HELP! Bumblefoot Epidemic???

[hokankai]

I need some serious help here. Do those of you with waterfowl and chickens keep your pens far from one another? I am having an epidemic of bumblefoot and I'm trying to figure out what the heck is causing it. the only thing I can think of is that the duck run is right next to the chicken run, and the drainage is not great down there and therefore chicken runoff is on the ground. Could this cause bumblefoot??? I have had chickens for 4 years and ducks for almost 1 year and have NEVER had this problem, until the last month or so and now all of my females have at least one little scab on their feet, and most of them have bumbles to go with them. I just cut out the scabs on another duck whose were starting to get larger. I had one duck who I caught limping (first indication of a bumblefoot problem) and tried cutting out the infection and got out a pea sized chunk of yuck. It was still red and swollen a week later so I took her and another to the vet. She still has a swollen toe/bumble after 2 weeks of me cutting out some infection, and 1 week of being on Clavamox (she has another week to go on the antibiotics). I'm considering surgery via vet for her at this point if it doesn't look better by the end of the antibiotics course but that is me getting desperate for a solution.

So far, the original (and worst) girl and another girl are on Clavamox for 1 more week. The remaining 4 girls are on Amoxacillin for 2 weeks.

I am getting very discouraged with this whole thing and feel like a horrible duck mom . I clean out their coop once a week, and their coop is 8x8 with straw/shaving bedding. It's definitely poopy by the end of the week. Their run was gravel (which I discovered was sharp about a week or two ago) and I covered that with straw until I can get bark chips delivered. I'm at a loss as to what else to do.

Should I break down the duck pen/run and move it to the upper end of our property away from the chickens? It'll be a big project but if it'll help solve my problem I'd definitely do it. The ground is softer up there as well. No gravel, just dirt and tree litter. Much better drainage too.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Well, I think better drainage is always better. Hope it gets better.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My whole flock runs together on 1/2 acre fenced property and it can get pretty nasty here at times especially when I can't clean with everything being frozen, so I really don't think having your chickens and ducks next to each other is causing your ducks to have bumble foot. If drainage is a problem though then you might want to move one to a more drainable area and preferable the ducks since they are the messiest of the 2. Most of the time bumble comes from a scratch cut splinter and usually on the bottom of the feet where they walk in all kinds of nasties and bacteria enters into the opening. I've had 2 bumble foot cases both being chickens and the last one was in Jan-Feb. of this year and this is what I followed to treat. I didn't have to cut all I did was soak ,clean and use the colorless iodine. My Brahma Hen had bumbles on both feet so she lived in the house with us for a couple weeks till I was sure they were on the mend.
The only difference between how I treated with the colorless iodine is I didn't do any cutting.


This is from the disease And emergency thread by Haunted55









On July 1st, I found one of my Pekin ducks with what I would consider a bad case of Bumblefoot. Both feet were involved and I'm ashamed to say, the only way I found it was she was limping. One foot had 7 and the other had 3. I was able to grab her and bring her into the house and put her into a warm bath to clean and soak. Two water changes later and softened feet, all I had time to do was paint the bumbles with colorless iodine, grabbed the wrong stuff, and put her into a dog crate in my house until I could get everything ready to operate and get them gone. Did I mention the thought of this scared me half to death?

Sad to say it took 6 days before i was able to get everything together and someone to help out with the 'cure'. The following pictures are what we found after the bath we gave before the planned surgery to remove these things.




















As can be seen, there really wasn't much to operate on, even though I was prepared to do just that. No matter how much squeezing or prodding or soaking, there just wasn't anything more to come out, it was all on the scabs that were covering the sores. The swelling was down from the 'marbles' I saw when I first found them. I poured betadine over the ones I had opened and painted the ones that I hadn't again with the iodine and put her back into her crate with clean bedding.

the next pictures are of the same Pekin and anothe duck, Dottie the Mallard, who was also found limping.












As can be seen in the first two pictures, the bumbles have been dramatically reduced on the Pekin with just the iodine application and the smaller ones totally gone. The last four pictures are of the Mallard who is still under going the iodine applications.

As can be seen, this is how the left and right foot look tonight on the Pekin duck. The heels being the worst are still showing infection and need for more treatment. tomorrow, I will again give a bath and pull/cut out the scabbing and treat with straight iodine this time. These spots are now flat or as flat as they should be considering the part of the foot they are on. I will still touch up the places that had the spots before as well.

