First experience with bumblefoot

[WingItRanch]

Hey y'all,
I believe I have a Welsummer pullet with bumblefoot. I've been letting them free range and we had some rain recently so I'm guessing that's what did it. She's one of my biggest girls.

After going through BYC, I believe I have a plan. Soak for 10 min in Epsom salt water, spray with Veterecyn, try to peel off scab with tweezers, and flush the wound with saline. Then slab on triple antibiotic gel (without pain relief). Then wrap it.

Question: any suggestions on what type of wrap would work best? This is a flighty girl, hard to catch and does not enjoy me holding her. I'd rather keep her in the coop instead of separated so looking for a wrap that others won't pick at.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Plan on treating her at night after she's gone to roost or early in the morning. Eliminates the chasing and trying to catch during the day.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Vet wrap, it sticks to itself. 1" wide if you can find it or cut it in half.

 

[charlie1051]

We've spent the last few months dealing with bumble in 3 girls. We got the sticky sports tape, our options were CVS or Walgreens. CVS' tape was 10X better than Walgreen's. It stuck and stayed in place.

Get yourself some gauze too, just sayin'.

Wrap her head & body in a towel. She will probably fall asleep. They sure love their heads covered..

It helps BIG TIME if 2 people do it together.

Wouldn't hurt to get yourself a can of PRID...we swear by that stuff for the bumble. We gave up trying to cut it out / take it out long ago. There's too much of the "cheese" in there and if you leave any in there, you're toast and it won't heal.

Good luck!

 

[WingItRanch]

Oh boy. Not looking forward to this. I work really long hours and it's dark when I leave in the mornings and dark when I get home. I'll just have to work on it every night. I'll probably keep them all inside the coop/run so she's not out scratching around in the wet leaves and grass.

Hopefully the wrap will stay on during the day when I'm not home. Worried it will attract pecking from the others.

 

[Eggcessive]

You could try either sugar and Betadine, made into a paste and applied with a 2x2 dressing, and wrapped in strips of vet wrap. Or use the Prid and do the same bandage. Change it every day. Doing this for several days may lead to being able to being able to lift the scab and squeeze any pus out. Pus will be a solid plug. Here is a good video of applying a bumblefoot dressing:

 

[WingItRanch]

You could try either sugar and Betadine, made into a paste and applied with a 2x2 dressing, and wrapped in strips of vet wrap. Or use the Prid and do the same bandage. Change it every day. Doing this for several days may lead to being able to being able to lift the scab and squeeze any pus out. Pus will be a solid plug. Here is a good video of applying a bumblefoot dressing:

Thank you! So I don't attempt to do the "surgery" until a couple days when it's really soft? I'm glad you said something because I thought you start picking at the wound right after you soak it.

 

[WingItRanch]

We've spent the last few months dealing with bumble in 3 girls. We got the sticky sports tape, our options were CVS or Walgreens. CVS' tape was 10X better than Walgreen's. It stuck and stayed in place.

Get yourself some gauze too, just sayin'.

Wrap her head & body in a towel. She will probably fall asleep. They sure love their heads covered..

It helps BIG TIME if 2 people do it together.

Wouldn't hurt to get yourself a can of PRID...we swear by that stuff for the bumble. We gave up trying to cut it out / take it out long ago. There's too much of the "cheese" in there and if you leave any in there, you're toast and it won't heal.

Good luck!

Question... why is Prid safe for chickens but neosporin with pain relieve not? Doesn't Prid have pain relieve too?

 

[charlie1051]

Question... why is Prid safe for chickens but neosporin with pain relieve not? Doesn't Prid have pain relieve too?

I use PRID and Triple antibiotic cream. I don's use the Neosporin on the girls. only my kids . Prid is fantastic. It "dries up" the gross infected stuff I call "cheese"-staph ( I'm not a DR. ) So after a while, you can pluck out that big "plug" on your girls foot and then pack the wound with AAA antibiotic cream, just be sure to reapply every 4 to 5 days and re-wrap the foot. You'll see the progress every week and in a month or so...she'll be good as new.

Prid isn't so much a painkiller, it draws out the infection to the surface and makes it hard, making it easier to get rid of that "plug" on her foot.

I've been treating my girls for 2 months- it was baaad. I was working a ton and didn't have a chance to check out my girls health properly. Now all the infection is gone and I'm just treating with AAA antibiotic cream under gauze, wrapped in the sports wrap.

Try out a couple different sports wrap to get the stickiest possible. Do you have a CVS by where you live? If so, get theirs. it's good. I wrapped my girls feet for 2 months and it never came off...EXCEPT one time when I used the junk from Walgreens. You'll be surprised by how sticky that stuff is. It will not come off as long as you get the good tape.

 

[WingItRanch]

I use PRID and Triple antibiotic cream. I don's use the Neosporin on the girls. only my kids . Prid is fantastic. It "dries up" the gross infected stuff I call "cheese"-staph ( I'm not a DR. ) So after a while, you can pluck out that big "plug" on your girls foot and then pack the wound with AAA antibiotic cream, just be sure to reapply every 4 to 5 days and re-wrap the foot. You'll see the progress every week and in a month or so...she'll be good as new.

Prid isn't so much a painkiller, it draws out the infection to the surface and makes it hard, making it easier to get rid of that "plug" on her foot.

I've been treating my girls for 2 months- it was baaad. I was working a ton and didn't have a chance to check out my girls health properly. Now all the infection is gone and I'm just treating with AAA antibiotic cream under gauze, wrapped in the sports wrap.

Try out a couple different sports wrap to get the stickiest possible. Do you have a CVS by where you live? If so, get theirs. it's good. I wrapped my girls feet for 2 months and it never came off...EXCEPT one time when I used the junk from Walgreens. You'll be surprised by how sticky that stuff is. It will not come off as long as you get the good tape.

Thank you!!! I ordered prid and vet wrap from Amazon. I do have CVS nearby so I'll look for that wrap as a backup. I'm in the same boat.. pretty busy at work. I think I caught this fairly early, though. Hopefully it won't take me months like it took yours! I should probably check all 10 of the chickens to make sure I don't have more with issues.