Bumblefoot

[dreamer5577]

Okay, I know, I know. There are so many bumble foot threads! I have read probably through... all of them. I still have questions. AND PLEASE do not bring up surgery yet. I am not at the stage yet. That will be my worst case scenario go to. ALSO I cannot get pictures as am alone and had no assistance. I will get some soon and add them once I do.

About a month ago I noticed 5 of my hens had scabs on the bottoms of their feet. No swelling at all and non were limping. My sister was just picking them up and I caught a glimpse. I would have never really noticed otherwise. Most of them are very small scabs and some have them on both feet. One chicken though, the scab is about the size of a dime. But the feet do not bother these chickens for some reason. I immediately inspected the coops and began washing feet and wraping them til I got my tricide neo in the post. Once I did, I began soaking their feet for 5 minutes a day and not wraping them after (Should I have done this?). It's been two weeks, I'm out of solution and I don't REALLY see any progress. Should I have seen some by now? Some of the scabs have turned a dark brown and one chicken's scab kind of turned a pink-ish. I really want to know should I be seeing progress? Or should I move on to another type of treatment (DON'T say surgery). I really just would like to see your pictures of bumble foot and hear your opinions on what you think I should do. Should I continue the soak? Should I be soaking longer and wraping them after?

Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

I'm mostly opposed because I have no help. I feel like I'm not prepared enough or able to do it safely. My birds are SO squirmy. Just soaking their feet for 5 minutes a day is a hassle. I have been looking into it, I just don't think it would be fair to the bird if I screwed up.

I also thought about the antibiotic route, but was not sure where to obtain them. I have no local avian vet and I haven't found a feed store that sells them yet.

Ducks (I am a duck person) also get bumblefoot and most of the time surgery is not needed. I know of someone who just uses Epsom salt soaks to get the bumble out (the kernel starts to move out of the foot, and it can be pulled the rest of the way out, at a certain point, using tweezers). Then there is the system of soaking the foot either in Epsom salt solution or just lukewarm water for a while, then dabbing a couple of drops of clear (not brown, clear) iodine on the lump. After several days, another foot soak, and similar to the Epsom salt method, in many cases the scab and the kernel (the infected lump) come out with nice healthy pink flesh underneath. If not, reapply iodine, and wait again. No wrapping of the foot is needed. I know of someone who has used this on her chicken and it worked for her.

 

[Amiga]

@ddj712

Thanks, this is how we build the body of knowledge here. What I share, I have learned from BYC and my flock and occasionally a vet (I spend much more time with the former two than the latter, and am very grateful for what vets have taught me).

Listerine. How about that!? I think we would all very much like to avoid surgery if at all possible as long as the problem is treated properly.

 

[gruffy]

I did this with my rooster, he had a scab that indicated bumblefoot and the pad of his foot swelled up quite a bit. I hold him regularly so it couldn't have been too long. anyways when I prepared to take the thing out I noticed nothing was underneath the scab. The typical video showed as soon as you pulled the scab out there was something underneath that could just be popped like a pimple and squeezed out or just kinda attached to the scab when it was pulled but I found nothing underneath the scab but pink flesh of his foot. I learned there is a scab form of bumblefoot, there's also the stringy kind where you open the foot and see a bunch of infected white strings and the kernel kind where there is a pimple kind of kernel inside their foot right under the scab. The scab form you can scrape off the scab on the bottom of their foot until you see the fleshy pink part of their foot underneath, the scab would be essentially the infection and taking it out would "cure" them. Since I took the scab out his foot had to be wrapped every day to keep it from becoming infected again. The swelling is completely gone and his foot looks normal but the scab is still there and he still has to be wrapped and kept clean. I'm with you on wondering when it will go away but all the signs of bumblefoot are gone other than the scab. The scab did turn colors again so I'm wondering if I should pick it off.

 

[gruffy]

But I will warn you the scab form can also be rare, especially if the infection has been there for a long time. If you have chickens with full blown bumblefoot and if you do not take it out the infection it can easily spread to their bones and tendons causing them to lose their ability to walk and eventually a horrible slow death. You know your birds better than we do you can see if their feet still look infected. If it's red or even a little swollen they may still have the infection inside their foot and just covering and treating the scab would not help

 

[enola]

Some antibiotics are available on line. If you need to soak a chicken's feet, put them in a 5 gallon bucket with the soaking solution already in the bucket. Cover the bucket with a ventilated object to prevent their escape. This method is much less traumatic than holding the bird and forcing the chicken to do something.

 

[egghead@1265]

Bumble Foot! We did surgery once on a hen, with success, but wow, your stories on here are impressive!

For antibiotics, we were able to get them from a nearby Fleet Farm, which would be much less expensive than going to most vets, at least for us. Often web MD has meds for animals and they even have approximate amounts to administer to them based on the size of your animal.

We have given injections to our hens based on the recommendations of web MD and the animal in need based on weight and issue.

good luck!

 

[dawg53]

I just recently notice some dark spots on some of my hen's feet. I removed two but there was nothing under it, no pus, nothing. Are all dark spots bumblefoot?

Not all dark spots are bumblefoot. There have been instances that I've seen the telltale scab on the footpad and done surgery without finding infection....needlessly stressing the bird. If there is redness, swelling, and/or limping with a scab....time for surgery. Otherwise it's best to leave it alone and the scab usually disappears on its own in time.
Other dark spots could also mean that birds are kept on moist or damp litter causing Footpad Dermatitis.

 

[mg15]

My girl Almost Red, had the bumble foot. I did all the soaking wrapping medicines etc. So finally after looking everywhere
I bought FURAN-2 by API. The active ingredient is Nitrofurazone this treats bacterial fish disease. It is for fish in the aquarium. I diluted the powder and soaked her feet, twice. She is fine. That was early this summer. I have bothered her so much digging on the corn on her pad. I thought I would give this a try. I check her foot and she is doing okay.

 

[Betsy57]

I need some advice PLEASE. My RIR had the classic black bumblefoot spot with swelling-so I read the posts and studied the photos and planned the surgery. All started well, got the black spot off expecting the puss and oozing to start-and I got nothing. I cut a little deeper and still nothing. I continued poking, squeezing and prodding-got a fair amount of blood-but nothing else. Did I not "dig" in far enough??? Any suggestions as to what went wrong?? Thank you!

The recent procedure I did on my chicken went very smooth. I pulled out a plug of infection with a pair of tweezers. Pulled out real easy. I've done them before and never really found a "plug" of infection; just removed the scab and put triple antibiotic ointment on it and it was fine.