Bumblefoot

[Attila the Hen]

I'm dealing with this right now too. It's been really wet here and not our normal December in Michigan. I caught my Princess limping yesterday. I examined her and found bumblefoot

. I did my best cleaning it out, and I put a fresh bandage on her everyday after giving her a soak in Epsom salt. She is still limping. How long for it to start healing? And what are some signs that something else needs to be done? I took a pic of her foot today if that would help?

You can look at my post on how I treated bumble foot without surgery. It took several months in my hen's case. It was bad and I finally had to take her to the vet (since I was already going with a cat). I retrospect I would not change the bandage daily unless it got wet.
Sometimes less is more. Good luck

 

[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.

 

[DiamondSwan]

This thread has a lot of useful information on Bumblefoot:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1066081/duck-with-bumblefoot-warning-viewer-discretion-is-advised

 

[Betsy57]

Found one of my White Leghorns with a bumblefoot spot, 2 actually. I soaked her foot for a few minutes and then used tweezers and the plug came right out. It was one big plug with two scab parts, kinda tunneled I guess. Filled it with triple antibiotic ointment and wrapped it good. She will stay in the house over night and then probably go back in the coop in the morning. She did really good and so did I! Tons of rain here so maybe I will keep her in a day. Will look at the area in the morning. I've found they scab over really fast.

 

[Al-D]

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!

 

[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.

 

[lovemy6hens]

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!

Sometimes it's just the scab with nothing underneath.

 

[Al-D]

Thank you

 

[lovemy6hens]

You're welcome.

 

[Attila the Hen]

Sometimes it's just the scab with nothing underneath.

I would apply antibiotic and keep it wrapped for 4-5 days to keep it clean. The hen I had was limping and it was really obvious. Another had black spots on her feet but she seems fine and I have left her alone. I am beginning to suspect that many chickens get it and owners don't know it unless the bird starts limping or they are looking for it. So, it's possible that many birds get over it on their own. Could be wishful thinking on my part.