How many bumbles am I looking at?

[suzy4027]

Alright everybody, aside from the common bumble question, I have a weird one....

First and foremost, here's the icky feet pics.

Are these ALL bumbles?! I know the big one in the middle of her left foot (rt in the pic) is for sure. It had a scab I removed that had a whiteish looking piece of blech attached to it. Very small piece, but there none the less. The other big bumps at the heel of her foot, that look like they have a scab or core, just have that spot for now. It's not a scab and doesn't feel raised. Confusing for a first timer. As I can't find any pics of what a normal foot looks like, I don't know what's a callous and what's a bumble. I feel like an idiot, but I SWEAR, she was fine one day, then hobbled down the ramp the next day.

Her legs are warmer than normal and while we were "bonding" (riiiiight) with an Epsom salt compress, I felt her warm bill. She's hobbling after bugs when they're out foraging at night, still laying, eating and drinking.... she just has these horrible feet and a temp!

I couldn't find clear iodine yesterday and ended up with a Rooster Booster wound product from TSC. It's tea tree oil based. I soaked her feet, sprayed them with the wound spray and put some clay with all kinds of essential oils that I got from my neighbor. It's pretty much magic! I'm still going to go to our compounding pharmacy and see about the clear iodine. Seems a lot easier treatment route! Anyway, just wondered how many and can someone post a pic of a normal foot?

NOW FOR THE WEIRD QUESTION....
While I'm holding my patient yet stressed girl, she starts making this weird teeth grinding noise. Her mouth is slightly open cuz she's not havin a fun time, so I knew she wasn't making the sound with her mouth. Plus, no teeth. Lol
It was a weird crushing or grinding fine gravel type noise, which was coming from her body. It was lower, like an intestinal issue. You could hear it and when I pressed my hand on her, I could feel something passing through. It was above where her legs attached. It reminded me of feeling things moving through our intestines that we knew were going to be fun in about, ohhhhh, say 5-10min...

There haven't been any changes in her stool, she's not egg bound, and I'm at a loss. Does any of this sound familiar?
I just went out to check her again and got her daily egg. She only moved out of the coop because I lifted the lid, but she did move. I wasn't sure how it was gonna go after last night. She doesn't want to put much weight on the left foot and the center toe(?) is still obviously swollen. I know bumbles take a while, so no surprise. Plus, we poked around on it so I'm not surprised it's more painful. I felt her bill and it didn't seem hot at all. She was talking and acting like nothing was wrong, but then, if you show weakness, they eat you, right?!!
I'm changing their floor mats to one that will allow for air flow underneath. Their bedding is clean straw. Their tank is a 40-50gallon Rubbermaid tank that's filtered and changed every 3 days. I'm a bit ocd about ducks and clear water. No frustration there...

I feel like there's something I'm missing if her feet look like this! From all the bumble foot threads I've read, I know I'm not alone in that thinking.

I would say I'm sorry for the long post, but I'm sure no one believes that line anymore.

 

[suzy4027]

I edited the pics so the bumbles would be easier to see. I really just wanted everyone to see my bubble gum pink fingernail polish before I edited them.... I have girly girl children. Don't judge me. Lol

Ugh. I feel so bad for letting her little feet get this way!

 

[Orca5094]

These aren't too bad, you caught them fairly early. I would soak them as long as she'll let you twice a day in epsom salt water (I did 10 minutes each time, but my ducks are used to being handled and would just stand nicely and preen/nap during their foot soaking treatments). Then clean the bumbles with some kind of wound cleaner (I use klorhexidin) and then top it off with antibiotic gel (the kind WITHOUT pain reliever, which is dangerous to use on birds). I had success in treating a couple of my ducks with similar-sized bumbles in this way. It takes time for them all to heal up, but it does work if you are persistent. It can take a few weeks, up to a few months.

Cutting out the cores or forcibly removing the scabs is dangerous and can actually make them worse. This opens up wounds that can let in more bacteria and cause dangerous infection, unless you wrap up the feet and keep them dry until the area is fully healed. This is very difficult to do with ducks and really isn't necessary in your case. These bumbles aren't so severe that you require such invasive treatment like that. Just soaking them twice a day, cleaning the areas and applying the antibiotic gel will work wonders. You just have to dedicate the time every day for treatment. Your duck should adjust to the treatment over time and it won't be so stressful for her.

What kind of substrate are they on outside of their duck house? You said you use clean straw inside, but what is their outside area like? Are they on hard rock or concrete at any time? And what kind of mats are you using? Another way to help these heal up faster is to keep their areas as clean as possible. You don't want them walking over poop all day with these small wounds on their feet, they will just keep getting infected and take longer to heal up. I have gotten very OCD about picking up poop in their duck house twice a day, and cleaning up all the poop in their large outside yards twice a day as well. It lowers the possibility of them walking through poop after I've just spent all that time soaking and treating their feet. Ducks are just gross, but we all know that.

Oh, and the grinding/crunching noises you hear inside of her is just their normal digestion sounds. Mine eat alot of snails around our property, so I hear their digestive tract crushing up the shells all the time. It freaked me out the first time, until I did some research online. Nothing to worry about!

 

[suzy4027]

Phew! Thanks! I thought that noise was really weird and kinda freaked me out. Lol.
As far as their "run" flooring, it's just a thin vinyl mat that you would see in maybe an office? It's 3 feet wide so it's meant to be a runner. We cut it and have 2 pieces, side by side. It has small flat grooves that provide enough texture to prevent slipping, but not enough to be rough on their feet. I thought about stall mats but worried they would get too hot in summer. We don't have any trees so I have a shade cover you would use on a kennel. It makes a huge diff. Here's their house...

This was before the shade cover and matting went down. They forage every night from about 5:30-7:30. We take the mats out, hose them down, and hang them to dry. They're pretty thin so they dry quickly. I'll post a pick later, just can't get one right now. Since the floor of the deck is just a sheet of plywood, we covered it with ReDeck. It's basically really thick paint with sand in it. We smoothed all the rough edges because I was worried about their feet. Once the mats were down, it didn't make a diff.
We've had a lot of rain lately and for the last 3-4 days it's been tough to keep it all dry. If I put something like tiny smoothed River Rock down, the rinsing process will turn the area in front of the coop into a bog. That's the reason for removable mats.
I finally just went to get a stupid stall mat, but it's still solid and won't get any airflow underneath. ARG! My neighbor just took a bed liner out of their smaller truck and she offered it to me. It's still rubber flooring that's grooved so they won't slip, but has little knobs on the other side, so there's airflow. I never thought about it, but I guess that's why you can have it in your truck bed and it won't rust through from trapped water. Duh.
I'm open to any suggestions. I don't want to put shavings or straw down because it will get in their pool and clog the filter. If I need to just stop the filter and put stuff down for the next 2 weeks, so be it. I can replace the water every other day. I wonder if dirty water will slow the healing process?
I'm getting some clear iodine today and will use it tonight. From all accounts, it makes a seal over the bumble and seems to cause the pus to almost coagulate and harden to a core that can be safely removed by just peeling the scab after 5 days or so. Only requires soaking them initially. If the bumbles are in such an early stage, surely this will kick them sooner? Ugh. Sad face.
Btw, are ALL the spots bumbles or are some just natural callouses?