The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aaggjg]

I almost fell of my chair.

Ooops iPhone typo WOULDN'T

 

[armorfirelady]

Ok this question is for you that have treated bumblefoot. how long did you treat it for? Did you keep treating it till ere was no cabs at all? Till the pad was looking normal?

I've been treating for almost 2 months now, I don't do soaks frequently but I did get a bunch more core out last week and the black scabs off. I've tried iodine and sugar, blue kote and now coconut oil. She has had bandages on every day for almost 3 weeks with every other day changes. This is how they look still

If you look close you can see some irritated skin between her toes. Little spots that I don't want to get worse. I'm not putting the wrap between her toes anymore.

Any comments or suggestions? It's getting cooler and rainier. I really don't think that's going to help the healing process even if I changed them every day.

I'm curious what others have done. Thanks

Edited to add.....ugh the spot between her toes look worse in the pic.......I did put some coconut oil on it

 

[Leahs Mom]

Bumblefoot - I quit.

If I don't see an obvious infection - even if there is a black scab - I am hands-off.

Decided that after treating my first kiddo that had it. When I first found hers, she was obviously not feeling well. I have others with scabs but no infection and no indication of feeling bad. I'm taking a wait and see approach and none of them have developed into anything since last spring.

If mine looked like yours I'd be done with it and just watch for any obvious signs of infection.

 

[delisha]

Armorfirelady-please keep us updated on winterization and yes to pictures.

I had a huge surprise tonight. My little Silkie mix has been sitting on eggs and I heard peeping tonight. A tiny yellow chick. Ugh! I thought I was done. I'm thinking of buying a bird cage and putting it in the cage and bringing it inside and hang from the ceiling. Everyday, people buy parakeets. (Only kidding)

? Is this true?
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/find-blue-chicken-egg-congrats-your-chicken-has-virus

The birds we have now that lay blue eggs are not the birds she thinks she is talking about hundreds of years ago. It is just supposition on the *why* and *how* of egg color blue. Could it of happened hundreds of years ago? Maybe. There is no records of that virus making a brown egg laying bird getting a virus and all of a sudden producing blue eggs. She is forgetting robins lay blue eggs and so do Emu's and a few other types of birds. Did they all get that virus? If it can even happen today, there would be students in Universities creating that same virus and making brown egg laying birds ..lay blue eggs.

Bumblefoot - I quit.

If I don't see an obvious infection - even if there is a black scab - I am hands-off.

Decided that after treating my first kiddo that had it. When I first found hers, she was obviously not feeling well. I have others with scabs but no infection and no indication of feeling bad. I'm taking a wait and see approach and none of them have developed into anything since last spring.

If mine looked like yours I'd be done with it and just watch for any obvious signs of infection.

I agree 100%. If no infection.limping or adverse condition..time to leave it be.

 

[aoxa]

I agree 100%. If no infection.limping or adverse condition..time to leave it be.

I'm with you two as well.

I had a duck with scabs and never touched his feet. Nothing ever came of it.

The feet look fine to me. Looks improved.

 

[lalaland]

I'm definitely in the no treatment bunch. If the hen isn't limping, if the foot isn't swollen, I leave it be. For some reason, on this land, I have bumblefoot. THink it is related to the blackberry brambles in the run. None of the 16 week old chicks have it yet, but of the other 9 adult hens, there is always one or two with it. I've quit doing the cutting I tried earlier. Only soak, pull scab/black plug, probe to get the kernal out, nustock, vetwrap, done. I don't repeat after the first application of nustock and wrap, even if the wrap is off within a few hours.

Now, admittedly if there it was a wet mucky run I might be more concerned, and would definitely work on that.

 

[RedRidge]

OK... read the last few posts... between youngest off to college, oldest getting married, and mil passing away (all in the last 2 weeks), I have more than 1000 posts I've missed on this thread.
So... what have I missed in the last 2 weeks? Anything important? I'm not even going to try to catch up. LOL

On the bumblefoot...I'm a meanie... I refuse to treat.
Like some other issues around here like parasites in sheep years ago. I refuse to breed stock prone to problems, and I won't spend a lot of time trying to fix something when I'd rather breed it out.
Now, that said... I've never had a case of bumblefoot.
One of my breeds is rare (SFH), and I have a nice cockerel that has had a foot problem from a 2 weeks old.
I still have him and am growing him out, but he'll go in the crockpot... he will never produce.
I'm just glad I ended up with two more cockerels this year so at least I'm not having to shop for a breeder.

 

[armorfirelady]

...

Bumblefoot - I quit.

If I don't see an obvious infection - even if there is a black scab - I am hands-off.

...

 
Bumblefoot - I quit.

If I don't see an obvious infection - even if there is a black scab - I am hands-off.

Decided that after treating my first kiddo that had it.  When I first found hers, she was obviously not feeling well.  I have others with scabs but no infection and no indication of feeling bad.  I'm taking a wait and see approach and none of them have developed into anything since last spring. 

If mine looked like yours I'd be done with it and just watch for any obvious signs of infection.

I agree 100%.  If no infection.limping or adverse condition..time to leave it be.

 
I agree 100%.  If no infection.limping or adverse condition..time to leave it be.

I'm with you two as well.

I had a duck with scabs and never touched his feet. Nothing ever came of it. 

The feet look fine to me. Looks improved.

Thanks guys for your opinions. She has never walked funny or acted sick. I just happened to find it when doing hen inspections. I think tonight I will pull the bandages off and spray some blue kote on her feet to cover the rubbed places between her toes so they don't get full of dirt and leave her be. I was thinking I haven't added any garlic to their food in awhile. So maybe she will get some eggs with garlic and fresh basil today as well as a boost.

 

[aoxa]

OK... read the last few posts... between youngest off to college, oldest getting married, and mil passing away (all in the last 2 weeks), I have more than 1000 posts I've missed on this thread.
So... what have I missed in the last 2 weeks? Anything important? I'm not even going to try to catch up. LOL

On the bumblefoot...I'm a meanie... I refuse to treat.
Like some other issues around here like parasites in sheep years ago. I refuse to breed stock prone to problems, and I won't spend a lot of time trying to fix something when I'd rather breed it out.
Now, that said... I've never had a case of bumblefoot.
One of my breeds is rare (SFH), and I have a nice cockerel that has had a foot problem from a 2 weeks old.
I still have him and am growing him out, but he'll go in the crockpot... he will never produce.
I'm just glad I ended up with two more cockerels this year so at least I'm not having to shop for a breeder.

I'm wondering if bumble foot is an issue for people with a lot of rain. Kind of like sheep with foot rot. I think AFL was the one who had a lot of flooding early in the summer. Could that be a factor?

I'm with you on keeping them from breeding if it is just one or two that have it. In Lalaland's situation, since all of her adults had it to some extent, it has to be something they are coming into contact with. Maybe the roosts are too rough and giving splinters. Maybe too much rain and mud. I am not really sure.

I've had a duck with scabs like I said, I left it. Maybe it was never bumblefoot. It didn't look swollen, just scabs on the pads of the feet.

I had a rooster with a staph infection in his leg last year. He was limping around for a while and I decided to cull early.When his legs were cut off at the joint, infectious puss poured out. It was disturbing. Won't ever let it get that bad before processing again. Live and learn.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Aoxa - Can you comment on the difference in how the legs looked from the one that DID have infection compared to the ones that don't? It may be helpful for folks to have a description. First, we know he was limping. How did it look?