Is this bumblefoot?

[Tatertot11]

Taters is about 7 years old now. She’s walking fine, but running is weird. Noticed her feet also look a bit red on the top. What do I do?

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

This isn't bumblefoot, which is an infection of the foot pad, you would see a scab on the bottom of the foot on the pad.

This looks like a couple of things. It looks like she has some "leg scale mites" invisible little mites that crawl up under the leg scales and eat them, the scales raise up because the surrounding skin is irritated. If left un treated, birds can get bone infections as the mites burrow into the leg bones.

It also appears she may have early gout.

To treat the mites: I usually start with a warm foot soak and with a tooth brush, I gently scrub the scales just to clean them off. Be gentle and don't break them off. Thorough dry off the feet and apply Vaseline to the scales, gently rubbing so it gets under the scales. You can wipe off the excess Vaseline. Do this every other day for a month, it will smoother the mites.

As for the gout, avoid high protein foods like meal worms, meats and such foods. Try and use the lowest protein chicken feed.

This should help, keep us posted on her especially if you don't see any improvement.

 

[Lillith37]

Wait for a second opinion on this — but her nails look a little long, maybe you could trim them?

 

[WingsysRoost]

Wait for a second opinion on this — but her nails look a little long, maybe you could trim them?

I was just about to suggest this as well. If they are a bit too long for her, she might be having some discomfort when she runs.

I also notice that she has pockets underneath her toes. They look fairly clean to me, from what I can see in the picture, but it might be worth taking a closer look to make sure there isn't any debris stuck in there. I have one hen who gets dirt packed into her toe pocket and it makes her foot red and irritated on the top. I have to clean it out every few days to stop that from happening.

I have seen bumblefoot appear on the top of the foot. Usually, though, I would expect to see some sort of abrasion or scab on the bottom of the toe that I would find with closer inspection. I'm not seeing that here, though it's hard to tell with the dirt on her foot in the first picture. It would definitely be worth keeping a close eye on it, to make sure something isn't developing, especially if her gait is changing. Gait changes can be both an indicator of trouble and a cause of trouble.

Best of luck!