Scabs On Bottom of Feet?

[TwoCrows]

You could also try soaking the feet in Tri-cide Neo or epsom salts daily. Just cleaning up the feet and applying some neosporin and keep them wrapped might heal some of the feet.

 

[ChickenPeep]

I did the surgery.... sort of.
Instead of cutting off the caps, we peeled them. We actually didn't find any puss or anything which makes me wonder if I didn't do it right. Then we cleaned it, put neosporin on it, and wrapped it up. We did it on all 3.

 

[TwoCrows]

Well that was a good sign that you didn't get any pus squirting out of the scabs. Now keep the feet wrapped all the time. Check the feet each day for the next week and apply neosporin to the wounds and rewrap. But do not let these open wounds see any dirt for quite a while. Dry and clean are the key to healing. If you start to see redness, swelling and limping chickens, you will need to do more than remove scabs. At that point, you will need to dig around and get the infection out. Good luck!

 

[ChickenPeep]

Thank you so much twocrowsranch! I'm so glad you were here to help me!

People like you are the ones who give BYC such a good reputation.

I will be sure to keep an eye on them and check their feet daily.

Thanks again.

 

[larsonll]

All of my little flock of five hens have had this recently, I discovered, about two months ago. I unroofed several of these scabs, without any pus or purulence noted. This made me think that I was performing unnecessary surgery on my hens.

I am a wound care physician, and I am not a veterinarian. I cannot claim experience here except for with humans.

So, I researched everything I could find, being a "human doctor", wanting to make good clinical decisions about my girls without putting them through pain.

I learned that this condition usually results from Staph (Staphylococcus) infection. Well, I should be the expert here, since I am an Infectious Diseases physician, and I know that Staph can do anything in humans. The point here is to realize that Staph can cause anything from a tiny pimple to a life threatening infection. But you have to use your judgement as to how bad the infection is (or not).

I looked at my girls feet and decided that most of them did not look swollen or red, and that they were not having any trouble walking. I changed out their roosts for fresh wood since I read that this may be a culprit. I contemplated painting their feet with betadine but did not do it.

Now 2 months later nothing has happened, except that the scabs are falling off or becoming smaller.

I keep watching each hen daily for the red swollen foot I should operate on. This is because unroofing a scab can actually expose an open wound to infection, and I choose not to do this.

I hope this helps you guys because the scabs did really freak me out initially.

 

[ChickenPeep]

Thank you very much, what great information!
After doing this, the 2 silkies went broody and the scabs completely fell off. Yesterday they hatched 2 chicks.

However, the silkie-cross' feet have gotten scabs again. They are not swollen, and the pads of her feet I'm pretty sure are naturally pink. She seems to be in no obvious pain but if it gets worse, I will definitely repeat the surgery.