on Prid's salve, antibiotic ointment and wrapped her feet. We checked some of the other chickens and one has a small scab but no swelling. We are going to keep an eye on them and are hoping to avoid the surgery as I know you need to get all of the stringy stuff, but we will if we have to.

After reading some of the causes we will be putting a lower roost for them to jump on to help them get down from their roosting bar (it is at about 2.5 feet). And we raked out their run. They did have a lot of sticks in it from when we dump leaves in to their run.

They have shavings in the coop and dirt in the run. We are thinking of adding straw or hay to the run.

Other than cleaning out the sticks, adding straw and an extra bar so they aren't jumping from the high roost, anything else we should be doing to help our girls heal and stay healthy? They are all large breed birds, but I have no idea how to tell if they are overweight.

 

[azygous]

You about have it covered except you don't mention how deep the bedding is under the roosts. Heavy breeds need lots of cushion even with low perches. Frequent foot inspections can head off serious cases of bumblefoot from developing. Spraying the incipient scabs with Vertericyn is a good RX.

If there is swelling with this hen's bumblefoot, surgery is probably called for, and maybe an antibiotic as well. The surgery isn't as involved or complex as you may think. After soaking for a good half hour, the scabs usually can be scraped off with a thumbnail, and the dried puss plug (called the kernel) can be lifted out in most cases. If there remains any pus, a Q-tip can help scoop it out. An antibiotic ointment and bandaging is then all you need to finish. Extreme cases require soaks every other day for a week, sometimes two, to get the healing underway. But with swelling, an oral antibiotic that can conquer staph is a big help.

 

[MairyMai]

I have some good news and some bad news
The good news is that I can tell you exactly how to fix the problem, the bad news is that it involves you executing the surgery yourself. But don't worry, it's really easy to do, its free and it will save your chicken foot and even its life.

So, heres how we do it:

• Prepare a counter, table or pretty much any surface that you are comfortable placing a chicken on.
• Wrap half your chickens body in a cloth or towel, exposing only its feet and gently covering its head. This will make the chicken feel more secure while limiting its chance of escape.
• The next step is pretty messy, make sure that you have a sharp knife, tweezers and lots of napkins or rags to keep your area clean.
• Most importantly, before you get started make sure that you have a bandage for the chicken ready. I like to rip old clothe into thinish strips to wrap the chickens foot in and sometimes I also use napkins on the inside to give it some padding.
• Now you are ready to do your thing. I will warn you that chickens are extremely calm about pain, however, they might to a little kicking in the beginning and will probably shake a bit. Anyway... here we go.

1. Step on: You need to cut around the edges of the bumble foot scab about a half inch deep or less. You will need to occasionally dab the chickens foot to soak up the blood.
2. Step two: after you have cut around the bumble foot, take your tweezers and dig them in around the scab as deep as you can get them. Then squeeze and pull the scab out.
3. Step three: Once the scab is removed you need to look inside the cut out space and look for a ball of white. if you see this remove it, this is the bumble foot. if you cant see it your probably already cut it out with the scab
4. Wrap that sucker up and release your chicken. She will probably hop a bit but will recover before you know it.

I would recommend trying out your knew skills on the smaller bumble foot chicken before you try the bigger one. Dont feel pressured, I proceeded my first bumble-foot by myself at the age of 13. I have since been repeating these same steps with other chickens and have found it to be extremely successful. I wish you the best of luck, keep me posted on how it goes

 

[troppoli]

You about have it covered except you don't mention how deep the bedding is under the roosts. Heavy breeds need lots of cushion even with low perches. Frequent foot inspections can head off serious cases of bumblefoot from developing. Spraying the incipient scabs with Vertericyn is a good RX.

If there is swelling with this hen's bumblefoot, surgery is probably called for, and maybe an antibiotic as well. The surgery isn't as involved or complex as you may think. After soaking for a good half hour, the scabs usually can be scraped off with a thumbnail, and the dried puss plug (called the kernel) can be lifted out in most cases. If there remains any pus, a Q-tip can help scoop it out. An antibiotic ointment and bandaging is then all you need to finish. Extreme cases require soaks every other day for a week, sometimes two, to get the healing underway. But with swelling, an oral antibiotic that can conquer staph is a big help.

