Is this bumble foot?

[CoriM]

when my Pekin was on my concrete patio about a week ago I noticed a little blood from this wound on her foot. I started soaking in Epsom salts for 5 minutes twice a day and either putting antibiotic cream or spray on it, however I havens been able to bandage it. I’m keeping her off the concrete patio and spreading lots of clean straw in the run. A week later it looks about the same but today I noticed she was limping a little bit and sitting more, and it might be a little more swollen, but not sure. How worried should I be? Anything else I should be doing?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes that’s bumble. You’ll need to keep soaking till you can peel off the scab once the scab is off you should be able to pick out the infection,pus in ducks is thick not runny, once you get the infection out you’ll need to pack some kind of antibiotic ointment and wrap to make sure it stays clean till healed. Bumble is staff infection it has to be treated or it can spread into the joint, bone an blood eventually. If you can take her to a vet they can treat it.

 

[slordaz]

yep classic bumble foot, soak in warm Epsom salt water minimum of 10-15 minutes longer if tolerated, it may take more than one soak to loosen it enough to get scab off so you can get the infection out, then would use Neosporin or a triple antibiotic cream that doesn't have pain killer in it after it's cleaned out on it and bandage, I personally would keep him/her penned up for easier monitoring and cleaning the Epsom salt soaks would probably be beneficial with 2 times daily changing of the bandage.

 

[Urban Waddler]

Yes that’s bumble. You’ll need to keep soaking till you can peel off the scab once the scab is off you should be able to pick out the infection,pus in ducks is thick not runny, once you get the infection out you’ll need to pack some kind of antibiotic ointment and wrap to make sure it stays clean till healed. Bumble is staff infection it has to be treated or it can spread into the joint, bone an blood eventually. If you can take her to a vet they can treat it.

when my Pekin was on my concrete patio about a week ago I noticed a little blood from this wound on her foot. I started soaking in Epsom salts for 5 minutes twice a day and either putting antibiotic cream or spray on it, however I havens been able to bandage it. I’m keeping her off the concrete patio and spreading lots of clean straw in the run. A week later it looks about the same but today I noticed she was limping a little bit and sitting more, and it might be a little more swollen, but not sure. How worried should I be? Anything else I should be doing?View attachment 1905241

when my Pekin was on my concrete patio about a week ago I noticed a little blood from this wound on her foot. I started soaking in Epsom salts for 5 minutes twice a day and either putting antibiotic cream or spray on it, however I havens been able to bandage it. I’m keeping her off the concrete patio and spreading lots of clean straw in the run. A week later it looks about the same but today I noticed she was limping a little bit and sitting more, and it might be a little more swollen, but not sure. How worried should I be? Anything else I should be doing?View attachment 1905241

I have just had my duck in for a slightly worse case on both feet. She had me soaking twice a day for a week in epsom, and applying an antibiotic cream on it. She checked it again today and said that the fact that she was not limping and it has not worsen is good. She is on a course of oral antibiotics now for something different, which may improve it as well. She said maintaining is better than picking at it and removing infection. I argued that everyone else does that, and she said it was too risky for her to recommend me treat at home by removing and bandaging. So, for now, we are watching and waiting. Worse case, we give her a sedative and surgically remove, but she says that’s a last resort. I honestly am conflicted. But I’ll let ya know if we see progress with oral antibiotics, as many say they don’t see any progress that way, though some do. ‍

 

[CoriM]

How do I get the infection out? How will I even recognize it? How do I prevent this in the future! I thought I was taking such good care of my ducks.

 

[slordaz]

How do I get the infection out? How will I even recognize it? How do I prevent this in the future! I thought I was taking such good care of my ducks.

infections are more of a hard ball under that scab you can usually get out with a pair of sterilized tweezers, that's is why you pack it with antibiotic then sterilize the tweezers after use. It's a common occurrence can happen to the most watchful of keepers, a sliver, thorn, small cut gets infected.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have used sterile tweezers to pick it out. The infection will be yellowish. Rough ground, sharp rocks can lead to bumble. I have both living in the mountains.

 

[Urban Waddler]

How do I get the infection out? How will I even recognize it? How do I prevent this in the future! I thought I was taking such good care of my ducks.

My vet told me that it’s nothing that we are doing, and there is no real way to prevent this, aside from keeping her off hard surfaces for prolonged amounts of time or abrasive surfaces like gravel and cleaning out anything sharp around the yard. Staff exists everywhere, sometimes even on our skin, and the occasional irritation or scrape on their feet is virtually impossible to avoid. Some ducks are more prone than others, and all kinds of things we don’t know. So, take it easy on yourself. I treat my ducks like royalty and my baby has bumblefoot. It sucks, but my vet said that as long as we monitor and stay on top of it, it should be ok.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’m very protective too and I’ve had bumble in a few of my ducks and chickens. You try hard that it doesn’t happen but probably as long as we have poultry it’s something we’re going to have to deal with.

 

[CoriM]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I will start with longer soaks tomorrow to see if the scab gets loosened. I’m wondering if I should bring her in the house. I could put her back in the swimming pool I used as a brooder and keep her on towels. Just unsure if she or the other ducks will be too upset by the separation. Also, does anyone have a great bandage technique to recommend? I tried once with vet wrap and gauze but it didn’t work. I was wondering whether a baby sock could work.