Help with advanced bumblefoot?

LCL2025

Hatching
May 4, 2025
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Hi,

Does anyone have experience with bumblefoot that you didn't discover until later (than you would have liked)? Our hen is 4.5 yrs old, otherwise healthy, with an abscess on bottom (and top) of her foot that we only noticed a few weeks ago when she started limping. We tried home treatment for a few weeks - removing the scab/plug and trying to clean out wound (the loose cottage cheese-y stuff) but there wasn't a clear removal / open cavern when we cut away the top scab. It was more like solid yellow stuff (which even the vet (saw vet yesterday) couldn't say for sure if it was "kernel" or damaged (possibly necrotic) tissue). We treated with epsom salt soaks, alternating between iodine and chlorine dioxide to clean, and bandaging with neosporin. Seemed to be getting better - she stopped limping pretty quickly (and otherwise seemed normal - appetite, roaming) - but a few weeks later now and she's clearly in pain when standing and a bit unsteady. We took her to vet yesterday to get antibiotics. Vet examined but didn't do anything to the wound. She noted swelling - subtle - in her leg, suggesting the infection might have already spread - be in her bones. She suggested an anti-inflammatory injection which we rejected bc suppressing symptoms often does not help healing in the long run, even if it helps comfort in the short term. So we are giving her the antibiotic and continuing soaking and treating her foot - and giving her treats and hoping the antibiotic can turn it around. Anyone have experience with bumblefoot when it reaches a later stage? Prognosis?

You can see the pink swelling - and also another bumblefoot plug by her other toe.
Thanks,
Courtney
bumblefoot.jpg
 
I had a chicken with advanced bumblefoot. Her leg actually fell off eventually:sick. I didn't do anything about it(I didn't know what to do) and I eventually culled her.
 
Hi,

Does anyone have experience with bumblefoot that you didn't discover until later (than you would have liked)? Our hen is 4.5 yrs old, otherwise healthy, with an abscess on bottom (and top) of her foot that we only noticed a few weeks ago when she started limping. We tried home treatment for a few weeks - removing the scab/plug and trying to clean out wound (the loose cottage cheese-y stuff) but there wasn't a clear removal / open cavern when we cut away the top scab. It was more like solid yellow stuff (which even the vet (saw vet yesterday) couldn't say for sure if it was "kernel" or damaged (possibly necrotic) tissue). We treated with epsom salt soaks, alternating between iodine and chlorine dioxide to clean, and bandaging with neosporin. Seemed to be getting better - she stopped limping pretty quickly (and otherwise seemed normal - appetite, roaming) - but a few weeks later now and she's clearly in pain when standing and a bit unsteady. We took her to vet yesterday to get antibiotics. Vet examined but didn't do anything to the wound. She noted swelling - subtle - in her leg, suggesting the infection might have already spread - be in her bones. She suggested an anti-inflammatory injection which we rejected bc suppressing symptoms often does not help healing in the long run, even if it helps comfort in the short term. So we are giving her the antibiotic and continuing soaking and treating her foot - and giving her treats and hoping the antibiotic can turn it around. Anyone have experience with bumblefoot when it reaches a later stage? Prognosis?

You can see the pink swelling - and also another bumblefoot plug by her other toe.
Thanks,
CourtneyView attachment 4116338
Is this what the foot looks like now or before you removed the yellow puss stuff?
 
Soaking, cleaning out as much as you can then rewrapping every few days with antibiotic cream and prid drawing salve might help till it heals up some. One that bad can take a while (weeks to months) to heal, you just have to keep after it.
 
I had a really bad case of bumblefoot in a roo that just kept coming back. I eventually tried using sugardine, which worked better than anything else I tried. Sugardine is just white sugar mixed in betadine to make a paste, it's commonly used on horse's hooves to treat issues there. It's not a quick fix, but it does work. I will link to my post where I explain what I did (includes a picture of his foot) and a video on sugardine.
See post #8 here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-not-healing.1443809/
 

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