 

[hokankai]

My whole flock runs together on 1/2 acre fenced property and it can get pretty nasty here at times especially when I can't clean with everything being frozen, so I really don't think having your chickens and ducks next to each other is causing your ducks to have bumble foot. If drainage is a problem though then you might want to move one to a more drainable area and preferable the ducks since they are the messiest of the 2. Most of the time bumble comes from a scratch cut splinter and usually on the bottom of the feet where they walk in all kinds of nasties and bacteria enters into the opening. I've had 2 bumble foot cases both being chickens and the last one was in Jan-Feb. of this year and this is what I followed to treat. I didn't have to cut all I did was soak ,clean and use the colorless iodine. My Brahma Hen had bumbles on both feet so she lived in the house with us for a couple weeks till I was sure they were on the mend.
The only difference between how I treated with the colorless iodine is I didn't do any cutting.


This is from the disease And emergency thread by Haunted55









On July 1st, I found one of my Pekin ducks with what I would consider a bad case of Bumblefoot. Both feet were involved and I'm ashamed to say, the only way I found it was she was limping. One foot had 7 and the other had 3. I was able to grab her and bring her into the house and put her into a warm bath to clean and soak. Two water changes later and softened feet, all I had time to do was paint the bumbles with colorless iodine, grabbed the wrong stuff, and put her into a dog crate in my house until I could get everything ready to operate and get them gone. Did I mention the thought of this scared me half to death?

Sad to say it took 6 days before i was able to get everything together and someone to help out with the 'cure'. The following pictures are what we found after the bath we gave before the planned surgery to remove these things.




















As can be seen, there really wasn't much to operate on, even though I was prepared to do just that. No matter how much squeezing or prodding or soaking, there just wasn't anything more to come out, it was all on the scabs that were covering the sores. The swelling was down from the 'marbles' I saw when I first found them. I poured betadine over the ones I had opened and painted the ones that I hadn't again with the iodine and put her back into her crate with clean bedding.

the next pictures are of the same Pekin and anothe duck, Dottie the Mallard, who was also found limping.












As can be seen in the first two pictures, the bumbles have been dramatically reduced on the Pekin with just the iodine application and the smaller ones totally gone. The last four pictures are of the Mallard who is still under going the iodine applications.

As can be seen, this is how the left and right foot look tonight on the Pekin duck. The heels being the worst are still showing infection and need for more treatment. tomorrow, I will again give a bath and pull/cut out the scabbing and treat with straight iodine this time. These spots are now flat or as flat as they should be considering the part of the foot they are on. I will still touch up the places that had the spots before as well.

 

[Mehjr10]

Hi, is there any other sharp objects in the duck run ? Board edges, have you had ice on the ground? The one with the swelling you need to work on again. The others may clear up with soaking.


Here is a good link.. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/236649/bumblefoot-surgery-with-pics-and-how-to.

I have had several cases with the chickens, and came out well with the surgery. I have used peroxide to boil out the wound, some say not too but. I also used a fairly strong bleach water soak, we used to use it on horse wounds. Before wrapping i would squirt a bit of Amoxacillin in the wound, then pack with ointment and wrap with vet wrap.

 

[Learningstill]

I am not sure if this is helpful, but we bought a duck from someone with this and after attempting to disinfect and removing the scab and cleaning for a week or so daily, our girl stopped limping and the swelling went down a little. She still has a swollen spot, but it is no longer irritated looking and does not seem to bother her. Nobody else has gotten it either. I used diluted peroxide, warm water, and a steroid cream. I am sure that was not the right method, but she is not in pain anymore. Her foot looked like the more swollen foot.

Good luck

PS. We have ducks and chickens together and used to be them, goats, and a pig in the same pen.

 

[hokankai]

Their run was gravel and I think that's what did it. However I threw straw on the ground so it's all covered now.

The swollen girl has a scab from when I first cut into her foot. I'm not sure where/how I would cut into it now???

 

[Amiga]

I would not cut. I would soak in Epsom salt solution, and either slather triple antibiotic ointment - without painkiller - on the foot twice a day especially at night, or use the clear iodine method. Neither of these requires cutting.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would dif get the colorless iodine and start using it right away. this really does bring the infection up to the top and with my hen who had bumble in both of her feet they opened up on their own. it's really amazing stuff. Walmart carries it and so does CVS. just be sure to get the colorless. Soak in ES warm water first dry their feet off and apply the iodine make sure it's dry before letting them down. Try this procedure for a week before cutting again which is only allowing more bacteria to get inside. I did keep my hen inside for a couple weeks while making sure all the bumble came out on it's own all I did was gently massage these places once they opened and the stuff came out then i'd put the iodine on with a qtip making sure I got it all over the area top and bottom.

 

[hokankai]

Why does it need to be colorless? I have regular betadine I think.

I actually scheduled for the girl with the swollen toe to have surgery on Monday. I soaked her foot last night and when I palpated it the toe would not bend at all, and her foot won't lay flat. There is nowhere for the infection to go because it's deep and the tissue is mostly healed. There's no scab of infection anymore. So hopefully the vet can clean it all out and that she'll recover ok