I can’t find the bumble!

[leighks]

My poor hen Iris has bumblefoot. I have been treating it with tricide neo soaks, which has always worked for all other cases of bumblefoot my chickens have had before, but this must have been an advanced case because Iris started limping today. The area between her toes is swollen too. After today’s soak I removed the scab and squeezed and picked the white stuff in the foot, but it’s kind of like strand material that doesn’t really come out. I soaked her foot and tried again, but still not getting any solid material out. The hole is big and I am not going to cut into it to make it bigger, but what else can I do to get the kernel out? I put some neosporin on it and wrapped it and will try to get out again tomorrow. Any suggestions EXCEPT for cutting into the pad is appreciated.

Also I have some trimethoprim sulfa that I had for one of my hens that had an infection but ended up not needing- would that help Iris’s bumblefoot?

 

[azygous]

I've made this same mistake when trying to clean out pus from a bumblefoot lesion. The thin fatty strands are part of the chicken's blood, called leukocytes. It's one response of the body to bacterial infection. The white blood cells get ramped up to pitch out the bacteria or form a protective layer to prevent bacteria from backing up into the rest of the body and killing the patient.

The pus or kernel is solid like wax or cheese and usually conveniently comes out attached to the scab. So once you get the solid kernel out, you're done excavating. Next step is to flush the wound and pack it with antibiotic ointment and bandage.

Regarding an antibiotic, these usually have little to no effect on bumblefoot. This is according to my own and others' experience. You certainly may try it, but the results may be disappointing. The foot will heal just fine with diligent wound treatment.

 

[coach723]

Just wanted to add, I had a roo that had the stringy stuff and it was tunneling into his foot. The only thing that worked for him was sugardine. Easy to make, inexpensive, just takes some time, you will need to do it daily. What I did, and materials used, are here in post #8:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-not-healing.1443809/#post-23973555

 

[leighks]

I've made this same mistake when trying to clean out pus from a bumblefoot lesion. The thin fatty strands are part of the chicken's blood, called leukocytes. It's one response of the body to bacterial infection. The white blood cells get ramped up to pitch out the bacteria or form a protective layer to prevent bacteria from backing up into the rest of the body and killing the patient.

The pus or kernel is solid like wax or cheese and usually conveniently comes out attached to the scab. So once you get the solid kernel out, you're done excavating. Next step is to flush the wound and pack it with antibiotic ointment and bandage.

Regarding an antibiotic, these usually have little to no effect on bumblefoot. This is according to my own and others' experience. You certainly may try it, but the results may be disappointing. The foot will heal just fine with diligent wound treatment.

Ok good to know. Here is a pic from today. You can see the swelling on the left edge of the foot and between the last and middle toes. I will continue the tricide neo soaks and wrapping it to keep it clean.

 

[leighks]

Just wanted to add, I had a roo that had the stringy stuff and it was tunneling into his foot. The only thing that worked for him was sugardine. Easy to make, inexpensive, just takes some time, you will need to do it daily. What I did, and materials used, are here in post #8:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-not-healing.1443809/#post-23973555

Thanks, I will save your post. If the tricide neo doesn’t help it I will give the sugardine a try. This is the first bad case of bumblefoot I’ve dealt with, and tricide neo has had a 100% success rate for me in the past with less severe cases. With the scab being off hopefully it will heal up quicker.

 

[coach723]

I've used tricide neo also. For me it seems to work best on the smaller, shallower lesions. Once they get beyond that, it hasn't been effective for me.