Is this early BUMBLEFOOT? (pics) If so... how to treat at this stage?

[fasbendera]

My oldest hens just turned three and they younger from there making up a flock of twelve adults and I have 12 hen chicks that are four weeks old. I have not noticed any swelling, limping or anything so I was wondering if I need to keep an eye on them and how do they get bumblefoot?

 

[acorniv]

I've been around the block with very severe bumblefoot (rooster rescue). That looks like it to me. I'd keep a close watch and see if it improves. Keep conditions super clean, of course, and a close eye on your others.

If you end up having to clean the thing out, pack it with sugardine - a mix of white sugar and betadine (go for a peanut butter consistency) and wrap it up for four days, then unwrap and have a look.

When I was in this quandary I googled everything I could on bumblefoot, trying to find the perfect anti bacterial/anti staph medicine. I found a site with a report from a study on using sugardine on horses with laminitis. It had photos that were amazing, and it said that they did the study comparing various concoctions, and this combo healed something like 1/3 faster than any of the others, including honey, which I've already seen work wonders on scars. That gave me the confidence to try it.

Our rooster had one hole that was about 3/4 - 1" deep and 3/4" across. Four days later there was no hole at all - just healthy pink tissue. I never saw results like that before, not even when I used to take my MIL to a wound care center where they used state of the art machines and new skin they farmed in a drawer. Plus, it is cheap!

Laurel

 

[jeanniejayne]

I had to smile at that last post. I am a wound specialist and once managed one of those state of the art wound centers, and we used sugardine a couple times, at the behest of my favorite podiatrist, who loved it. Problem is, in an outpatient setting with humans you really need to stick with what's FDA approved, or chance having to face the jury.

It works on the principle of osmotics -- a higher concentration pulls fluid from a lower concentration of "stuff", -- plus the betadine has an antimicrobial effect. Might be as good as anything else these days of multidrug resistant bugs.

My husband just brought one of our 7 month old Welsummer hens in, and I saw these on both feet -- early stage. Brown instead of black scabs, and small swellings, no apparent pain or change in gait. I looked at two of three other of my five and one had it.

They range in my grass yard all day, and I have been using a modified deep litter method in which I clean up the big piles around the roosts, clean off the roosts every day, and clean out the entire coop every two months. It does not smell and the air flow is very good (fan in window).

Even though I am skilled at sharp debridement, I am aghast at the thought I might have to fight this multiple times. And in one month, I am scheduled to go on a week-long cruise, for which I am engaging a pet sitter. I had enough trouble finding one who could do insulin injections for my cat!!!

 

[lesterlu]

acorniv, is that powdered, superfine or regular sugar? and did you use the betadine straight? did it make the roo squirm? (i ask to be certain, since someone said previously on this link that full strength betadine makes them uncomfortable).

can i use this on any wound?

thanks.

 

[jeanniejayne]

Sorry for the lateness of this post. We used regular sugar and full-stregnth betadine. Make a dryish paste and cover with a small peice of gauze or cotton batting to keep in it, and wrap gently without stretching with 1/2 inchd strips of Vetwrap cut about 4 inches long, through the toes and around and press gently so iut adheres to itself. It stays on amazingly well. If yu keep them in and it stays dry, I would change every other day.

Myself, I use Iodosorb,a slow-release iodine paste from Healthpoint that I used a lot on diabetic wounds in the wound center. It releases small amounts of iodine at non-cytotoxic levels. That is, as levels low wnough not to inhibit growth of new tissue. My one hen got a scab and slight swelling, and had been holding her leg up, but when I used a scalpel to remove the scab I foound no core. Warm soaks and redressed, and the swelling is down and she is healing up. I just hope this is not going to come back. I did find a nail sticking up just a bit on their roost and whacked that down flush. Maybe that was the problem.

 

[Nebbo]

I have a blue orpy roo with a swollen pad (no scab) and a wyandotte hen with a swollen pad and small, dark scab. I'm guessing I should soak her foot and remove the scab, then pack and wrap the wound. What about the boy? Will soaking in epsom help even if there is no lesion?

Thanks!

Neb
Kingston, WA

No paralysis, no other symptoms, just limping (her) and limping and sitting a lot (him).

 

[jeanniejayne]

I am the one who replied ealier who had the wound center. Anywho, after trying sugardine, banana peel, aver bacon, and sharp debridement -- I never found a "core". I had to finally admit that these were just superfical caloused areas which, being on hens who scratched in dirt, had become dark-colored. There was no swelling, and no pain that I could we i.e. no limping. I decided to ignore it, and though they still have the caloused areas, they are stable and are not causing any problems. I have a theory it may be from dropping from the roost to the cement floor of the coop. I keep the litter deep, but they scrape it away from the area under the hanging feeder, and that' right where they hop down to multiple times an evening.

I strongly recommend a "wait and see" attitude, looking for pain, limping, swelling. If you see none of those symptoms after a couple of weeks of observation, I'd stop worrying. Keep an eye open, but stop worrying.

 

[ruffles]

Oh, boy, exactly what my chicken has, I noticed a cyst between her toes, today, I looked at the bottom of her foot, and itlooks like bumble foot

I began her on amoxicillin a few days a go, soaking the foot, but, tonite tonite I am soaking her foot in anti bacterial dish liquid DAWN

I will spray it with a lidocaine spray

What else should I do????




Sandi

 

[ruffles]

is this caused by an injury or is it bacterial, spread from chicken to chicken

My chickens are fenced in, not free range, they have dirt, and straw covering the ground

Their house is cleaned every day, as well as the outside, straw is cleaned every day

Is it an injury??

Sandi

 

[swearnsue]

My RIR, Angelina, has a bump on the top of her foot between her toes. She isn't limping but I want to take care of it so it doesn't get worse. I live in the southwest desert and with temps in the 100's I've been giving the girls a pan with cool water to stand in. I put ice in it too when the temps get over about 105. By the end of the day the water smells pretty awful because of course they poop in their little pool. I'm thinking that if bumblefoot is an infection then this poopy water would be very bad for them. Not sure what to do because the heat would kill them. Also, I can't imagine Angelina letting me pick her up so I can see the bottom of her foot! I need some Hen Xanax I think!