Gad to hear they all came thru the molasses flush ok Lala.
I was thinking about your comments about bad hay as I was in the coop today turning over the hay that was so wet from the torrential rains we had. It smelled horrible but I opened the bottom flaps of the coop and there is a breeze so I am hoping if I keep tuning it every day it will eventually dry out!!
Here is a question about bumble foot. Does it start out as a small circle area? We were trying to trim poopy bottoms and we only caught one hen (imagine here 2 grown women trying to chase 4 hens around a large fenced area with 2 dogs outside the fence running the fence line.......I'm sure we were the afternoon entertainment for the neighbor is
)
Anyways I noticed on green she has a circle area on the foot pad. It's not hard at all. I plan on just watching it to see if it changes at all.
And we are waiting till later to try the poopy butt trims.....when they are all in the coop roosted for the night !!
first off, I'm laughing at the picture of you two chasing the hens around!
Bumblefoot is usually circular, but sometimes with the shape of the foot pad it isn't exactly circular. What it is, though, is a black spot on the bottom of the foot pad that is not dirt.
It represents a staph infection. Depending on your hen's health and immune system, they might take care of it on their own.
I never had bumblefoot with chickens til I moved to this land. I'm guessing it is the blackberry brambles that leave little thorns that cause the cuts. Anything that can cut the foot can cause it, including splinters on the roosts or ramps. A little cut, a little dirt, a little staph infection.
There are lots of posts on treating it, including do it yourself surgery. Because it is so frequent on this land, I usually have one or two hens with it. I just watch it. Sometimes it progresses to a bump on the top side of the foot, and sometimes it will burst out on its own, the way a splinter will fester and work its way out. Sometimes the foot starts getting inflamed and the hen reacts to touching it, which I think means it hurts. I intervene then, or when it looks bad. Sometimes it just disappears.
For me, I usually just do foot soaks, followed by scraping to see if the black part will come off. I don't like cutting, and have found that timing is everything. If it is ready, it will readily come off with soaking.
Apparently it can get quite serious and lead to a systemic infection. I haven't seen that myself, but figure it is just like people. We get cuts, we get infections, usually not a big deal, but people can end up dead too if their immune system is overwhelmed/blood poisoning.
