Lasting effects of bumblefoot- how to manage

[Amphitecna]

Hi all

Eight months ago, I got a chicken from a local breeder. She was already egg-laying age, and had horrible bumblefoot on both feet. We got it taken care of, but I don't know how long she had suffered beforehand. She has always, and still does goose-step, but her gait seems to be getting stiffer and she is now is spending more and more time laying down. She does seem to be molting (maybe this is a factor?).

Her overall behavior hasn't changed much, shes still the low hen among the adults, defends her food from the teenagers, but has never joined the flock for worms or other snacks- we have to take them to her personally. She is and always has been anxious and scared of us (the intense routine of meds and footbaths this spring didn't help with that). The skin on her feet looks normal, and there is no evidence of mites.

I'm worried after her, and do have a vet I can take her to if necessary. But I'm wondering from you collective experience what might work to help make her more comfortable.

Some things I'm planning to do (please tell me if these are good or bad ideas):

- Change the litter in the hen house and run to something soft (hemp shavings? Pine shavings?).

- my husband did a recent hen house remodel- there's no room for a ladder so she is obligated to jump up and down to access perches and nesting boxes. - if I move a nest box to the ground is that going to cause problems with rats? She may not use it, but it would be an option at least, and alleviate competition.

- anti-inflamitory snacks? She's so scared of me and stressed, that I'd rather not do foot soaks. But I will if that's the best option.

what else can i do??

attached are photos of the bumblefoot from feb/march and the best photo showing get of her gait. I'll try to get a video uploaded to YouTube if that would be helpful.

The photos are in reverse order, the first is one foot after 3 weeks of antibiotics and footbaths, the first two are the situation on each foot when we got her. The last photo shows her stepping. This is before treatment, but hasn't changed, and you can see how stiffly she holds her feet.

Thanks in advance for your sage advice!!

 

[alinas2010]

This poor baby. I’m sorry she is going through this. I know how hard it can be to integrate, was she adopted by herself by chance? That makes things tough, but coupled with her condition, I imagine things were even tougher.

Do you have updated pictures of her feet? Did the infection completely clear? She could still be walking like that because her feet hurt. Molting can be very uncomfortable for them and cause them to feel sorry for themselves and isolate somewhat, too.

I like hemp bedding because it is soft and less dusty than pine bedding. We initially did use pine bedding, but it is VERY dusty. It would be fine to give her a low nesting box to sleep in, or even a low roost to sleep on. If you keep your feed up at night and pick up your eggs every day, I wouldn’t worry about rats.

As for her flighty behavior, does she get kept from food and water by the others? You may want to sit and watch and be sure she isn’t being picked on mercilessly. Of course she may just be an anxious hen by personality. I have one who will not come near if something is out of order - a new garbage can, a rake, the sprinkler is on. She’ll stand back and holler even when the others come around me and I tempt her with treats. It’s a hard no. She’s just anxious.

Spend some time next to her alone, just you and her in the run or the coop while the others are out free ranging. Try offering her snacks during this time. Or leave the others in the run, take her to the yard alone, lift some rocks for her to get some worms. Try getting her confidence built up. She will need to have confidence in her space to be comfortable enough to not be anxious. It takes a lot of time and patience, especially after her ordeal, but I think you can win her over.

 

[Amphitecna]

Thanks for your response. We did get her, and integrate her with another chicken. I think shes either anxious by nature, or as a result of the conditions (that i was not permitted to observe) at the breeders. She does get a lot of respectful love from the human members of her flock, and has never been chased or harassed, at least that i have observed, by the alpha (who is horrible to the other hen we got at the same time).

She does willingly sit next to the #2 and i think i even saw them preening each other- hard to tell with the leaf cover though.

Im relieved that you agree with the modifications, makes me feel like im on the right track. Ill try to get some photos of her feet- I'm not excited to handle her because of the molting and her anxiety levels. But health is primordial.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Have you seen her grasp a roost/perch or any other object with her foot? If the tendons were affected by the infection, that could also cause the stiff walk. Does she roost at night with the others or just sit on the ground? I have one bird with a stiff foot due to a different kind of injury; she can still jump well but needs something flat to land on. She has been ok with pine bedding but will not use a narrow roost bar. A nest box on the ground is no problem if checked daily and kept clean - that’s where all of mine are for one flock for other reasons. Yours may start sleeping in the box though because it’s a cozy flat surface (my stiff foot hen is prone to sleeping in nests).

