callus or bumblefoot?

[chickenlady]

Can a chicken just get a plain callus on their foot as apposed to bumblefoot? Is there a difference?

 

[dlhunicorn]

have a pic?

 

[chickenlady]

I don't. There was a dark brown, dime size hard patch. After soaking in water for a little while it got soft and I was able to scrape it away. It seemed to break away from the pad of the foot and came out. Seemed to have white thing attached that went down into foot. Once removed there was a nice clean hole, no bleeding, no puss, just nice pink skin. I cleaned it out. Does not appear to bother the chicken or be infected. Could this just be a callus and not necessarily bumblefoot? Would a staph infection still be present? Chicken acts just fine, eating and drinking and pooping.

 

[speckledhen]

That was bumblefoot. The plug is the bumble/staff that solidified in the foot. Sometimes there is liquid pus and sometimes not. I'd pack that with antibioitic ointment and wrap it till that hole is healed up.

 

[chickenlady]

I cannot possibly wrap the foot. The is a large fowl cochin with tremendous foot feathering. I was hoping for just callus, lol. Does this mean that the staph infected part is gone? or is that in the foot? Do I need to keep him separate from the others? Another thought, what if there was any of the 'plug' left, can this 'regrow' another bumble or scab or whatever you call it? Does he definitely need to be put on penicillin?

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
I know the challenges of wrapping a feather footed bird! I have Brahmas who've had bumblefoot. The main infection is gone; Maybe all of it, but I cant say for sure. You dont need to keep him separate, but dirt and staff germs will get up into that hole if you dont either wrap it OR put him on soft shavings in a cage till it heals over. And if it swells up again, that would mean that the infection is still there. I have personally never had much luck with penicillin or any other antibiotic with bumblefoot. I've also never seen one heal up with no intervention, but I hope you got lucky.

 

[dlhunicorn]

one of the reasons bumblefoot is so hard to heal is that the bird gets back out on dirt ....
Separate him and keep him off the ground (i.e.dirt/soil) separate him to a large cage literally off the ground or at least to a pen (childs wooden playpen perhaps?) ...
Get some hibiclens or hibiscrub (chlorhexidine based) from your pharmacy or drugstore and clean the foot and wound with that... then
you can infuse gauze with GRANULEXV (see link below) and put that into that "hole" and change that dressing daily (lot of work I know but this is the best way to nip things in the bud...you do not want it going systemic or getting reinfected and going necrotic)...
http://www.bullwrinkle.com/ShoppingPages/granulex.htm

 

[chickenlady]

First of all, thanks so much to the both of you. I feel a little better about it now. He is in his own crate with nice soft bedding in it. He will remain there until it is cleared up.

The weird thing here is that there is no swelling on his foot at all. The pad is completely normal with the exception of the brown thing. He walks fine and it does not appear to hurt him at all. I will keep an eye on it for possible reinfection.

I have never had to deal with this before and now I have 2 of them. One on a new bird I bought this weekend and now a bird that I was housing at a friends house for a couple months and has finally come home.

Does this infection have to do with general hygiene of one's coop?

 

[speckledhen]

No, not really. Staph is everywhere. All it takes is an abrasion on a foot for the germs to enter.

EDITED due to brain glitch! Eeek, misspelled a word!! ARGH!

 

[JennsPeeps]

Staph (shortened for Staphylococcus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staph)...

The Staphylococcus genus include just thirty-one species.[2] Most are harmless and reside normally on the skin and mucous membranes of humans and other organisms. Found worldwide, they are a small component of soil microbial flora.[3]

I got a staph infection in the skin of my hands & feet when I was an early teen. All the skin peeled off like it had been sunburned, then every line and joint of my hands and feet cracked & bled. It was awful. Doctors weren't sure how to treat it, so I had to tough it out.

Staph can be harmless or deadly.​