Does my chicken have Bumblefoot?

[briannanoelle1]

I let my girls out to free range this morning and noticed my 8 month old White Leghorn limping. I checked her feet and it looks like she might have bumblefoot. The bottom pic of her right leg looks the worse to me but that is the leg she is putting all of her weight on. She can still walk and her leg is not completely paralyzed, she still tries to walk with it but you can tell its painful because then she sits for a while.

Yesterday she seemed just fine. She's eating and drinking normally, she laid an egg yesterday and quite possibly today (not sure if that one was from her sister). She's the top girl in the pecking order too so they are not picking on her or anything yet, they're actually hanging out with her and sitting next to her.

I'm going to put all fresh bedding in today clean her feet and soak in epsom salt and wrap in a bandage.

Any advice on what to do would be helpful. Also if anyone can confirm by the pics that it is bumblefoot.

Thanks!




Left Leg:



Right Leg:

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Miss Lydia , your assistance is requested.

MrsB

I did use the clear iodine on 2 of my hens and it worked great along with soaking their feet in Epsom salt water first. I actually use a cotton ball or q tip to apply the clear iodine to the bumble and I put quite a bit on.Making sure to cover the whole bumble area. Wait a day then do this again. till scab easily pulls off with out pulling good skin with it. Once you get the scab off you can use sterile tweezers to pull out the bumble. Sometimes it comes out when you get the scab off. Wrapping to keep clean till healed is best .

 

[MrsBrooke]

Sometimes it comes out when you get the scab off.

How satisfying. Nothing like pulling out a lump of infection to really make your day.

It reminds me of watching those "satisfying" videos of cake decorating. Except with gross chicken stuff.

MrsB

 

[Chickenkeepr]

I recently dealt with my first case of bumblefoot. I wound up soaking in epsom salts, removing the scab and "core" then soaking in a warm Chlorahexidine solution, straying with vetericyn, packed with neosporin, wrapped and she stopped limping later that night. Changed the bandage the next day to check for any drainage (there was none), put a clean bandage on and then removed it after about a week. She healed up very fast and very quickly. I personally will always opt for the surgical route after this experience rather than making them wait for releif through a non-invasive treatment.

 

[briannanoelle1]

Just wanted to give you guys an update on my poor little bumblefoot baby! I ended up cutting the infection out of the more infected foot because the non-surgical route didn't seem to work so well. These pictures are from a few days after cutting out the infection. Nice blood flow and pink flesh. What a good sign to see! And although the non-invasive route didn't work so well on this foot, it seems to be working on the other foot, so I'm glad I only had to perform surgery on one foot. She is walking much better than when I first noticed the infection.

What I ended up using to treat her was just a warm Epsom foot soak, Vetricyn, Neosporin and wrapped with gauze. So far so good! Also, I haven't had time to do this every day, so I've only been treating her Thursdays and Sundays which may have been why the non-invasive path wasn't working so well.

I will post another update on Sunday with pictures of both feet.

 

[MrsBrooke]

That is definitely bumblefoot.

You can treat it by taking her to a vet, cutting the infection out yourself, or I've read of some non-invasive/non-surgical treatments, too.

It depends on what you want to do, what you can afford, and what you're willing to do.

I have personally done surgery on a chicken for bumblefoot. I got a little lightheaded during, but got through it... Helps to have a second pair of hands to hold and pet on your patient.

There are some excellent (horrible?) videos on YouTube showing bumblefoot surgeries. It's a staph infection, so WEAR GLOVES if you decide to do the surgery yourself.

Since she's got it on both feet, you might also consider making her a chicken sling to let her heal and get some weight off her little foot pads.

Let us know what you want to do!

MrsB

 

[briannanoelle1]

That is definitely bumblefoot.

You can treat it by taking her to a vet, cutting the infection out yourself, or I've read of some non-invasive/non-surgical treatments, too.

It depends on what you want to do, what you can afford, and what you're willing to do.

I have personally done surgery on a chicken for bumblefoot. I got a little lightheaded during, but got through it... Helps to have a second pair of hands to hold and pet on your patient.

There are some excellent (horrible?) videos on YouTube showing bumblefoot surgeries. It's a staph infection, so WEAR GLOVES if you decide to do the surgery yourself.

Since she's got it on both feet, you might also consider making her a chicken sling to let her heal and get some weight off her little foot pads.

Let us know what you want to do!

MrsB

So I ended up going the non-surgical route for now. I soaked her feet in a warm bath with Epsom Salt and sprayed Vetericyn on both feet and wrapped them with gauze to keep them clean. I'm going to try to do this every day until I see some improvement. If no improvement within a week, I'm going to go the surgical route.

 

[MrsBrooke]

You can make an ointment of coconut oil and turmeric to put on her feet. Feed her crushed boiled eggs mixed with turmeric.

Turmeric is an excellent antibiotic and has been shown to be effective in staph infections.

You're doing a great job.

MrsB

 

[briannanoelle1]

You can make an ointment of coconut oil and turmeric to put on her feet. Feed her crushed boiled eggs mixed with turmeric.

Turmeric is an excellent antibiotic and has been shown to be effective in staph infections.

You're doing a great job.

MrsB

That's an excellent idea!! I love doing natural home remedies when I can. How much turmeric should I give her??

 

[MrsBrooke]

No dosage. Just make a golden paste!

MrsB