Help! Bumble foot!

[Nicole01]

Yikes! My EE and 2-3 other hen's have contracted bumble foot, the EE being the worst. The other three barely have it and I don't know if it came from the swamp or run. I work very hard keeping the run and coop clean. I didn't realize this was a staff infection. I don't have the necessary supplies, but I took care of my EE. Luckily there was minimal cottage cheese substance in the one foot. The other was just a scab. I'm treating the whole flock with amoxicillian. Not a single hen has swollen feet yet. I was doing a weekly routine check and I caught it. I'm surprised I bypassed it last week.

Bad foot

Not so bad foot.

I soaked her feet in an oxine solution and sprayed antiseptic spray. I only have bandaids, so I put one on and covered with medical tape. Am I doing this right? I immediately washed my hands after with antibacterial soap. I'm going to glove up for the rest after I get better supplies from dh.

 

[devora]

Yikes indeed. Sounds like you're doing all the right stuff (soaking, etc.) and the bandaid w/ tape should be good. I had trouble getting it to stay on so really tied 'em up.

Did you have to lance it? Ugh, that was not a fun time.

 

[TwoCrows]

You are definitely on the right track. You dug out what you could and bandaged. However in the future, after you dig out the hole completely, use neosporin, (with no pain killer). Stick the tip right down in the hole and squirt it in. Massage the pad really well to work the meds in. Then repack it with more neosporin and bandage. Bandaids are good to use. Put on 2 or 3 of them and then bandage with a vet type wrap. You can get some really good human grade stuff that is rubbery and very elastic like in the pharmacy area. It goes on, sticks to itself only and once on, acts like a cast. That way the birds can be outside and even take dust baths with no dirt getting into the wound. You want to keep the feet as dry and clean as possible.

Now you want to unwrap the foot each day and check for more gunk. If the scab looks yellow pus colored, then you will want to open it up and drain it out. Squeezing, working the pad. Soak the foot in iodine, (Betadine is good) and warm epsom salt water. The epsom will make the infection come to the surface. Repack with neosporin and rebandage. Keep doing this everyday until the wound and scab look like regular flesh. Sometimes the very next day the scab just looks like a healthy red scab. Other times it looks gummy and yucky.

I am working on a girl now that I had originally used Amoxicillin on, however the Amox did nothing for her and now I am giving her penicillin injections.

Keep at the feet. Bumblefoot is a wicked infection and use precaution on yourself as it is a staph infection. Sterilize your tools between birds so you are not sharing any bacterias between them. And wear surgical gloves in case you have a cut on your hands, you don't want the staph either.

Good luck!

 

[Nicole01]

Thank you! It must spread quickly! I have 3-4 hens infected! Some just have a tiny scab that I couldn't get off, I sprayed 2 hens with blu-kote. I treated all that I had. Maybe I'll switch to penicillin tomorrow. I have both available. I'm treating the whole flock with antibiotics. I'm disinfecting the coop daily with oxine. I'm thinking they got it from the swamp? Or is it transmitted through their poop? They sleep on a shelf vs a roost and I clean it off every morning. I was able to get 2 birds scabs off and I put Neosporin inside.

My dog got a nasty infection from the swamp. She cut herself on a branch and the infection quickly came about. Both chickens and dogs love the swamp.

 

[TwoCrows]

This bumblefoot infection or staph infection, (there is a technical name for it, but I have no idea LOL) is not transferable thru poop. They would have had to had contact with the weeping wound to get the staph internally.

Bumblefoot can come from a few ways... poke in the foot, which is the most common and looking at your pics, it looks like puncture wounds. They can also get it from a very dirty roost bar or even jumping down from a very high perch everyday and brusing the feet. Keep the roost bar as clean as possible, no sharp edges on the wood and the roost bars no too high that they come down heavy on their feet. But your pics look like puncture wounds. The birds could have gotten them on thorns or sharp edges of something. Swampy water is usually pretty bacteria laden. So they each must be stepping on something and the swampy water is causing infection.

