Bumblefoot

[crystal1957]

Bumblefoot--my RIR rooster. Black scabs are huge--the size of the foot pad on each foot. Been soaking in epsom salt and applying collodial silver, then vetwrap wrapping.

Here's my question--after a couple of days the scabs are now an amber color, almost like hardened tree sap. After a few days of trying to pull the black scab off by gently using a scalpel around the edges to lift and pull towards the center, I now have a flat hardened scab!! I must tell you I was probably too gentle with the scalpel and didn't cut deep enough...

Swelling still on one foot--the other not so much. Scabs on both. Or is it a new pad?

Should I assume the plugs are still underneath this new type of scab and keep digging, or should I assume the collodial silver has absorbed the infection underneath. And keep on doing what I am doing? Has anyone else experienced an amber looking scab?

 

[janinepeters]

I am not familiar with using colloidal silver, but I can say that scabs can vary in color and that there is not always a plug, so it is not always necessary to remove the scab. A scab is present because there is a wound, so peeling off the scab will not reveal normal skin underneath. You have to wait for the skin to heel. If you cannot feel a hardened plug, I would leave the scabs alone and keep soaking, as long as swelling continues to go down and the scab continues to shrink as normal skin grows in. If these were severe cases, they may take a month or more to heal.

If progress is slow with epsom salts, you might want to try TricideNeo soaks. I have successfully treated 3 out of 3 cases or bumblefoot with it, and I never cut, peeled, or wrapped anything.

 

[crystal1957]

Thank you SO much.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Here is a great thread on bumblefoot surgery:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/236649/bumblefoot-surgery-with-pics-and-how-to/0_50