Stubborn bumblefoot!

[Keeperofmunchkins]

So my rooster has has bumblefoot for months now. He had it in both feet but I cut out the scabs, flushed the wounds out, applied antibiotic ointment, wrapped them and let him rest for a day. This was a while ago. One of the feet healed up nicely, but the other one just scabbed over again.
So i attempted to treat it again later the same way by removing the scab and scraping/pushing out anything nasty inside, but there was no real plug of pus. It healed but a few weeks later the telltale scab is back again! He isn't limping or favouring the other foot and it doesn't look swollen but here is a pic I took today:

What am I doing wrong?

 

[azygous]

If there's no swelling and no pus under the scab, the wound is healing. I've had bumblefoot cases take months to resolve completely. One thing you can do is give it a squirt of Vetericyn each night at roosting time. This stuff encourages new tissue growth. As soon as tissue grows in to fill the crater where the pus kernel was, the scab should fall off.

 

[staceyj]

I have two birds who seem to be more susceptible to bumblefoot than my others.

My suggestion is that you soak, clean out the hole again (deeply) flush copiously with betadine or Hibiclens, pack the cleaned out hole with triple antibiotic ointment apply a gauze pad and wrap the foot again with vet wrap.

Soak and repeat bandaging every other day, continuing to remove anything that looks like dark scabbing as it heals until all evidence of wound is gone.

Since bumblefoot is a staph infection, my opinion is that keeping the wound covered while healing is integral in this process to avoid recontamination of the open site.

It’s an investment of time for sure. It sometimes takes weeks. In extreme cases months. *although from the photo you posted I would not say that is the case here.

Some people have had good success soaking the foot in a tricide neo solution. This is an antibiotic that is labeled for use in fish like koi.

You’d have to order it online.
I haven’t tried this yet myself but have considered it if I start facing this issue again this spring.

 

[staceyj]

Adding here that my welsummers have never presented with the characteristic firm plug of pus.

The affected matter inside the foot pad is just stringy goo (unlike healthy tissue).

For uncomplicated cases I’ve also tried just soaking to soften the scab, cleaning with an antimicrobial, them prying off the scab. treating and bandaging. Leaving the bandage in place undisturbed for a few days before repeating gives the tissue that may have been traumatized by your treatment efforts to rebound.

After attempting fairly non invasive healing tactics for some period of time and noting no progress, that is when I make the decision to “really go at it”.

As @azygous stated, vetericyn is some great stuff.

When the mention of using it at roosting time came up I had a thought.

May I ask what type of roost do you have?

I have noted that since we switched to a 1x4 flat sided roost where the girls sleep flat footed instead of gripping, Ive seen less cases.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

Thanks for the responses. I think part of the problem is both times I tried removing the scab I ended up putting him back outside with the flock after just a day so it did not heal enough. It's hard to keep the little guy away from his ladies for long because he is just so miserable when he can't be with them.

@staceyj He sleeps on a flat wood beam which is 2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. He is a Pekin Bantam and weighs around 800g so his feet are quite small. Do you think it isn't wide enough for him?

 

[BantyChooks]

Thanks for the responses. I think part of the problem is both times I tried removing the scab I ended up putting him back outside with the flock after just a day so it did not heal enough. It's hard to keep the little guy away from his ladies for long because he is just so miserable when he can't be with them.

When I had a duck with bad bumblefoot, I kept her inside until the wound was closed, then kept a bandage on outside until I couldn't see even a slight divot in the flesh of that side. It worked, and she never relapsed.

 

[staceyj]

Thanks for the responses. I think part of the problem is both times I tried removing the scab I ended up putting him back outside with the flock after just a day so it did not heal enough. It's hard to keep the little guy away from his ladies for long because he is just so miserable when he can't be with them.

@staceyj He sleeps on a flat wood beam which is 2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. He is a Pekin Bantam and weighs around 800g so his feet are quite small. Do you think it isn't wide enough for him?

I haven’t read any responses yet beyond this one but wanted to comment that I don’t keep mine inside while healing. I e gotten good at bandaging well enough that the wound stays clean.

She’s only out of commission long enough for the “pediatric appointment”, then I put her back in with her friends.

 

[staceyj]

Thanks for the responses. I think part of the problem is both times I tried removing the scab I ended up putting him back outside with the flock after just a day so it did not heal enough. It's hard to keep the little guy away from his ladies for long because he is just so miserable when he can't be with them.

@staceyj He sleeps on a flat wood beam which is 2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. He is a Pekin Bantam and weighs around 800g so his feet are quite small. Do you think it isn't wide enough for him?

Do you have any other , larger chickens?
A 2 inch board doesn’t actually measure 2 inches.
Nor does a 4 inch.
It’s about 1/4 of an inch less.

 

[coach723]

I have a roo that had really, really stubborn bumblefoot. 3 steps forward 4 steps back over and over. I finally resorted to antibiotics and it finally cleared up and his foot healed. this was after months and months of trying everything else under the sun. Tricide neo may work, it seems to work best on shallow/small lesions but takes time and patience. Mine was very deep into the foot, the stringy stuff vs the core, so very hard to get it really cleaned out. I ended up putting him on cephalexin (https://www.allivet.com/p-9119-fish...MI1NSH4KuY4AIVBANpCh1p3wznEAQYBCABEgK7mfD_BwE) at a dose of 35-50 mg/kg every 6 hours. I also used enrofloxacin (https://www.jedds.com/shop/misc/) and put drops of it directly on the lesion topically, or in the wound every day. Kept it wrapped and changed it daily until it was obviously healing. Was the only thing that ultimately worked for me. I only kept him away from the flock long enough to treat, I wrapped him up well with co wrap and gauze and put him back with the flock.