Bumbles and rainy weather

[KCNC06]

After 11-ish years of keeping fowl, we had our first experience with Bumblefoot last summer. We had a duck with a tiny bumble which healed up very quickly with treatment. We did epsom salt soaks 2x/day, kept the foot bandaged with silver gel on a gauze pad, and kept her and another duck (for company) separated from the rest of the flock during the day. It healed up in about a week. Now we have 3 ducks that we're treating for Bumblefoot. It's driving me crazy! I blame our extremely wet winter. It rained almost constantly, and since winter is usually cold and cloudy anyway, the ground never really dried out. I think we got almost 18 inches of rain from December through February. We're working on rerouting water runoff from our yard to try to reduce the amount that runs into the fowl yard, and plan to try (again) to get stuff - not necessarily grass but edible groundcover - to grow in the fowl yard. We've been spreading hay, fine ground mulch and woodshavings in the fowl yard to try to give the fowls some dry ground, but when it rains almost every day it's just so difficult to get dry ground.

Anyway. That's all somewhat off topic. Thankfully we FINALLY had about 10 days of no rain! It has been wonderful! I have the "bumble buddies" separated in a different fenced in yard during the day. After a few days of keeping their feet bandaged and wrapped with vet tape I decided to invest in some shoes and purchased a few pairs from Crazy K. They're much easier to change than the vet wrap bandages. I did wonder if a closed toe shoe, like the ones from Party Fowl, would help keep their feet dry better than the open toe style but I imagine either way, the neoprene and stitching aren't completely waterproof. My main concern right now is how to keep their feet/bandages dry once the break from the rain ends. We're supposed to get rain several days this week. Should I just go back to the vet wrap bandages during the day and put their shoes on at night? Or give them a break from shoes/bandages during the day when it's raining since their feet will end up getting wet anyway? I know having their feet bandaged/covered is the best route, but if the bandages will inevitably get wet is it still best to have them bandaged? I'll still keep them separated in the other yard either way because the other yard (our dog's yard technically) has grass and is a smaller space.

 

[KaleIAm]

After 11-ish years of keeping fowl, we had our first experience with Bumblefoot last summer. We had a duck with a tiny bumble which healed up very quickly with treatment. We did epsom salt soaks 2x/day, kept the foot bandaged with silver gel on a gauze pad, and kept her and another duck (for company) separated from the rest of the flock during the day. It healed up in about a week. Now we have 3 ducks that we're treating for Bumblefoot. It's driving me crazy! I blame our extremely wet winter. It rained almost constantly, and since winter is usually cold and cloudy anyway, the ground never really dried out. I think we got almost 18 inches of rain from December through February. We're working on rerouting water runoff from our yard to try to reduce the amount that runs into the fowl yard, and plan to try (again) to get stuff - not necessarily grass but edible groundcover - to grow in the fowl yard. We've been spreading hay, fine ground mulch and woodshavings in the fowl yard to try to give the fowls some dry ground, but when it rains almost every day it's just so difficult to get dry ground.

Anyway. That's all somewhat off topic. Thankfully we FINALLY had about 10 days of no rain! It has been wonderful! I have the "bumble buddies" separated in a different fenced in yard during the day. After a few days of keeping their feet bandaged and wrapped with vet tape I decided to invest in some shoes and purchased a few pairs from Crazy K. They're much easier to change than the vet wrap bandages. I did wonder if a closed toe shoe, like the ones from Party Fowl, would help keep their feet dry better than the open toe style but I imagine either way, the neoprene and stitching aren't completely waterproof. My main concern right now is how to keep their feet/bandages dry once the break from the rain ends. We're supposed to get rain several days this week. Should I just go back to the vet wrap bandages during the day and put their shoes on at night? Or give them a break from shoes/bandages during the day when it's raining since their feet will end up getting wet anyway? I know having their feet bandaged/covered is the best route, but if the bandages will inevitably get wet is it still best to have them bandaged? I'll still keep them separated in the other yard either way because the other yard (our dog's yard technically) has grass and is a smaller space.

I have the closed toe shoes from Party Fowl and they are NOT water proof. My duck would get them wet by splashing her drinking water on herself. Her feet would be soggy/wrinkly/pruney after wearing wet shoes. I ended up leaving her barefoot during the day, and putting her boots on at night when she didn't have access to water. I don't know if this was the best way to go about it, but it worked for my duck. Her bumbles cleared right up.

