Preparing to do bumble-foot surgery...

[maizy'smom]

My Violet has been favoring one foot for about 3 days now. I managed to grab her this morning (she's not very accommodating when it comes to being held) before she got out to free range, so I could get a good look at her foot...only to discover that she actually has 2 bumble-feet. I've been reading, in the learning center part of this forum, about doing bumble-foot surgery, and I'm coming up with a few questions that I'd like to get answers to before I begin.

1. Do I need to keep her separated from the other (three) girls once the procedure is done? Do I need to help her to keep her bandages clean by keeping her in? Will the others pick on her if I keep them together?

2. Is bumble-foot contagious to the other girls? If Violet has it now, will she be prone to getting it again, or will she be immune?

3. How many times, if I do it every 3-4 days, should I change the bandages?

4. (I should have asked this one first....) Is it okay to do both feet at the same time?


I am always appreciative of the great advice and wisdom I get from all you BYC experts. Violet and I thank you in advance.


mm

 

[sharol]

I would do both feet at the same time since it is a time consuming project. If you soak them good before you start, the scab/callus may come off easier. When I treated my EE hen last fall, We (my daughter and I) did the surgery on both feet, packed the holes with antibiotic ointment, and wrapped them with vet wrap (I got dark green since that was the color of her legs). I did it at bedtime (took her off the roost) and then returned her to the roost after the procedure.

I soaked her feet morning and evening in Tricide-Neo (that is on another thread) and only wrapped them (after the first night) in the mornings. I made sure the roost was good and clean in the evening when I put her back up there. We soaked for about 10 days (a.m. and p.m.) Lily is a favorite of mine, so it wasn't too difficult to catch her. I would sure soak her with epsom salts morning and evening for a few days to keep it draining. My girls didn't pick on her at all and didn't even seem to notice the bandages.

She still has the spots on her feet. We never did get any sort of core out of the foot, but a year later, she is still healthy and laying, and the swelling hasn't come back.

The surgery isn't for the faint of heart. Get someone to help you hold her. We found that the blade on a box-knife was the sharpest and easiest to use on the scab.

AS I understand it, Bumblefoot is a staph infection from a puncture wound that didn't heal properly, so it is everywhere. It isn't contageous, but the bacteria are out there.

The other thing we did was spray her feet with Vetercyn spray (not the gel) every night after the first 10 days for a couple of weeks. I was gone and my DH wasn't even a little interested in soaking chicken feet (go figure that one).

good luck with your hen. Let us know how it goes.

My Violet has been favoring one foot for about 3 days now. I managed to grab her this morning (she's not very accommodating when it comes to being held) before she got out to free range, so I could get a good look at her foot...only to discover that she actually has 2 bumble-feet. I've been reading, in the learning center part of this forum, about doing bumble-foot surgery, and I'm coming up with a few questions that I'd like to get answers to before I begin.

1. Do I need to keep her separated from the other (three) girls once the procedure is done? Do I need to help her to keep her bandages clean by keeping her in? Will the others pick on her if I keep them together?

2. Is bumble-foot contagious to the other girls? If Violet has it now, will she be prone to getting it again, or will she be immune?

3. How many times, if I do it every 3-4 days, should I change the bandages?

4. (I should have asked this one first....) Is it okay to do both feet at the same time?


I am always appreciative of the great advice and wisdom I get from all you BYC experts. Violet and I thank you in advance.


mm

 

[maizy'smom]

Sharol,
Thanks so much for sharing your experience so generously. I've really grown to rely on the collective brilliance of this "chicken think- tank." Your advice is exactly what I was looking for. I've got all my supplies gathered and am planning on doing the job at the crack of dawn tomorrow. It's the only time I can count on getting my hands on her. She is new to my little flock, since early May, and I didn't raise her from a chick like I did the others. Maybe this procedure will actually give us an opportunity to bond a little better. Thanks again! Wish me luck!

mm

 

[maizy'smom]

Hi Sharol,
So, we did it, my DD and I, this morning around 6:30. I think our experience went more like yours than the one on the learning center page, in that we did not get the whole core out. It turns out that Violet's left foot had a big ol' "scab" to it and we were able to excise a good portion of it. (left quite a crater.) But the right foot was just a very small dot of a scab, hardly the size of a pin-head, and it was much more sensitive to her. I couldn't get at much of the core at all. So, in the end, she was well soaked, cleaned, massaged, and then packed with Neosporin and wrapped in "people-vet-wrap." DD needed to hand off her bird-holding duties for a few minutes so she didn't faint, and toward the end, I had to go lay on the couch for a few to stop the world from spinning. (Note to self: next time eat a full breakfast first.) When we had finished packing and wrapping, we took her back to the coop and she opted to hop up on the roost for a while. After we returned from the 10:00 parade, we found her in the shade, behind the coop, and she had layed an egg upstairs before went outside. She did have a few choice words for me, kind of a chirring sound, and she stood up and took a few steps towards me. (Still favoring the right foot, the one with the smaller scab.) I think we'll be doing the repeated soak-and-re-wrap routine for a while, too. Thanks again for your wisdom. It was pretty much spot on and accurate in hands-on practical terms. Violet thanks you too, or at least she will.

mm

 

[sharol]

Give her a little scritch for me. I about passed out too, but my (wildlife biologist) daughter held Lily while I got my feet under me again. I think it was the idea of cutting into a living creature that did me in.

I hope you don't have to do the surgery again on her. I've about decided that bumblefoot is lots more prevalent than some of the posts indicate. One person posted that he/she had a friend who had ordered organic chicken feet for an oriental dish and was disappointed when all of them had the bumblefoot scabs on them. I don't suppose people with a couple of hundred chickens are seeing all the affected chickens. I have several girls with little scabs and I'm going to try the tricide-neo soak for a couple of weeks on them once the weather gets less stressful for them.

OH yes, a little treat of bread chunks or chopped tomatoes kept my girl occupied while we were soaking.

Sharol

Hi Sharol,
So, we did it, my DD and I, this morning around 6:30. I think our experience went more like yours than the one on the learning center page, in that we did not get the whole core out. It turns out that Violet's left foot had a big ol' "scab" to it and we were able to excise a good portion of it. (left quite a crater.) But the right foot was just a very small dot of a scab, hardly the size of a pin-head, and it was much more sensitive to her. I couldn't get at much of the core at all. So, in the end, she was well soaked, cleaned, massaged, and then packed with Neosporin and wrapped in "people-vet-wrap." DD needed to hand off her bird-holding duties for a few minutes so she didn't faint, and toward the end, I had to go lay on the couch for a few to stop the world from spinning. (Note to self: next time eat a full breakfast first.) When we had finished packing and wrapping, we took her back to the coop and she opted to hop up on the roost for a while. After we returned from the 10:00 parade, we found her in the shade, behind the coop, and she had layed an egg upstairs before went outside. She did have a few choice words for me, kind of a chirring sound, and she stood up and took a few steps towards me. (Still favoring the right foot, the one with the smaller scab.) I think we'll be doing the repeated soak-and-re-wrap routine for a while, too. Thanks again for your wisdom. It was pretty much spot on and accurate in hands-on practical terms. Violet thanks you too, or at least she will.

mm