Actually your birds feet do not look that bad. Two of my girls got a puncture this past February. One of my girls feet looked like yours and I was able to clear it up really fast. The other girl I did not catch in time before it was pretty infected and she is the one on the penicillin shots. This is day 4 on the shots and her foot is finally looking a bit better than infected meat! LOL

Good luck with your birds. They will be fine. Just keep checking them until they heal. Soak them everyday for atleast one week after the surgery and keep up with it if the birds foot still looks funky. I have heard of folks dealing with it nearly a year later. Bumblefoot can turn nasty.

 

[Nicole01]

I caught it very early. This is my worst hen in the photo. The others barely have a scab on their feet and they won't come off, I'll keep trying. None have any swelling. I bet they are getting it in the swamy woods then. Their roost is high at the moment to make room for the brooder. I'll have to lift them down. I never had a problem until free ranging this year. Theres a lot of thorny bushes, tress and weeds. I'll switch to penicillin tomorrow. None of them have puss yet. I'll soak all the hens daily in salt water. Hubby didn't buy much for supplies.:/ I'll make do with what I have. I wipe real good with antiseptic wipes.

It should dry up back there soon. Thankfully.

 

[klmclain1]

Bumblefoot is not "contagious". Staph is in dirt everywhere. They get it through a cut or puncture in the foot (it can be very tiny). Do not give your entire flock antibiotics - it's over kill, unnecessary, and then when you need an antibiotic to work, they may become resistant due to overuse. At this point, I wouldn't even give the one(s) that definitely has (have) it antibiotics. Do the surgery, keep the wound cleaned and packed with neosporin as recommended above, and see how it goes.. Then if it isn't totally successful, start penicillin. Here are some links for treatment:

http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/2009/09/bumblefoot-chicken.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bumblefoot-how-to-treat-your-chickens-with-surgery-graphic-pics

 

[Nicole01]

Whew! Thank you! I really thought that so many had it that it was contagious. The past few weeks, they found new thick brushed/tree free ranging ground. I thought it was safe. They start under the thorny tree/bush and move on into the thick grass surrounded by trees. I'll need to see if there are any branches on the ground. It's my lighter breeds that have the bad feet. I just ordered 15yards of vet wrap. 10yards is 1in and the other 5yards is 4 in, I guess this stuff works well! In the mean time, it's bandaids and gauze pads with medical tape.

None of them had that cheesy substance, I'm thinking I caught it very early! I'll work on getting the scabs off the other two hens today. They are so small and embedded in their feet. None of the hens have swollen feet yet. I bet if I didn't check, they'd all be in bigger danger down the road a bit.

All my light breeds have it, not the heavy breeds. They must be going deeper into the swamp.

I don't have a roost bar, they roost on a 14in shelf lined with linoleum for easy cleaning. They sit at the edge and poop toward the back. In the winter they all sleep in a pile over the heater. I could not get them to sleep on a roosting bar, I tried for weeks. They prefer the shelf. If it makes them happy, we are for it.

 

[Nicole01]

My vet wrap came in the mail yesterday, I ordered 4 rolls all together. I'm giving probios and I'm still waiting for the petroleum jelly and Borax to arrive. I heard that's the best way to fix it up. My antibiotic ointment is running out. Their feet look much better except now my Wyandotte needs a good soaking and scabs removed.

My hens have actually stayed out of the swamp the last 2 days! I love free ranging them and they love it too. They all have put in weight with the infestation of army worms we have I our yard.

That vet wrap is pretty amazing stuff! I'm keeping extra available for me and the neighbors flock.

 

[klmclain1]

You don't need to order it... it's everywhere! Drugstores, Walmart, grocery stores. It's just a wrap for holding on bandages - and can be called many things. Just look around the areas of stores where they have gauze and bandages!