Everyone has bumblefoot

[AnimaLover1]

Hello Everyone!

I have four Gold Star hens that are a little over a year old. Each one has bumblefoot on both feet. I have treated all four and was wondering if that is normal for chickens to have bumblefoot on both feet? Is it really caused from a scratch that gets infected? By the way everyone is acting normal and healing except for one.

The one that isn't acting normal is just sitting around when I walk in the coop. She does get up and walk when I go in there. Her stool is clear, maybe somewhat sticky. Not sure if diarrhea. She stopped laying about a week ago. Her comb is pinkish red. She is not interested in eating and just stays around the back of the flock.

I have been searching high and low on the internet as to what the issue might be and can't find any symptoms. Any help would be appreciated!

This is my first post and excited to be here!

 

[Blue Raptor]

Hello Everyone!

I have four Gold Star hens that are a little over a year old. Each one has bumblefoot on both feet. I have treated all four and was wondering if that is normal for chickens to have bumblefoot on both feet? Is it really caused from a scratch that gets infected? By the way everyone is acting normal and healing except for one.

The one that isn't acting normal is just sitting around when I walk in the coop. She does get up and walk when I go in there. Her stool is clear, maybe somewhat sticky. Not sure if diarrhea. She stopped laying about a week ago. Her comb is pinkish red. She is not interested in eating and just stays around the back of the flock.

I have been searching high and low on the internet as to what the issue might be and can't find any symptoms. Any help would be appreciated!

This is my first post and excited to be here!

Welcome to BYC! I hope the threads here will help you, maybe you can even share some of your knowledge with us!
It is normal for a chicken to get bumblefoot on both feet, bumblefoot is really common, especially when there are hard things like sticks, rocks, or hard packed dirt that they walk on all day. If her vent is dirty, you can soak it in warm water and clean off the poopy feathers with soapy water. I'm not sure why she would stop laying, but it might be because her bumblefoot is irritating her. Her comb sound like it has a normal color, abnormal would be very pale, purple or blue, or swollen.
How did you treat her bumblefoot, and how does it look now? Can you post some pictures?
@sweaterthebroodyrooster

 

[sweaterthebroodyrooster]

Pictures of the feet would be helpful.

Yes, it can be caused from a scratch that gets infected.

Soaking their feet in warm water with Epsom salt in it is one of the best treatments I have used. Are you wrapping their feet with anything?

And welcome to byc!!!

 

[AnimaLover1]

Welcome to BYC! I hope the threads here will help you, maybe you can even share some of your knowledge with us!
It is normal for a chicken to get bumblefoot on both feet, bumblefoot is really common, especially when there are hard things like sticks, rocks, or hard packed dirt that they walk on all day. If her vent is dirty, you can soak it in warm water and clean off the poopy feathers with soapy water. I'm not sure why she would stop laying, but it might be because her bumblefoot is irritating her. Her comb sound like it has a normal color, abnormal would be very pale, purple or blue, or swollen.
How did you treat her bumblefoot, and how does it look now? Can you post some pictures?
@sweaterthebroodyrooster

Thank you for your response! I treated the bumble by soaking the feet in warm Epson water. Then proceeded to remove the bumble. I did not see any pus in any of their feet. I flushed the wounds with hydrogen peroxide and Veterycin, and then wrapped the feet in vet wrap. Their wounds are healing and I am changing the vet wrap often.

 

[AnimaLover1]

Pictures of the feet would be helpful.

Yes, it can be caused from a scratch that gets infected.

Soaking their feet in warm water with Epsom salt in it is one of the best treatments I have used. Are you wrapping their feet with anything?

And welcome to byc!!!

Thank you! Yes, their feet are wrapped with vet wrap and changed often.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Thank you for your response! I treated the bumble by soaking the feet in warm Epson water. Then proceeded to remove the bumble. I did not see any pus in any of their feet. I flushed the wounds with hydrogen peroxide and Veterycin, and then wrapped the feet in vet wrap. Their wounds are healing and I am changing the vet wrap often.

Perfect!

 

[dawg53]

Thank you for your response! I treated the bumble by soaking the feet in warm Epson water. Then proceeded to remove the bumble. I did not see any pus in any of their feet. I flushed the wounds with hydrogen peroxide and Veterycin, and then wrapped the feet in vet wrap. Their wounds are healing and I am changing the vet wrap often.

You dont have to do bumblefoot surgery unless there is redness and swelling or if the bird is limping. The scabs usually disappear on their own in time.
I've done unnecessary surgery on birds when I've seen scabs on the footpad and there wasnt any infection. There wasnt any redness nor swelling. Unfortunately it causes stress on the bird and affects egg laying etc...

The main cause of bumblefoot are anything that penetrates the footpad to cause infection, like a splinter or pine cones. Use sandpaper to sand roosts to eliminate burrs and splinters. Also consider lowering roosts as well as eliminating high objects in the yard where they can jump down from, such a lawn chairs and trash cans.

 

[coach723]

Can you post some pictures of the sick birds feet? It's possible that you have more than one thing going on with that particular bird. Also check her crop, is it empty, full, soft and squishy, hard, etc. Pictures of her droppings might help.

 

[Maplerunchickens]

You aren’t alone! I have the same thing.
All 4 of my larger hens have bumblefoot and one of my silkies does too. I took my 2 biggest to the vet as they had swelling on the top and bottom of their feet. He wrapped their feet and gave me
meds for them. Is there an ideal roost size? I wrapped the roosts in vetwrap. I did the surgery on a few but the bumblefoot kept recurring. It’s horrible. Good luck!