Roost setup to keep roost at 18" with poop board

[humblehillsfarm]

Hard to know where the staph resides...I would think more like outside.
Curious how old your 4 BF birds are and if you raised them from chicks.

The very first chicken that had it is a buff Brahma. She was 3 when I first noticed the infection last year. Another Brahma of the same age developed it this year along with a welsummer hen who is 1.5 years. Last is a cockerel who is six months old, but I’m actually not completely sure he had bumble as I’ve caught him twice and not observed swelling or a scab. He’s just limping badly. I raised all but the brahmas from chicks, but had the Brahmas first.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not an expert, never seen bumblefoot as an infection, though I have seen callouses. From what I understand it is an infection. For the bacteria to enter the foot and create an infection there has to be a wound of some kind, a cut or puncture. For you to be getting that much bumblefoot something in their environment has to be cutting or puncturing their feet to create an entry point for the bacteria. I have a lot of trouble envisioning how jumping down onto typical soft bedding could do that, especially the Welsummer which should be a smaller chicken than the Brahma.

I don't know what their environment looks like. Are they scratching in something sharp, like crushed stone that has sharp edges, broken glass, some type of sharp metal? Are they roosting or perching on something that could cause a splinter? I pruned roses yesterday, could they be getting punctures from briars, maybe dead briar limbs. DE works by its razor sharp edges but I'd think it's too small to cause this type of injury but I'm kind of grasping at straws. It may be something like the tip of a screw sticking out where hey can walk or perch on it.

I thought the big risks of big heavy chickens jumping down was more dislocated joints instead of this type of injury. I could see them jumping down as a contributing factor to bumblefoot but not the cause. Something where they land would have to cut or puncture their foot to allow the bacteria in.

I'd expect a wet environment to house more bacteria but I can't see you keeping a constantly wet coop or run. I think I'd concentrate my efforts to try to find what is cutting or puncturing them. Since it could be many different things that may be impossible to determine.

 

[aart]

Was thinking of you when Big Willie jumped down from the ~34" high poop board onto the thinly bedded floor this morning. BAM!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Was thinking of you when Big Willie jumped down from the ~34" high poop board onto the thinly bedded floor this morning. BAM!

Bahaha yeah they land hard and often without grace. I think after talking to you I’m just going with a normal, taller rooster, with two roost bars.

I'm not an expert, never seen bumblefoot as an infection, though I have seen callouses. From what I understand it is an infection. For the bacteria to enter the foot and create an infection there has to be a wound of some kind, a cut or puncture. For you to be getting that much bumblefoot something in their environment has to be cutting or puncturing their feet to create an entry point for the bacteria. I have a lot of trouble envisioning how jumping down onto typical soft bedding could do that, especially the Welsummer which should be a smaller chicken than the Brahma.

I don't know what their environment looks like. Are they scratching in something sharp, like crushed stone that has sharp edges, broken glass, some type of sharp metal? Are they roosting or perching on something that could cause a splinter? I pruned roses yesterday, could they be getting punctures from briars, maybe dead briar limbs. DE works by its razor sharp edges but I'd think it's too small to cause this type of injury but I'm kind of grasping at straws. It may be something like the tip of a screw sticking out where hey can walk or perch on it.

I thought the big risks of big heavy chickens jumping down was more dislocated joints instead of this type of injury. I could see them jumping down as a contributing factor to bumblefoot but not the cause. Something where they land would have to cut or puncture their foot to allow the bacteria in.

I'd expect a wet environment to house more bacteria but I can't see you keeping a constantly wet coop or run. I think I'd concentrate my efforts to try to find what is cutting or puncturing them. Since it could be many different things that may be impossible to determine.

They free range so it could be anything. People envision visible bleeding wounds when referring to cuts and scrapes that can cause Bumblefoot, but you only need a micro scrape, not necessarily visible to the eye, for bacteria to get in. I have personally had a plantar’s wart, which looks and behaves similarly to Bumblefoot (but caused by HPV not staph). It is caught by the same mechanisms. I did not have any known scrapes but had simply shared a shower with a college roommate. The chicken’s feet always moving and active, much more than my feet are!

Essentially I’ve taken every precaution possible in terms of preventable measures for Bumblefoot, but I’m plagued with it anyways. The birds do free range though and I live in 5 acres but am surrounded by over 100 acres of non-residential woods. I live in coal country which exists in my soil too. It would be an impossible task to remove every pine needle, splinter, coal shard, etc. that exists. They definitely make use of the woods on a daily basis.

 

[aart]

I think after talking to you I’m just going with a normal, taller rooster, with two roost bars.

I put up ramps because when I got my first flock(adults) they crashed into the walls flying off the roost(new environment and they soon learned not to do that) and I had a couple big clumsy Brahmas. Sometimes they use them, sometimes they don't, but I think it's good option to have. The platform is about 18" high.