Bumblefoot?

[weninegarlove]

Help. I have two out of three chickens with some new sore on their feet. They don't seem to be in any pain and I have found rose bush torns laying around where they free range. I'm overwhelmed with fear it's bumble foot and how to treat. Been soaking them and applying antibiotic ointment and wrapping them in vet tape. Cleaned coop. They are laying and eating normally. We are leaving for a week next week and I'm scared it'll get worse. Should I give them antibiotics before we go? Try to lance it?

 

[welasharon]

It's bumblefoot. I finally gave up and had a vet cut mine. I just cannot see up close well any more. There are some threads on here that show the process.
'Good luck!

 

[weninegarlove]

...

It's bumblefoot. I finally gave up and had a vet cut mine. I just cannot see up close well any more. There are some threads on here that show the process.
'Good luck!
[/quot


What should I do in the meantime? Can I give antibiotics?

 

[weninegarlove]

How much did it cost to have a vet cut yours out?

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

Sorry your bird has bumblfoot. You can cut it out yourself. I know it sounds scary, but over the time you keep chickens, you will probably run into this issue again. And it is always easier on the bird not to have to take her to a vet.

Get yourself some tiny instruments. You can many times get small scalpels in the horse section of the feed store. Dental pics, tweezers are great too. Sterilize everything in boiling water for 5 mins and then a bath of alcohol.

You will also need some gauze, alcohol wipes, vet wrap, (you can get this at feed stores) antibiotic ointment without any pain killer in it and some scissors.

The vet wrap will need to be sliced into a 1 inch slice. You can use a box cutter and slice the roll into 1 inch slices.

First, soak the foot in some epsom salt water not only to clean it off but to coax some of the gunk to the surface in the pad. Towel up the bird in a big towel and lay them on your lap, on their back, beak at your belly. Wipe the area with an alcohol wipe. Gently pick the scab off. They normally don't bleed unless you are pulling off live skin and most of this is all dead. So you won't have squirting blood or anything. You probably won't see any blood at all.

Then you want to get this pus ball out. So you are going to use your tools to dig it out of there. Squeeze, dig, squeeze and dig. Sometimes this can take up to an hour to get it all out. When you have done all you can do, pack the hole with the ointment really well. Cut a tiny piece of gauze and put it over the hole. Take your vet wrap and start on the leg and lightly wrap down and around the foot pad, toes, webbing and back up the leg. Make sure to cover the pad at least 2 times and well. Don't wrap really tightly as vet wrap can be squeezed on well. When you are done, you will want to check her foot for warmth about 5 mins later. If the foot is cold, you have wrapped too tightly so you will need to re wrap it.

Keep her on dry bedding or ground. She can be outside as long as the foot stays dry.

You will need to un wrap her foot every day for the first week. If the scab is reddish in color, then it is healing. If it is pus yellow, you will need to go back in. Every day wipe with an alcohol wipe, apply ointment and gauze and rewrap. After one week, you can leave it for every 3 days before you re check it. You will have to keep her in bandages for about 1 month or until the scab heals and falls off.

There are lots of bumblefoot articles here on BYC. Let me see if I can find one for you...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/236649/bumblefoot-surgery-with-pics-and-how-to

Good luck with this. It is scary at first, but not that hard to do. You will get the hang of it.

 

[weninegarlove]

Will she die if we don't do it? Can we still eat her eggs? Should I give antibiotics? We are going out of town for a week in one week. I'm so scared to leave her a chicken sitter won't change her bandages

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! TwoCrows gave you some great advice and link to check out. It can kill them if it gets really infected and starts traveling up the leg (you should see a lot of swelling and the bird will be really lame etc). If you are leaving in a week and your caretaker will not do anything with the birds, since the birds don't seem that bad, I would probably wait until you got back to treat them and start antibiotics (don't want to quit antibiotics in the middle of a course, and if they take a turn for the worse after surgery don't want them sitting there for a week). You might look into using Tricide-Neo also https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/303829/vet-suggestion-for-non-invasive-bumblefoot-cure

 

[welasharon]

How much did it cost to have a vet cut yours out?

124, but I am in a very rural area so prices tend to be lower here

 

[TwoCrows]

Kelsie X2 You will have to do something about it or it can kill her.

You might wait and do it when you get back. For now, keep applying ointment to the wound area and keep it wrapped. This should help keep crud out of it and might help it as well. Just make sure to do the surgery when you get back.

If you need help with the surgery, there are plenty of members here to help. You can even send me a private message and I will help you with it. Once you have done this and got the bird healed up, you will look back and see how easy it was. Keeping the wound clean and is the most important step to getting them healed.

Will she die if we don't do it? Can we still eat her eggs? Should I give antibiotics? We are going out of town for a week in one week. I'm so scared to leave her

a chicken sitter won't change her bandages

 

[weninegarlove]

So I was able to soak and remove the scab and dig out any nasty stuff but the skin under the scab seemed to be healthy tissue. Very pink and bled a lot. The bottom of her foot is warm which says something's going on. I put an antibiotic ointment (emt) on it and layered guaze and vet wrap. I just couldn't cut the entire area....not strong enough to pierce the skin that didn't seem diseased. Should I do this more often? Start antibiotics today? Will be gone in one week......for a week.

I covered her head but it seemed to bother her when I cut at it. oh I love them so much and I'm feeling like a bad chicken mama for letting them get a hurt foot.