How I'm Treating Bumblefoot without cutting/surgery

[Attila the Hen]

I think the wrapping is the most important with a salve applied to keep it moist. I suspect I changed the bandage more than necessary. In fact, I would probably leave it on and soak less often with a bird that is stressed by the process. My original hen with bumble foot was very patient with me. I've since seen black spots on another hen but I will leave it and just keep an eye on it. I am hoping it is like a callous because the spots are like freckles more than anything else.

 

[Woobsie]

I would agree with Attila. Keep it wrapped with vet wrap (not overly tight, cut it into more narrow strips before using) with a piece of gauze with antibacterial ointment on it is most important. Keeps any more staph out and will let the animal focus on healing and will soften the skin to make it more pliable

 

[Heidi65]

My sister, who isn't so squeamish, tried to help out this morning by cutting the bumble out. She had no problem cutting into the foot (and her finger) but couldn't get it out. I called a vet and they got us in today. Here is what they got out!

I can NOT believe it! She was still walking on her foot, scratching with it and basically acting like nothing was wrong! The only thing that hurt was the $188 bill after taking in our dog to a different vet yesterday that we will no longer use that cost us $75

We came home tonight and check all of our girls feet and several of them did have the same thing, I was able to pull the "black spot" off and one of them when I pulled the black off it looked almost like a thumb tack with the bumble attached.

If you do decided to do this yourself, do yourself and your chicken a favor and go to TSC or somewhere like it and buy disposable scalpels, they are sharp and cut well. Meggie didn't mind when my sister cut into her foot at all and I did this on one of our others, Lucy and she didn't care about the cutting at all until I squeezing to make sure I got it all.

Edited to add: The scalpels were less than $5 with tax for 5 and we have ridiculous sales tax.

Heidi

 

[Woobsie]

What in the world is that?

 

[Heidi65]

That my dear is what came out of my Meggie's Bumblefoot! My sister tried to cut it out "surgery" but it was too deep for her so we took her to the vet. They gassed the poor girl and this is what they got out of her foot.

When we got home we check out other girls' feet and a few other had the very very beginnings of bumblefoot. I was able to pull off the black spot. The worse one was on Anna and it looked like a Thumb tack, the old style.

but as long as hubby held them I was able to pull them out.

The vet did recommend different size perches, adding padding to their perches, and getting them out as soon as you notice them! Don't wait for them to get too big, such as the size Meg's was.
I would recomend that too, $188 vet bill sucks!

Heidi

 

[Heidi65]

Wanted to let everyone know that we just changed Meggie's bandages. We are amazed at how well chickens heal!

I don't remember if I mentioned or not, but Meg had a very small start of a Bumble in her other foot so while we were there the doc when ahead and took care of it, you can't hardly see where it was, tonight will be the last night bandaging will be required! Basically the only reason we bandaged it tonight is because I had them ready for both feed before we brought her into the house. The foot where she, the vet, dug out the two nasty pieces out didn't look much different worse than the other foot! I can NOT believe how fast these little critters heal!!

The vet suggested we put the triple antibiotic ointment on it and Silver Sulfadiazine Cream $22.88 Her foot look amazing! I don't see us having to bandage her foot very long with putting these two medications on her, they are healing her up great and FAST.

I expected to see a HUGE hole in her foot after seeing the two pieces and the size of the two. He foot look normal with just a sore on the bottom, I'm impressed with the vet and with Megger's healing.

I can't repeat enough about taking a baby to the vet when their foot looks like the pictures that I took of her foot. If they are just starting, and you can lift up the black scab looking thing and get rid of it, do it! If it is a little bigger and have the stomach for it, use a disposable scalpel, soak the foot in Epson Salt water and make sure you get it all out. If you can't, spend the money if on them if they are your egg laying pet! We spend $188 yes, I know we only paid $3 for her but when we buy a pet, we buy them for life, sometimes for an ungodly amount of vet bills.

Heidi

 

[Sutremaine]

We spend $188 yes, I know we only paid $3 for her but when we buy a pet, we buy them for life, sometimes for an ungodly amount of vet bills.

You know, I've never understood the idea of paying less for the vet just because you paid less for the animal. 188 dollars isn't a huge vet bill, but it's still much larger than the difference between buying a cheap chicken and buying an expensive one.

 

[Beekissed]

I'd be looking into why everyone is having frequent recurrence of bumble foot in their flocks and trying to prevent it...it's just not normal to have such things going on all the time. I've been keeping chickens off and on for 40 yrs now and never had bumble foot in the flocks. They all have high roosts made of natural limbs, are heavy breed birds, walk on gravel quite frequently, free range all the time in all kinds of terrain and have never had such a thing. I think all the things they blame this bumblefoot on can't be the reason for them as my flocks are exposed to them all...except the following reason.

One thing I have seen listed as a cause of bumblefoot in other types of birds people keep as pets was a rich diet high in proteins, along with other factors such as obesity, low activity levels, etc. But I never see that mentioned on this forum as a possible cause, even though each year I notice the levels of proteins being fed out there in the BYC crowd just increases and increases, particularly during molt and during the winter months~both seasons when activity levels are lowest in a typical coop and run situation. Also a growing trend is "treat" feeding, the more elaborate the better.

