Peahen is lame - reading up on bumblefoot - what do you think?

[fourgrotes]

My 4 year old peahen is lame. Her left foot is slightly swollen at the toes and she doesn't want to put full weight on it and is limping around. My peafowl free range and return to the barn to roost at night or in bad weather. I am feeling slightly guilty as I haven't kept the droppings swept up under the main rafter that they roost on for the past month or so. They do walk across the "poop line" as they wander thru the barn. They drink water from our pony's water bucket and from puddles when it rains. Eat a gamebird pelleted feed, lots of bugs, and any dry catfood I put out on my patio when I feed the cat. In fact, twice a day they wait at the sliding glass door for the catfood to hit the pan and chase the cat off. Do you have any ideas of what problem appears overnight and causes lameness with slightly swollen toes? How to treat it? Catching her will be tough. If I'm successful in catching her I can put her in a stall to treat but she's not really hand tame. Only lets me handle her when sitting on a nest.

 

[fourgrotes]

Also forgot to mention that yesterday I noticed that there are watery droppings on the patio from one peafowl. I think it's just one as there are just 2 splotches. Occasionally I've noticed a more watery dropping under the roost from one of the peafowl but it usually resolves itself after a couple days.

 

[chickenzoo]

You might have to grab her and check her for bumble foot, which is caused by a skin puncture and then a staff infection sets in. It is often noticed by a darkened scab on the bottom of the foot or between the toes etc.. It gets a hardened puss core that resembles a corn kernel, that needs to be removed, packed with neosporine and wrapped with Vet wrap if possible.

 

[fourgrotes]

Okay, so tomorrow (since it's dark) I'll somehow round her up and check it out. If it's a darkened scab do I just scrape it open, flush, pull, or scrape the stuff inside till it's clean, pack it with neosporin and vetwrap it? I can do that!

 

[chickenzoo]

try doing a search on here under bumble foot surgery, it should come up with some pics from other members, to give you an idea.

 

[fourgrotes]

Wow - there's a lot to read about bumblefoot but I waded thru it. Today the peas spent more time in the rafters and over at the neighbor's so I couldn't catch her and tonight as she's on the back patio there's no swelling and she's just barely gimpy - a huge improvement from yesterday. Guess I'll just watch her and see what happens. Thank you for the advice. I'm glad I found this website.

 

[chickenzoo]

LOL, that is why I told you to do a search, there was no way I could explain all that, hehe. Glad she is doing better. Welcome aboard.....