HELP!!! What is this??

[Eggcessive]

Just to clarify, I should NOT do bumblefoot surgery? I have no problems doing that as I have before in the past.

I would soak them, clean them up, and treat them with the sugardine or antibiotic ointment at first. Use your own judgement on surgery. It may be necessary, but if there is infection in the joint, the antibiotics will hopefully help. I will tag @coach723 for any opinion on surgery.

 

[coach723]

I would do as @Eggcessive has described first. See if the swelling comes down, and if it starts to look better. As swollen as it is, I would do the soaks, topical treatments and the oral antibiotics. I have had very good results with sugardine on some bad bumblefoot cases, but it may be hard to get it to stay on that foot since the swelling is kind of all over. I would try the ointment first, be liberal with it and work it into any openings in the skin. Reapply as needed. Give it a few days of that, if possible, and see how things are looking. If it starts looking much worse, then you can reassess. I would not be surprised if a lot of that crusty stuff on the bottom comes off with repeated soakings and cleanings, I wouldn't force it, but if it comes off then that is probably a good thing.

 

[daisyag13]

I would do as @Eggcessive has described first. See if the swelling comes down, and if it starts to look better. As swollen as it is, I would do the soaks, topical treatments and the oral antibiotics. I have had very good results with sugardine on some bad bumblefoot cases, but it may be hard to get it to stay on that foot since the swelling is kind of all over. I would try the ointment first, be liberal with it and work it into any openings in the skin. Reapply as needed. Give it a few days of that, if possible, and see how things are looking. If it starts looking much worse, then you can reassess. I would not be surprised if a lot of that crusty stuff on the bottom comes off with repeated soakings and cleanings, I wouldn't force it, but if it comes off then that is probably a good thing.

Ok thank you both for your help! We soaked her for about 30 mins this time as I was getting the dog crate cleaned and ready for her. I basically just threw the book at her. Soaked in soapy water with a little betadine and chlorohexidine as well as epsom salts. Her foot smells something awful! It did seem to look better after her soak though, and as you said, looks like some of the scab/skin will peel off on its own from the bottom of her foot. Sprayed with chlorohexadine solution, betadine, covered in neosporin, and did the sugardine paste too. Bandaged it all up, gave her the oral antibiotics, and we'll see how she looks in a couple of days.
What's crazy is that even though it looks so bad, she was walking completely fine on it in the coop yesterday before we treated her! She's a little more tender on it now that we've soaked and sprayed it.

 

[daisyag13]

Here's day 2 update:
Her foot scab is looking much better, not nearly as black anymore. It still smells, but not as bad. Have done the soak and spray with meds twice daily. Attached are some updated pictures.

I don't think she's eating or drinking much, so I just started the tubing process for dehydration. I offered her some scrambled egg earlier, and she only ate the one piece out of my hand. I will try again tomorrow with the egg.

In soaking her tonight though, she laid down in the water and got her underside completely wet. When taking the pics of her foot, I noticed a spot on her belly that looked kinda the same. It's red inflammed around the edges and feels like a thick scab, but her feather are there too causing it hard to tell. Is this the same thing that has spread to her belly?? Maybe where her foot was resting when she layes down? I sprayed it with cholorhexadine and spread a little of the sugardine on it that I had leftover from treating her foot. But I couldn't really cover it and was afraid to put anything on it that she might pic at and accidentally eat. How do I treat this area? The last two pictures are of this new area on her belly.

 

[coach723]

Good on the foot, keep working at it, it may be a rather long term process to get it healed up since it's so large.
Birds with foot problems will sometimes rest on their keels/breast rather than roosting properly and that can cause breast blisters, which are basically the same thing as bumblefoot but on the breast. So you treat it the same way. Soaking to soften, clean it all out, pack with ointment and wrap to keep it clean. Here is a link to a very good thread with explanation and pictures of treating a breast blister:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ister-graphic-pictures.1096276/#post-16850510

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, I agree with Coach that it looks like a breast blister which can also be called a keel cyst. Betadine is very good to clean it with daily. This has some good info:
https://poultrydvm.com/condition/breast-blister

 

[daisyag13]

Good on the foot, keep working at it, it may be a rather long term process to get it healed up since it's so large.
Birds with foot problems will sometimes rest on their keels/breast rather than roosting properly and that can cause breast blisters, which are basically the same thing as bumblefoot but on the breast. So you treat it the same way. Soaking to soften, clean it all out, pack with ointment and wrap to keep it clean. Here is a link to a very good thread with explanation and pictures of treating a breast blister:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ister-graphic-pictures.1096276/#post-16850510

Ok thanks. Sounds like we'll be treating this tonight when my expert chicken holder (aka my hubbie) gets home.
From the links you shared, it just looks like typical bumblefoot surgery except on the belly instead. I'll see if I can get all the puss out, cleaned, and wrap it good, though it'll be hard since it's really low on her belly, almost between her legs. I just soaked and cleaned it and then packed more sugardine on it and tried to wrap it. The wrap lasted all of about 10 minutes. Maybe I'll be able to wrap it better with someone else holding her.