• Excess Protein: Stored, excess protein promotes the growth of internal bacteria which are excreted through the skin. In areas where there are feathers, those feathers will usually absorb the protein. In bare areas, such as the feet, these bacteria will present themselves as pink, red and then blue "calluses." These most often show up on the bottom of the feet; however, may also appear on the top or on the tips of the toes, above or under the bird's toenails.
  
  It is important to reduce the protein in the bird's diet to stop the progression of this condition.​

The reason I fail to believe it could be caused by injury and then an infection is that often in these descriptions both feet are affected and one post describes most of a whole flock afflicted with bumblefoot. It's just really unlikely that a large number of birds in a flock just happened to get foot injuries that result in infections...one bird in one foot maybe, but many birds and often in both feet would indicate a problem that affects the whole flock and may be more likely a nutritional problem.

• an infection

In light of that, was wondering if y'all were maybe feeding too rich a diet to birds that are less active than they should be? The one pic showed nails that were hugely overgrown for a chicken, indicating this bird is not using them for scratching for food much, if at all, nor putting many miles on those feet.

Just throwing that out there as a consideration. Until I joined BYC I never really heard of many cases of bumblefoot in chickens though I come from generations of flock owners and had heard of it in waterfowl before...usually just in one foot and usually resolved by a change in diet...but was pretty amazed to find so many people having that issue here and it seems to be increasingly prevalent in these small, backyard flocks nowadays.

 

[Heidi65]

You know, I've never understood the idea of paying less for the vet just because you paid less for the animal. 188 dollars isn't a huge vet bill, but it's still much larger than the difference between buying a cheap chicken and buying an expensive one.

Sutremaine,

That last comment was because you wouldn't believe how many people say "you took a chicken to the vet?" "didn't you only pay like $2-$3 for IT?" Yes it ticks us to no end.

Two months earlier we had to take our only boy to the vet at 9am, he was a 12 yr old Lhasa Apso. He had dropped weight. They did a blood draw and they spoke only with my hubby. They told him at 11am they are pretty sure he had cancer but were going to do an Ultrasound to verify. Well, somehow they thought they had free reign to continue. At 3:30 we went in to put our baby down, they racked up a $1300 bill and we had no idea how.

Now, if like on Friday when we took our 3.5 yr Rottie Stormee in, who is the biggest sweety in the world and THEY are afraid of her and Stormee gets upset when they want a muzzle on her and she gets stressed out when she gets cornered. They can't exam her, we go to leave and THEY we get charged for so called EXAM I get upset at the vet bill. After this visit we have since changed docs!

Last December we took our daughter's 12 old Lhasa Apso into an Emergency Pet Clinic because she was in heat and ended up with Pyometra, the worse case,while the cervix was open. Our vet at this point is no longer open after hours or weekends. This is a life or death situation for Tessy and it is a Saturday night. We are told she won't make it Monday. Our normal vet had told us to spay her it would be about $400 so we are thinking since this is an emergency about $1000. This place charged us $1600.

Basically what I'm getting at is when we get a furbaby or a featherbaby, we will pay what ever we need to if they need to go to the doc. We have taken Guinea Pigs in the past to the vet. We love all of the animals we have and have had and have a closet full of the dogs we have cremated, they are a life long companion for us. I'm not saying I don't love meat just can't process something we love and raise.

Heidi

 

[Attila the Hen]

I'd be looking into why everyone is having frequent recurrence of bumble foot in their flocks and trying to prevent it...it's just not normal to have such things going on all the time. I've been keeping chickens off and on for 40 yrs now and never had bumble foot in the flocks. They all have high roosts made of natural limbs, are heavy breed birds, walk on gravel quite frequently, free range all the time in all kinds of terrain and have never had such a thing. I think all the things they blame this bumblefoot on can't be the reason for them as my flocks are exposed to them all...except the following reason.

One thing I have seen listed as a cause of bumblefoot in other types of birds people keep as pets was a rich diet high in proteins, along with other factors such as obesity, low activity levels, etc. But I never see that mentioned on this forum as a possible cause, even though each year I notice the levels of proteins being fed out there in the BYC crowd just increases and increases, particularly during molt and during the winter months~both seasons when activity levels are lowest in a typical coop and run situation. Also a growing trend is "treat" feeding, the more elaborate the better.



The reason I fail to believe it could be caused by injury and then an infection is that often in these descriptions both feet are affected and one post describes most of a whole flock afflicted with bumblefoot. It's just really unlikely that a large number of birds in a flock just happened to get foot injuries that result in infections...one bird in one foot maybe, but many birds and often in both feet would indicate a problem that affects the whole flock and may be more likely a nutritional problem.



In light of that, was wondering if y'all were maybe feeding too rich a diet to birds that are less active than they should be? The one pic showed nails that were hugely overgrown for a chicken, indicating this bird is not using them for scratching for food much, if at all, nor putting many miles on those feet.

Just throwing that out there as a consideration. Until I joined BYC I never really heard of many cases of bumblefoot in chickens though I come from generations of flock owners and had heard of it in waterfowl before...usually just in one foot and usually resolved by a change in diet...but was pretty amazed to find so many people having that issue here and it seems to be increasingly prevalent in these small, backyard flocks nowadays.

Beekissed. Just saw this post. Thank you. I had read about high protein levels being a factor. I do make a higher protein feed available because I have turkeys. I put both out--not much because they free range. BUT in thinking about it, they all probably get too much BOSS which is high in protein. Probably need to cut down on that.
Hope you are well. Always the voice of reason.