Questioning Bumblefoot??? Please help!

[The Wild Hen]

Hi there. I noticed this morning one of my gals limping a bit. She’s eating and seems fine otherwise. Noticed the foot to be swollen and a spot there. Is this Bumblefoot and if yes how can I help her? First time with Bumblefoot and we have no vet available. TIA see attached photos

 

[Aunt Angus]

Yes, that looks like bumblefoot. You will probavly have to cut out the bumble. I'm sorry. That's no fun. Sometimes, I can just soak off the scab and treat with antibiotics, but your girl's infection looks pretty deep (you can see swelling on the top of her foot).

Soak her foot for a good long time - like 20 min - to soften everything. You'll need a sharp instrument to cut, like a scalpel or exactly knife. And gloves. You'll also probably need tweezers or something to help you get the bumble out of her foot. Get the scab off. It'll come off easy after the soak. I have been able to just use a washcloth to rub it off or use the tweezers to pick it off. Then you gotta get the "plug" out. That's the infection. It is like a seed. Sometimes you can just squeeze it out. Sometimes you have to cut. Be careful not to cut into the healthy tissue as much as possible. Chicken pus is stringy, not like human pus. You should be able to pull it out between squeezing and using tweezers. When you've gotten out as much as you can, pack it with antibiotic ointment (skip the pain reliever as some are toxic), plain sterile gauze, and wrap it with vet wrap. You will have to check it every few days to reapply ointment, change out the gauze, and check if the infection is really gone. It might take a few weeks. You might even find you'll have to it again.

I suggest looking for videos about bumblefoot extraction to help. That's what I did. It wasn't easy or fun.

I HATE bumblefoot... I have one who needs treatment as well. I check their feet every few days to try and catch it early.

I think I remembered everything. Hopefully, others will chime in.

 

[The Wild Hen]

Yes, that looks like bumblefoot. You will probavly have to cut out the bumble. I'm sorry. That's no fun. Sometimes, I can just soak off the scab and treat with antibiotics, but your girl's infection looks pretty deep (you can see swelling on the top of her foot).

Soak her foot for a good long time - like 20 min - to soften everything. You'll need a sharp instrument to cut, like a scalpel or exactly knife. And gloves. You'll also probably need tweezers or something to help you get the bumble out of her foot. Get the scab off. It'll come off easy after the soak. I have been able to just use a washcloth to rub it off or use the tweezers to pick it off. Then you gotta get the "plug" out. That's the infection. It is like a seed. Sometimes you can just squeeze it out. Sometimes you have to cut. Be careful not to cut into the healthy tissue as much as possible. Chicken pus is stringy, not like human pus. You should be able to pull it out between squeezing and using tweezers. When you've gotten out as much as you can, pack it with antibiotic ointment (skip the pain reliever as some are toxic), plain sterile gauze, and wrap it with vet wrap. You will have to check it every few days to reapply ointment, change out the gauze, and check if the infection is really gone. It might take a few weeks. You might even find you'll have to it again.

I suggest looking for videos about bumblefoot extraction to help. That's what I did. It wasn't easy or fun.

I HATE bumblefoot... I have one who needs treatment as well. I check their feet every few days to try and catch it early.

I think I remembered everything. Hopefully, others will chime in.

Thank you!!

 

[The Wild Hen]

Well I watched a couple of videos and then we soaked her foot 10 min, pulled the scab off with tweezers and nothing was under it. I squeezed a good bit but nothing. So I cut. She hated it. Squeezed more and still nothing. I tried going in with tweezers but I couldn’t find anything. Did I not cut deep enough? I maybe only cut an 1/8 of an inch deep and 3/4 of an inch long but nothing came when squeezed again. Ugh I hated to do it for nothing. But I did get some good antiseptic on/in it and antibiotic cream and it’s wrapped so we’ll see. I’ll check it tomorrow.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Poor birdie! ☹ Good for you for trying. It's scary, and I hate making my chickens feel pain, but sometimes I have to.

Hmmm..... The fact that you can see the swelling from the top of her foot makes me believe it's pretty bad, and it's pretty deep. But maybe soaking will keep the swelling down. I have been able to stop bumbles from forming by soaking, removing scabs, and treating with antibiotic ointment (in other words, without surgery), but before the real swelling set in.

I'd keep soaking with Epsom, removing scabs, and using the ointment/gauze/vet wrap very frequently (like 2x a day) for a few weeks to see if it improves at all. If it gets worse, I would probably try surgery again.