My chicken has sores on the bottom of her feet!!!

[upitty]

A couple of months ago, I picked up my hen (Wyandotte) just to give her a general check-over for injury or infestation when I came across a deep, round scab on the pad of her foot. I looked it up and found a web-page about bumblefoot but after peeling of the scab I couldn't find anything lodged into her foot. After I removed the scab, I soaked her foot for about ten minutes everyday in methylated spirits to avoid infection and wrapped a bandage around her foot. It's has been another two-months since then and the wound still hasn't healed up. She's otherwise in perfect health and laying on average one-egg per day. I've covered up some sharp, rocky edges that she walks on frequently with potato bags. Could it be because we've recently had wet weather? The weather has only recently dried up and I'm hoping that should help it heal. If anyone has any clues as to what it might be please let me know!!!

 

[teach1rusl]

Pretty bird! So the place that you pulled the scab from is still open??? Is it bleeding, or just raw looking? Or are you saying the scab thing came back???

If it's raw looking, I'm not sure why it hasn't healed over yet - that does seem odd. If you have access to amoxicillin, you can give her that. You can get it from pet/animals on-line sites. I break open the capsules and sprinkle it on a treat of yogurt or something. That might help w/healing. If the wound is still open, I'd try to keep it bandaged until it's healed, because all kinds of nasty stuff could come in contact with it...

 

[welasharon]

A picture would help more. Was the scab black and round? If it is bumble foot you have to dig the infection out or it won't heal. It isn't liquid like puss. It coagulates into firm stuff.

 

[upitty]

I removed the scab and kept it bandaged as well as soaked in Metho but the scab grew over again after a week. I don't have the bandage on anymore but I'm considering taking your advice and wrapping another one around the wound. Right now, it's just a round scab with deep cracks in it. I'll attach a photo tomorrow because the chooks are in bed. I'm thinking of lifting up the scab and having another poke around just to make sure there's nothing in there but until then, I just hope it will heal-over with the dry weather. Thanks for the comments!

 

[upitty]

Here are a few photos of the chickens foot. I had a look at the other and there seems to be a small scab on that one too but nothing major. There are some photos of a rocky ledge which she jumps up and off regularly and I think that might also be a problem in the healing process. I'm thinking of keeping a bandage on for her for about two weeks and after that if it's still not healed up I'll look for something lodged in her foot. I also managed to get another great photo of her head. Notice how now she's laying she has a bright red comb and wattles.

 

[teach1rusl]

You know, other than keeping them on cotton (LOL), I just don't think you can do a lot to prevent bumblefoot - I think some are just more prone to it than others. And it has "healed." It just hasn't healed clean - there's still bumblefoot there - the scab indicates that. When it heals clean, the regrowth is nice and clean looking. If she's not limping or favoring a foot, you could just leave it. Or you can take the scab off again and go digging. As was mentioned, it's not going to be liquid pus, it's going to be cheesy material you'll have to dig out, bandage to keep clean, etc. You might give antibiotics a shot for a less physically invasive attempt at healing... Such a pretty bird!

 

[upitty]

Thank you so much for the hints. Right now she has a band-aid as well as a bandage wrapped around her foot. Fingers crossed that no serious infection kicks in

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