How long can i leave bumblefoot where the chicken is not weight bearing on that foot

[Mary1189]

Hi all,

How long do I have before the infection gets worse. The bumblefoot on my chicken's foot is visible from above and she is unable to weight-bearing on that foot. She is eating and drinking. My concern is I can't do foot surgery just yet because I need the antibiotic cream and have ordered this plus Prid salve and they will arrive in 5 days. I had great difficulty in locating these plus delivery to where I live hence the long delivery interval with no option for next day delivery. Is there anything I can do in the meantime. I have been doing Epson salt bath soaks and I did bandage with potato gratings and a little garlic over the swelling and that hasn't made much difference.

Any advice please.

 

[Mary1189]

Pics

 

[coach723]

Since the bird isn't weight bearing, if you want to wait for your supplies, then I would crate her on a soft surface to limit her activity until you receive what you are waiting for. If you have betadine(dilute it with distilled water for flushing) or hibiclens (chlorhexidine), or even plain, soapy water, I would soak the foot, remove the scab and remove any pus in there (it will be firm and cheesy like) and flush it out well with one of those. You have to get all the pus out for it to start healing, then pack the hole with honey (manuka if you have it), or sugardine (plain white sugar mixed with betadine) and bandage it. That may be enough, or at least may provide some relief until you get the rest of your supplies. I often treat bumblefoot with sugardine alone after removing the gunk, and bandaging, and it works well. It's not an emergency, but should be done as soon as you are comfortable that you have what you need.
This link has info on how I use sugardine, see post #8:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-not-healing.1443809/#post-23973555

 

[Mary1189]

Thank you

 

[Mary1189]

So thank you for your advice. My supplied arrived today a few days ahead of schedule.
Today I soaked in Epson salt and removed scabs on both feet. The left foot which is worse and has swelling that can be seen from top of foot also did not give any pus away but the scan came away. I then just put prid drawing salve on and bandaged.
The right foot. I was able to remove the scab and attached to the scab was a small pus kernel. Looked like a small tooth. I again just placed PRID salve as no pus draining and looks like there could be more. I did gently squeeze but did not want to cause any pain so did not focus on trying to get any out.

Is it normal to get no pus draining. To me it seems like the infection has been there so long that tge pus may have hardened.
Will the PRID salve help to soften the pus and draw it out?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Chicken puss is not liquid, it's white chunky stuff ... Read it described as "cottage cheese". I understand you're not wanting to hurt your chicken by squeezing, felt the same way until I changed my thought .... Better hurt getting rid of the puss this one time, than having it linger. I sneezed hard, got a lot out & it even bled but it's over now ... If you're interested you can read the whole thread ... This was the first time I dealt with BF, usually the scab is present but the hen's not bother, this time she was limping, wouldn't or couldn't walk I had to do something and didn't want to do the surgery but when I saw that "bullseye" like a pimple, I had to squeeze ...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/another-bumble-foot-question.1585166/

 

[Mary1189]

I did try to squeeze but as nothing came away and she pulled her leg away I guessed she was in pain. I will do a daily soak and squeeze and bandage up again using the salve until hopefully it can come up to skin surface. It does look like it has gone hard. Unfortunately I have no idea how long she has had this as I only got her a week ago and if it has been this way for week or months then my guess is it will be quite hard. The storage thing is the scabs we're no bigger than a pencil top eraser. And even the foot where a small amount of hard pus was attached to the scab is still quite swollen and no further pus followed. I am hoping the rest is just swelling on that foot and it will start to go down no that the kernel is out.

 

[coach723]

If you can feel a hardness under the skin, that may be pus. You can try the drawing salve, see if it works. Sometimes it can take a fair amount of squeezing and manipulation to get it out. When it comes out, you will know there is relief for the bird. If the scab regenerates, then you will need to clean it out again. The bumblefoot scab looks different than a scab of normal healing, hard to explain, but it does look different. Any pus remaining in the foot will cause it to keep regenerating. If you find that happening and the drawing salve does not help, then the sugardine might. I've had very good results with it, it's not a quick fix, but it healed up some that nothing else was working for. Sometimes the infection tunnels through the foot, it can even go completely through. I had one start to tunnel up the ankle. That one I had to lance at the top also to get it all out. After that, I packed it with sugardine daily until it started to heal. The sugar actually helps kill bacteria. The sugardine will also help it to heal from the inside out, helping to prevent the surface healing first and sealing infection inside.

 

[Mary1189]

I did try again today and it's just such a hard plug kf pus with a very small scab hole. I tried opening up a bit more but there was some bleeding and she kept pulling her foot away and I didn't want to put her through pain and still not be able to get the plug out. I think I will have to try soaking daily or take to a vet. I had assumed that once I took the scab away the pus would be easily accessible.
Left foot was also warmer than her right foot. She isn't laying any eggs either. Has not layed since I got her a week ago.

 

[coach723]

I promise you that despite it hurting now, once all that is out she will feel much relief. If you are uncomfortable doing it and have a vet that will, then by all means do that. It really does need to be done, one way or the other. If you are lucky, and are up to it, the vet may let you watch, and it could be helpful in the future. Depends on your vet.