Hen with hurt foot

[LCARTER87]

I have one of my hens who has a hurt foot, she had what looked like a case of bumble foot on her pad, I have been keeping a close on eye on it and yesterday I came home, the sore on the bottom of her foot was partially off so I pulled the rest and out comes this gush of what I thought was pus. I went and grabbed some wet towels to whipe off the pus when I realized it wasnt pus, it almost seemed as if it was tissue coming out of her foot. It wasnt bleeding, it was just this material that squirted out and didnt want to come off.

I cleaned her foot, put neosporn on it, put a pad of tissue and then wrapped it with medical wrap and sent her on her way. Today I came home, the wrap was still on, so I took it off and when I removed the pad of tissue it was yellow and the 'tissue' was slightly stuck to it. I then went to clean the foot and it started bleeding quite a bit, my husband thought we should try to remove the remaining of the 'tissue' esk material and which when I tried I wasnt comfortable doing so, and her foot kept bleeding.

I went ahead cleaned it again, put a wapping amount of neosporn on the wound, a huge amount of tissue and re-wrapped it. She is inside now resting but I am curious on what I should do next. Any other girls that I have had any sort of 'bumblefoot' issue with have worked themselves out, I have given them medicine and 2-3 weeks later its gone. This has been my first bird that I have had any sort of issue with.

Here is a photo from when I pulled her wrap off.

 

[BantamLover21]

That looks like bumblefoot where the pus core has somehow partially been squeezed out. It would be best if you could remove the stuff that is sticking out. If it bleeds while doing so, complete the process, and then apply pressure with a paper towel or gauze, or put some cornstarch, styptic powder, or flour on the wound to stop the bleeding.

As for the actual treatment of the bumblefoot: If you can remove the pus/other stuff that is currently partway out of the foot, the infection might resolve itself on its own. To help this process, I would soak the foot 1-2 times a day in an Epsom salt solution, and then apply antibiotic ointment. Keep your hen in a clean place with no roosts and a good layer of wood shavings.

If the foot doesn't heal on its own, you could try treating by injecting the foot with Penicillin. However, this is not always successful. You may end up having to do surgery on the foot to entirely remove the pus core. There are several threads on Backyard Chickens about doing this.

 

[MelissaTXRn]

That looks like bumble foot. That "core" needs to come out.

 

[Eggcessive]

Tomorrow I would take the dressing off, and see if you can squeeze anymore pus or the cheesy pale yellow core that sometimes is inside. Just squeeze the foot pad as much as you can, then put pressure on the foot with a pad for up to 2 minutes to get the bleeding to clot, and redress it as before. I think you did a pretty good job. I did a couple of mine recently, and one had the pus and the other had the thick cheesy gunk which everyone describes. Just change the bandage every 2 days or so. Sometimes there is not a core yet it if it early.