How to PREVENT bumblefoot??

[Wetzlersmith]

I have 5 ducks (2 runners, 1 pekin, 1 swedish, 1 cayuga). The swedish and cayuga had bumble foot this summer. My vet and I worked VERY hard to heal it. My vet is not an exotic vet and she went out of her way contacting other vets to try and help me. They spent over a month inside in big dog crates getting chlorhexidine treatments and vet wraps until the scabs came off and new skin grew. I put them back out with the others. And we are back to what looks like bumble foot again. (

Here are my questions and observations:

1. It seems the squattier ducks are more prone to this as the runners don't have it.
2. Obviously being seperated from their buddies was stressful to them and one still hasn't laid eggs since this whole process started so the goal is to PREVENT it!!

That being said. I ordered a load of dirt and filled their running area with new fresh dirt and straw to soften the ground, I filled their coop (where they sleep at night) with straw to cover the wire floor.

1. What else can I do to stop this?
2. Is a scab/callus type area on the botton of their foot always bumble foot or could it just be a scab/callus if they aren't limping?
3. Can I keep their feet wrapped with the vet wrap or even the duck shoes indefinately so they can be outside while it heals instead of caging them up?
4. Can they still swim with wrapped up feet, etc?
5. I've heard it could be a vitamin thing?

HELP!! I want my ducks healthy and not in pain..I also don't want to keep doing this!!

 

[DotDog]

I am with you, but no one has replied to my bumblefoot questions either, like;
why not put in wood stove pellets? I did with my donkeys, spray it with water and it falls to nice soft absorbent sawdust, what would be bad about that for bedding?
I spray Vetricyn on every few days just in case too.

 

[Wetzlersmith]

( Frustration.

Thanks for your response DotDog. Guess we will keep plugging along.

 

[DotDog]

Last night I started searching around and managed to find a thread on "Bumblefoot prevention" and it actually addressed my question as to whether using pelleted bedding would be helpful and it was said to be great stuff over and over. Some seemed to think you had to use a special brand meant for chickens but really, if you can read, get the all pine kind not one that has other hardwoods like Cedar in it. I had donkeys for 10 years and I used it and it was great stuff, you pick up the poop with a manure fork and the bedding falls back, I would use about 6 bags in a stall and it would last 6 months because you are only taking out the poop with a bit of sawdust on it. Now for some reason on this thread some were using it and not spraying water on it to make it fall back to sawdust (from which it is made into pellets through heat and pressure). Seems to me that if you just put it in, it is hard sharp edged pellets that could actually cause bumble foot! I always sprayed water on it, and I mean a lot of water, here in Texas it dries quickly so there is no moisture problem, and I would imagine it would anywhere else too. Then the issue of the chickens eating it, well, they don't, my donkeys took one bite and never again, so I am going to clean out everything and put in all pelleted stuff and spray it and see how it goes. On donkeys and they pee gallons, there was no smell, it is great stuff. Costs about 5 bucks a bag, lasts a long time.

 

[Wetzlersmith]

Inside where they nest I put the pine shavings like for hamsters. It works well, I'm guessing it's much like the pellets you are refering to once you've hosed them down. I have laid a bunch of straw on the wire floor of the rest of their cage and I think/hope it is helping. Put a fresh layer of dirt in the yard area too. Fingers crossed!