The Dreaded Bumblefoot

[Paul an Sue]

Hi Guys, I have a chicken that has been on antibiotics for a long time now with the dreaded bumblefoot. I read this article below by Jen, and wonder what your thoughts were to using Wart Freezer to tackle the bumble? I think Jen makes sence here and I am considering trying a wart or varucca freezing medicine on my chick. Any thoughts on this?

Many thanks


Paul


((""Hi! I had a REALLY difficult time getting rid of my hen's bumblefoot. I tried EVERYTHING!
Here is my post from the other day:

Hi! I had written this summer about one of my hens having bumblefoot. I had tried EVERYTHING to try and clear it up. I tried soaking in epsom salts with comfrey, used hydrogen peroxide, ichthammol, triple neosporin, betadine, honey, batril (synotic), alcohol, and I wrapped her foot with vet tape everytime I did a treatment. I don't know how many "plugs" I pulled out of her foot. Nothing worked. I was at my wits end. About a month ago, I picked her up to check her foot, and it was all healed up! I did some research and I think I might have found a "cure", if you want to call it that. She had been out in the snow, and it was REALLY cold. I found out that staph cannot survive in cold, that it thrives in heat. If I ever have this problem again, I'm going to soak their foot in ICE WATER, instead of hot or warm water! Maybe I was helping it thrive by soaking in hot water?
Anyone have any comments?

Jen""))

 

[dawg53]

Cryosurgery...interesting. Warts are caused by virusus, staph infection in bumblefoot is bacterial. I dont know if the freeze would work or not.
I've found that sometimes if there is a scab, that doesnt necessarily mean there's an infection or bumble unless there's swelling, redness or limping. Long term "bumblefoot" problems might NOT be bumblefoot. There are instances of gout and swelling of the foot or hock caused by mycoplasma synoviae. Then if the freeze were used erronously, the foot would be accidently frozen, possibly requiring amputation.
IMO minor surgery or tricide neo is the way to treat bumblefoot.

 

[sandmbaker]

I have had a ton of experience with problems like this, first of all antibiotics are not good for people let alone animals. they weaken the immune system. here's what I did,
I took raw honey and put a nice amount on a thick piece of gauze, I put that on my chickens sore area and then took the stretchy self sticking gauze wrap and cut holes for the toes to go through and wrapped it snug on her foot and leg. change it every 8 hours or so. after a few days you can mix a little aloe vera with the honey. it helps promote new tissue growth. within a week t had cleared up great. you can also buy bee propolis and feed a spoon full each day to her. this is natures antibiotic and will make them over all healthy to prevent any sores from returning. chopped garlic cloves are good too for fighting infections but only about one clove a day. good luck!

 

[Paul an Sue]

Thanks for your reply Dawg. Some of the articles i have read suggest that the Staph is cheese textrued plug. Bacteria dies a -0 doesn't it? She definately has bumble foot and I thought that Jen's article re the snow was very interesting as the Staph needs warmth to survive. There seemed to be some rationalle to it. Yeah my conscern is if i done this with the wart freeze could i cause more problems than solve? Thanks big guy, you've given me food for thought..

 

[Paul an Sue]

I have had a ton of experience with problems like this, first of all antibiotics are not good for people let alone animals. they weaken the immune system. here's what I did,
I took raw honey and put a nice amount on a thick piece of gauze, I put that on my chickens sore area and then took the stretchy self sticking gauze wrap and cut holes for the toes to go through and wrapped it snug on her foot and leg. change it every 8 hours or so. after a few days you can mix a little aloe vera with the honey. it helps promote new tissue growth. within a week t had cleared up great. you can also buy bee propolis and feed a spoon full each day to her. this is natures antibiotic and will make them over all healthy to prevent any sores from returning. chopped garlic cloves are good too for fighting infections but only about one clove a day. good luck!

Wow top tip, my wife Sue mentioned honey as result of a yahoo news article, but i was worried about the wrapping up the foot and creating a warm micro climate for the staph to grow. I think I will try this....... Thanks S and M Baker

 

[dawg53]

Thanks for your reply Dawg. Some of the articles i have read suggest that the Staph is cheese textrued plug. Bacteria dies a -0 doesn't it? She definately has bumble foot and I thought that Jen's article re the snow was very interesting as the Staph needs warmth to survive. There seemed to be some rationalle to it. Yeah my conscern is if i done this with the wart freeze could i cause more problems than solve? Thanks big guy, you've given me food for thought..

That's another good point about the wart freeze. There are ligaments and tendons in the foot, if they freeze...what happens? Will they be permanently damaged to the point that the bird would have to be put down? The absolute painless way to treat bumblefoot is with tricide neo for sure IF you have the time. Personally I prefer the minor surgery.

 

[alexia11rcdg]

Hi im new to chickens, but i believe one of my hens expierenced this. She originaly belonged to a friend anyways. I guess I caught the injury at a pretty early stage, i noticed it when she jumped up onto a table. At first i thought maybe dhe had gotton a huge thorn, they are pretty common around here, so i thought id clean it and pull it out, but it wasnt. So what we ended up doing is cleaning out the wound and putting antibiotics in it, then we took a piece of an old tshirt, wrapped it arounf her foot and taped it so it would hold. Shes as good as new now, the makeshift cast that she had to where for the time being at first bothered her but it worked. Well i hope this helps.

 

[sandmbaker]

Wow top tip, my wife Sue mentioned honey as result of a yahoo news article, but i was worried about the wrapping up the foot and creating a warm micro climate for the staph to grow. I think I will try this....... Thanks S and M Baker

Don't worry about any type of climate for bacteria when you use honey. I had an infection after surgery that turned into mrsa and I risked.losing my foot. I immediately got into my honey bee hive and got some fresh raw honey I put it on and I'm not kidding in three days I ha d fully gotten rid of the mrsa infection! The honey acts the same way as peroxide only without the scarring affects and its good bacterias fight off the bad and draw it out. As long as you keep it on no infection can spread.

 

[featherz]

I stopped doing most bumblefoot surgeries (I had been digging around in every scab I saw until I realized it wasn't necessary) but I have one I'm going to be doing tomorrow - she's limping and it's bumblefoot for sure. I've had only limited luck getting out the 'plug' even with quite deep delving. I do have tri-cide neo so might try that as well.

FWIW, the 'bumblefeet' I left alone did seem to go away during winter. I doubt freezing the foot is a good idea, however..