Thanks so much for your reply. For the other foot that isn't swollen and my other hen that has a scab but no swelling, would you just keep it clean and bandaged or would you cut it out on those too?

I took a look and you are right, we don't have a lot of bedding right under the roosts, so I added a bunch of shavings.

Do you know how quickly this infection goes from minor to fatal?

Also, do you need to go to the vet to get the antibiotic? I can't imagine that you can just call it in. I know someone who is a vet (an acquaintance) and I can ask her, but I don't know if that is bad form.

Tha

 

[getaclue]

You might want to try tricide neo.
http://ouroneacrefarm.com/bumblefoot-treatment-tricideneo/

 

[troppoli]

I have some good news and some bad news
The good news is that I can tell you exactly how to fix the problem, the bad news is that it involves you executing the surgery yourself. But don't worry, it's really easy to do, its free and it will save your chicken foot and even its life.

So, heres how we do it:

• Prepare a counter, table or pretty much any surface that you are comfortable placing a chicken on.
• Wrap half your chickens body in a cloth or towel, exposing only its feet and gently covering its head. This will make the chicken feel more secure while limiting its chance of escape.
• The next step is pretty messy, make sure that you have a sharp knife, tweezers and lots of napkins or rags to keep your area clean.
• Most importantly, before you get started make sure that you have a bandage for the chicken ready. I like to rip old clothe into thinish strips to wrap the chickens foot in and sometimes I also use napkins on the inside to give it some padding.
• Now you are ready to do your thing. I will warn you that chickens are extremely calm about pain, however, they might to a little kicking in the beginning and will probably shake a bit. Anyway... here we go.

1. Step on: You need to cut around the edges of the bumble foot scab about a half inch deep or less. You will need to occasionally dab the chickens foot to soak up the blood.
2. Step two: after you have cut around the bumble foot, take your tweezers and dig them in around the scab as deep as you can get them. Then squeeze and pull the scab out.
3. Step three: Once the scab is removed you need to look inside the cut out space and look for a ball of white. if you see this remove it, this is the bumble foot. if you cant see it your probably already cut it out with the scab
4. Wrap that sucker up and release your chicken. She will probably hop a bit but will recover before you know it.

I would recommend trying out your knew skills on the smaller bumble foot chicken before you try the bigger one. Dont feel pressured, I proceeded my first bumble-foot by myself at the age of 13. I have since been repeating these same steps with other chickens and have found it to be extremely successful. I wish you the best of luck, keep me posted on how it goes

Thanks so much for your reply. So do you feel like you need to remove the scab and pus even if it is a small scab without swelling?

Do you know how quickly this infection goes from minor to fatal?

You don't mention soaking or antibiotics, but a lot of other people do.

Thanks!

 

[troppoli]

You might want to try tricide neo.
http://ouroneacrefarm.com/bumblefoot-treatment-tricideneo/

Thanks, Have you tried this?

 

[azygous]

Where do you get tricide neo? I've never heard of it, but it sounds very promising.

I get my antibiotics from KVSupply.com. Most vets will be happy to sell you an antibiotic for your chicken as long as you see them for another pet. Some will insist on seeing the chicken, but most vets don't know the first thing about poultry. Or you can ask around of all your friends and family for unused antibiotics in the medicine cabinet. I have a stash of those, too.

 

[azygous]

How soon bumblefoot goes from modest to severe depends on the individual and their immune system. I've never had a bumblefoot patient die from it. I have one hen who had a severe case when I adopted her. I treated her, and still am, two years later. She has chronic bumblefoot, and it doesn't seem to get any better, or any worse. She's a horribly uncooperative patient, so I only treat her when I have nothing more pressing since it's an ordeal for us both. I figure if she hasn't died of it by now, she isn't likely to.

 

[getaclue]

Cheapest I found:
https://www.koiacres.com/featured/tricide-neo.html