Does this Cornish Cross have Bumblefoot?

[StardustChicken]

Went out of town for a couple days and had a friend come over to feed my flock while I was away. When he came back in the afternoon to put up the chicks about 2 days ago he noticed my 4 week old Cornish Cross had a wound on his foot. He said at the time you "could see all the way down the muscle".

I looked back at the cameras to see if I could see how he managed to get his injury but had no luck seeing anything of note.

I came back today and it looked like this. At first I thought he had dirt before I started cleaning it. Does he have bumblefoot?

 

[FunClucks]

Bumblefoot is an injury to the bottom of the foot. That is on the top of the foot. Looks like something got ahold of him (predator? flockmate?) and removed skin/muscle, or he scraped it on something pretty bad, or got caught in something and tore off some skin.

Put Neosporin on it twice a day (original, not Pain Relief version). I don't think it needs to be covered, and it's hard to keep it covered anyway on a foot like that. Looks like it's starting to heal pretty well already. If the other chickens are leaving him alone, you can leave him with the flock, otherwise you can isolate in an XXL dog crate within the run/with the flock for a week or two to give it a chance to start healing. Something that bad looks like it may take at least 4 weeks to heal. So if you're processing in 8 wks, just see how it is then.

Mine had really bad skin cuts, like 1" wide areas 2" long on their rears where the skin split and you could see the muscle ( cuts from food aggression). It took about 4 weeks to get mostly healed, and then the chicken died of a heart attack just before I could process it (it was a runt, so I wasn't totally surprised). Maybe don't eat this chicken's injured foot if it's not totally healed by then, but the rest of it should be fine. Poor thing.

 

[StardustChicken]

Bumblefoot is an injury to the bottom of the foot. That is on the top of the foot. Looks like something got ahold of him (predator? flockmate?) and removed skin/muscle, or he scraped it on something pretty bad, or got caught in something and tore off some skin.

Put Neosporin on it twice a day (original, not Pain Relief version). I don't think it needs to be covered, and it's hard to keep it covered anyway on a foot like that. Looks like it's starting to heal pretty well already. If the other chickens are leaving him alone, you can leave him with the flock, otherwise you can isolate in an XXL dog crate within the run/with the flock for a week or two to give it a chance to start healing. Something that bad looks like it may take at least 4 weeks to heal. So if you're processing in 8 wks, just see how it is then.

Mine had really bad skin cuts, like 1" wide areas 2" long on their rears where the skin split and you could see the muscle ( cuts from food aggression). It took about 4 weeks to get mostly healed, and then the chicken died of a heart attack just before I could process it (it was a runt, so I wasn't totally surprised). Maybe don't eat this chicken's injured foot if it's not totally healed by then, but the rest of it should be fine. Poor thing.

I'll be able to pick up some ointment tomorrow. Today I cleaned out the wound and doused it with peroxide. I had some vet wrap that I cut into smaller strips and covered the wound with to protect him from the possibility of flystrike (high probability this time of year, oh god I don't want to deal with that ever again)

Ah, I feel so bad for him. Yes, he's a Cornish Cross that's going to be eaten, but I do want little Jerry to have the best possible quality of life. He's probably the friendliest chicken I've ever had.

 

[FunClucks]

I'll be able to pick up some ointment tomorrow. Today I cleaned out the wound and doused it with peroxide. I had some vet wrap that I cut into smaller strips and covered the wound with to protect him from the possibility of flystrike (high probability this time of year, oh god I don't want to deal with that ever again)

Ah, I feel so bad for him. Yes, he's a Cornish Cross that's going to be eaten, but I do want little Jerry to have the best possible quality of life. He's probably the friendliest chicken I've ever had.

Sounds like you're on top of it. In future, Hibiclens can also be used as a soap to kill infection on skin, if needed, with chickens.

I felt the same way about my last batch of CX. Some of them were so sweet and docile, I might have kept them if they hadn't been so incredibly big and obviously headed towards bad health if I didn't process them. If only some of my eggers had such a great temperament!

 

[StardustChicken]

I felt the same way about my last batch of CX. Some of them were so sweet and docile, I might have kept them if they hadn't been so incredibly big and obviously headed towards bad health if I didn't process them. If only some of my eggers had such a great temperament.

Last week he actually sat on my boot and had a ride as I walked around doing morning chicken chores, such a funny bird lol. A close second would probably be my Easter Egger rooster. Since he was a chick he'd jump on my lap and stretch his neck across my arm asking to be pet

 

[FunClucks]

Last week he actually sat on my boot and had a ride as I walked around doing morning chicken chores, such a funny bird lol. A close second would probably be my Easter Egger rooster. Since he was a chick he'd jump on my lap and stretch his neck across my arm asking to be pet
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Cute!!!

What fun chickens!

FYI: If you're going to let your rooster, or any chicken really, perch on your shoulder, please wear wrap-around safety glasses any time they're up there. Chickens love to peck at your eyes. It's a chicken thing. They can take an eye out. Eyes are so interesting, they MUST PECK!!!

 

[StardustChicken]

FYI: If you're going to let your rooster, or any chicken really, perch on your shoulder, please wear wrap-around safety glasses any time they're up there. Chickens love to peck at your eyes. It's a chicken thing. They can take an eye out. Eyes are so interesting, they MUST PECK!!!

Oh don't worry, I'm well aware! Always very mindful of those little dinos