 

[Amphitecna]

She does sleep up with the other hens. I think she is still perching, but she chooses unorthodox spaces, so I will need to check tonight to be sure. She does not seem to be using the nesting boxes I put on the ground for her, but again, I'll see that tonight. She is currently not laying. We did manage to get a ladder in there, so hopefully that is good for everyone else too.

 

[Amphitecna]

Hello all, it has taken me a few days to get these posted. But here are the current photos of her feet, and legs. I don't see anything of concern, but I don't have a very experienced eye, either.

She does perch, every night. Sometimes on edges that are narrower than the bar she stands on in the photo. In the morning she's stiff and limps a little. Just like me. I have videos of that and her walk that I will try to get on youtube tomorrow.

I wonder how much a vet could realistically do, other than order xrays and sonograms. Knowing is great, but not if it stresses her out without being able to actually heal her.

 

[alinas2010]

Wow her feet do look great, that’s such an improvement. Great job healing her. I really think you are doing a good job making modifications for her, too. She really could just be stuff because of the injuries and what she had been through previous, it’s hard to say since we don’t see anything obvious.

Do you know how old she is? It could be that she has arthritis. Her toes do seem a little oddly articulated, but it could just be the angle she is holding them at in the pics. Even the tendon injury someone else mentioned above seems possible. A lot of the time a vet could prescribe pain meds but idk if they could be taken long term, so to me unless the pain or odd stepping seems to get a lot worse I don’t think I’d spend the money for a vet visit.

Chickens can get gout, also. Although I would expect to see swelling. You could offer her a bit of tart cherry juice and see if that helps. I think there are also tart cherry capsules that they make you could try.

It’s just tough to say what other injuries she might have had before you since her feet were in such rough shape. But perhaps there are joint supplements or support you could try for her. I’d have to do some looking around, but let’s see if we can find something.

 

[Amphitecna]

Thanks- she did most of the work though. I am super lucky that there are vets here who see chickens, and that with the french economy and health care system, the prices are very reasonable. Her stress/anxiety is whats stopping me.

But I know bumblefoot, if left untreated can be very bad. So am wondering about the long term affects and what I can do to manage them. I'll look into supplements. I have a good resource of herbs (france is also into herbal medicine!), i just have to sort out dosing. My girl is a little thing, I'll have to weigh her, but shes maybe 2kg,

I don't know much about her life before we got her and the other. It was in Feb/march and they were both laying (although she either hid her eggs, or wasn't). They both were raised in different barns and absolutely filthy. Their tail feathers were cut back. I'm guessing because they were full of filth. Winters are wet and muddy here so I assumed it was just that. But they smelled so bad I damned the torpedos and gave them both baths a week after their arrival. Thats when I saw her feet. I thought it was caked mud/grodiness, but when it didnt come off.....

The other chicken also had a much less dire case of bumblefoot. So I think things were not good at this breeder. And it's impossible to say what other injuries and bullying happened to her. I won't be getting more chickens from this place.

Does anyone know a good resource for herbal remedies, with dosage, for chickens? Do we just assume their bodies react the same way a human body does?

 

[Appielover]

Whenever my chooks get injuries (cuts, sprains, etc) I use plantain balm on them. I have also used comfrey balm to heal a broken rooster leg. For a general tonic/de wormer, I like apple cider vinegar and garlic.

 

[alinas2010]

Are her foot pads soft or are there any areas of hardness? Hardness can indicate pus as chicken pus is solid, like cheese. Wed want soft squishy foot pads, ideally. If there were any hard areas, I would think there might have been infection left, but given how healthy and not swollen everything looks I think she is clear.

How fortunate you have affordable veterinary care there! I agree on this stress part, though, may not be worth it. Very kind of you to do the right things for these poor birds. Sad to hear about the terrible conditions they came from, but you have given them a great chance at life.


I don’t know if this is super helpful, or if you’re looking for use of less common herbal remedies but I trust the poultry dmv website for dosing and they have some herbal remedies there:

https://poultrydvm.com/herbs.php

Looks like there is an anti-inflammatory category. That could really help her.