Need advice on bumblefoot

[MigoAvril]

A few days ago, I discovered my favorite chicken, a 5-year-old female buff Orpington, has bumblefoot on both her feet (stage 3 or 4). I don’t think her feet are swollen, but she has 2 dark scabs. I’ve noticed she walks a little weird sometimes and might be sleeping a little more than usual during the day, but other than that, she seems completely healthy.

(I’ve attached some pictures of her feet. The first is of her left foot, and the two others of her right).

The vet we brought her to told us to do these 4 things:

• antibiotics (oral) for 4 days;
• painkillers (oral) 2x a day for at least 7 days;
• bio tex foot baths 2x a day;
• honey-O3 gel on the scabs 2x a day.

Online I saw a lot of articles and videos saying you need to remove the scab, apply something and wrap it, but the vet didn’t really seem to want to do this, and I’m not really sure why. She told us the scab would improve just by doing those 4 things.

Right now, I am following the vet’s advice, but I want to know what I should do in case that doesn’t work, since I’m not sure whether the scab (or chicken) will heal just by doing this, because I’ve never dealt with bumblefoot before. If you know whether it would please tell me.

I would also like extra advice, since I’m not allowed to go back to the vet again, because it costs too much, and we haven’t really had the best outcomes with this vet clinic in the past.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for responding.

 

[Lillith37]

My approach is to do a foot bath with epsom and iodine in the evenings, then treat with either magnoplasm or salycilic wart pads and wrap.

The magnoplasm (some people refer to a similar thing called prid salve on this forum) will draw out infection. You don’t need to remove the scab but you can use a sharp scalpel or xacto blade to score the scab to give the infection a place to exit.

The salicylic wart pads will soften the scab and the surrounding skin and eventually, hopefully, the whole thing will lift out and you can treat the abscess with Vetericyn or sugardine etc.

The honey gel is good for chronic hard to heal wounds and I think is worth a shot before you try anything else. If you’ve got the antibiotics you may as well give them too. Not sure about painkillers, sometimes it’s better not to give them so the animal doesn’t overextend itself but that might be more for muscle injuries, arthritis etc.

I second the vet’s approach of not removing the scab. My principles with bumblefoot is patience, consistency and non-invasive treatments. The frequent baths will help keep the wounds clean. Ty to keep the wounds wrapped with gauze and vetwrap to protect them when she’s out during the day.

Another thing I have seen suggested are the circular corn pressure pads which helps take pressure off the wound to promote healing.

 

[MigoAvril]

My approach is to do a foot bath with epsom and iodine in the evenings, then treat with either magnoplasm or salycilic wart pads and wrap.

The magnoplasm (some people refer to a similar thing called prid salve on this forum) will draw out infection. You don’t need to remove the scab but you can use a sharp scalpel or xacto blade to score the scab to give the infection a place to exit.

The salicylic wart pads will soften the scab and the surrounding skin and eventually, hopefully, the whole thing will lift out and you can treat the abscess with Vetericyn or sugardine etc.

The honey gel is good for chronic hard to heal wounds and I think is worth a shot before you try anything else. If you’ve got the antibiotics you may as well give them too. Not sure about painkillers, sometimes it’s better not to give them so the animal doesn’t overextend itself but that might be more for muscle injuries, arthritis etc.

I second the vet’s approach of not removing the scab. My principles with bumblefoot is patience, consistency and non-invasive treatments. The frequent baths will help keep the wounds clean. Ty to keep the wounds wrapped with gauze and vetwrap to protect them when she’s out during the day.

Another thing I have seen suggested are the circular corn pressure pads which helps take pressure off the wound to promote healing.

How will I know she’s better and the bumblefoot is gone? Will the scab go away?

(Thanks for the advice!)

 

[Lillith37]

So with bumblefoot what happens is the chicken gets a cut on its foot and then bacteria gets in and causes an infection. Not all cuts turn into bumblefoot, but a scab that isn’t healing, swelling, redness, lameness, etc. is indicative that it’s happening.

I believe there are two different kinds of bumblefoot. One is where there is a solid scab with the pus core underneath. The other is where the pus is more like string cheese and doesn’t come out easily/in one go.

In both cases you’ll know when they are healed when any sign of scab or white/yellow pus is gone and there is smooth new skin, just like when we cut ourselves and it heals over.

If you soak the feet and dress the wound and keep this up, the scab should naturally soften and fall off. You’ll be able to see underneath if it is healed, or if there is an abscess (a hole), or if there is still pus/a wound that needs to be re-treated. Sometimes you don’t get rid of bumblefoot in one go. Sometimes it takes months.