 

[Ratchnick]

I gave up on bandages right quick! This was the process recommended to me by a vet. Just use antiseptic worked in with an old tooth brush. Hold the bird for 5 minuets to let it work then let it go. It works so well i was surprised. If you have 1 duck with bumble wrap feet to your hearts content. I had about 8 and half had two feet. I had to look for other ways because it was taking 2 hours to wrap all the feet once, not to mention non trivial amounts of money on gauze.

 

[KaleIAm]

I gave up on bandages right quick! This was the process recommended to me by a vet. Just use antiseptic worked in with an old tooth brush. Hold the bird for 5 minuets to let it work then let it go. It works so well i was surprised. If you have 1 duck with bumble wrap feet to your hearts content. I had about 8 and half had two feet. I had to look for other ways because it was taking 2 hours to wrap all the feet once, not to mention non trivial amounts of money on gauze.

Wow, and I thought I had it bad when two of my ducks had bumbles on one foot.

 

[Ratchnick]

Yeah, my mistake was putting their run in the shade, it didnt dry out enough.

 

[KCNC06]

I gave up on bandages right quick! This was the process recommended to me by a vet. Just use antiseptic worked in with an old tooth brush. Hold the bird for 5 minuets to let it work then let it go. It works so well i was surprised. If you have 1 duck with bumble wrap feet to your hearts content. I had about 8 and half had two feet. I had to look for other ways because it was taking 2 hours to wrap all the feet once, not to mention non trivial amounts of money on gauze.

Thank you! I've been feeling so guilty that this happened. Our fowl yard situation sounds similar to yours, in the shade. Though, in our defense, our property is approximately 95% wooded so just about everything is in the shade except the roof of our house and back deck. And half of the deck is shaded half of the day once the trees cover their shame with leaves. The fowl really seem to appreciate the shade in the summer. Helps to keep them cool and it provides a bit of protection (hiding places) from overhead predators. I suspect that my biggest mistake came when we expanded the fowl yard last year. We doubled the size of their fenced area, it's now just under 1/4 acre, which is fine...except I failed to notice a holly tree. It used to be outside the fowl yard and is now inside the yard. Holly leaves are mean.

Anyway. I completely agree. Wrapping the feet of one duck, no big deal. Soaking, bandaging, and wrapping feet of multiple ducks...it takes a lot of time and gauze/wrap. I've been using silver gel or silver honey on silver gauze. With 3 ducks with bumbles on both feet, we've been going through that stuff pretty fast. After finishing off my third or fourth roll of vet wrap I decided it was time to invest in the shoes. I figured at the rate we were going I was going to spend that much on vet wrap anyway!

What type of antiseptic did you use? I have Vetericyn spray, which I've been using. I've also been using Hibiclens when their toes were a little dirtier and needed a good wash. Also have decolorized iodine. I wasn't sure how Vetericyn compared to Hibiclens as far as how long the antimicrobial stuff lasts. Figured Hibiclens was pretty good stuff though since that's all the urgent care placed used to clean my husband's hand when he practically chopped his fingers off with a bush ax a couple years ago. It only looked like they were practically chopped off...didn't get deep enough to damage tendons or anything, just deep enough that we couldn't steri-strip the cuts closed because of all the blood. I figured with something as dirty as a bush ax they'd do something fancy to clean out the wound, but nope. Just soaked his hand in Hibiclens for a while and then stitched him closed. He didn't even take the antibiotic they prescribed for him.

 

[CoriM]

@Ratchnick - I would love more details on your method - what antiseptic, and did you then try to keep the bird out of the water for a time, or just the five minutes?

 

[Ratchnick]

I use vetracin, but iodine or similar would be fine.

 

[Ratchnick]

@Ratchnick - I would love more details on your method - what antiseptic, and did you then try to keep the bird out of the water for a time, or just the five minutes?

Just hold the birds feet out for 3 to 5 minuets while the antiseptic works, then let it free. Repeat daily if you can but i usually do every other day for a week and after that its on the mend. Its worth noting that really bad bumble with a huge scab that covers the entire heel type of thing will likely need more intensive treatment because the infection is deep in the foot where you cant get the antiseptic with just a toothbrush.

 

[CoriM]

Great, thanks for this tip!