My first hen w/ bumble foot

[Mahonri]

WHY?

Wish I knew why she got it in the first place... and of course she has stopped laying... and looks like she has lost a little weight, and her nails are getting long... she doesn't scratch and she has it on BOTH feet.

It's my White Rock...are some breeds more prone?

I washed both feet up real well, removed the scabs on the bottom of her feet. I put just a tiny bit of neosporin over the wound, then I mixed up my sugar and iodine, dabbed it all over a 2X2 piece of gauze and taped it up.

She was trying to pick it off, but she is asleep on her roost now.

Tomorrow we are going to let her free range away from the other birds outside of the run. That way the other birds won't pic at her feet. She actually stopped limping with the feet taped up.

Did I do OK?

We'll keep changing the dressing every day for the next week. Is that long enough?

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Now what I am about to tell to you is not a recommendation that you should try this. I am just relaying to you our experience. It worked very well for us.

We were lucky enough from time to time to work with birds of prey. I don’t know of any other animal that with the briefest of struggles will stop, sit on your arm, and then stare you straight in the eye after just being trapped, caught and restrained. (Do not try this with eagles yet.) There you are with this most regal looking of animals just sitting on your arm assessing YOU. And, by god you had better be worthy of that scrutiny.

One time we took in a Prairie Falcon with a very bad case of bumble foot. A Prairie Falcon is a first cousin to a Peregrine Falcon. This animal had been fed only baloney and it had been kept in very poor living conditions.

We took the bird to a veterinarian. The Vet proceeded to lance the infected area on the bottom of the bird’s foot. As we watched the Vet squeezed the pus out of the wound. He took a tube of Panalog, which is an antibiotic and I think they still use it today. He inserted the tip of the tube directly into the cut and squeezed the medication in to the wound.

We took the bird home with directions to keep the wound clean, with no bandages. We were to cleaning the area twice a day. This meant gently expressing the pus out of the wound, cleaning it with a mild soap and water. Then we were to put the Panlog directly into the wound. We were to keep the bird on a clean, soft perch until the wound was totally healed.

As it turned out this was a lot easier than it sounds. When we had the bird at the Vet’s office, we had to restrain him with a towel. However, when he was home with us, he was very good and would just sit quietly on my husband’s arm while I administer to his foot.

I actually do believe that animals know when you are trying to help them. That does not mean that you can just go running up to any injured animal without taking some precautions.

However, I am a firm believer that when you do try to handle an animal, that your heart better be in the right place. Because they know.

I hope this helps.

 

[ruth]

I have treated three different bumble feet. I soak the foot in warm Epsom salt water. Peel off scab and lance bottom pad where scab was. Keep soaking and squeezing pad and digging around in there if you have to till you get the plug out. One chicken had three plugs in it's foot - two in bottom and one I had to lance the top, between the toes, to get out. It takes a series of soaking and trying till you finally get it. Each time I'm fooling with the lanced area I wash it with a Betadine wash. After getting plug out, fill hole with Neosporin, put a piece of guaze folded up on bottom of pad, use vetwrap to wrap foot and ankle. Give 1/2-1 cc of penicillin for three days. The next day, resoak and check wound. In all my cases, the wound had begun healing and was closed up but I still washed in betadine, applied neosporin and rewrapped. I kept the bird isolated and in a clean cage. By third day, removed bandage and let bird go free. Never had a recurrence or problem after treatment.

Good luck. You'll swear there's no plug in there but it's there and it's deep and it's really hard to get out. You may also find some cheesy looking pus.

 

[Mahonri]

Thanks for the encouragement.

We'll see how she does tomorrow.

 

[MissPrissy]

Bumble foot is a staph infection. Make sure you are wearing gloves and are practicing super clean biosecurity and containment. You can spread it. Wash, wash, wash your hands and incinerate the materials you are working with if possible.