Treating bumblefoot, but something went wrong...

[Chickengirl209]

Recently I have noticed that many of my birds have bumblefoot. The first chicken was obvious - she had a large bump on the top of her foot. I ended up waiting for her bump to scab (It took about 2-3wks) and then I did the procedure. (Clean foot, bathe in Epsom salt, remove/cut off scab, massage foot to remove gunk, pull out plug, bathe in Epsom salt again, neosporne, wrap.) The procedure went well. She was such a good girl, and everything went as expected.

Today, though, I went to do one of my other birds, whose foot was swollen. The scab was easily spotted on the bottom of the foot, and no other signs of scabbing was noticed. (Swelling shown in pic) I did the steps above, but the scab had a hard time coming out. I managed to get it out in the end, thankfully. Under the scab was yellow crusty stuff, but no gunk. A little blood was visible. I tried massaging the foot to see if it would come out, but no luck. I tried getting more of the crusty stuff out, but it was deep in there and started to bleed. (did not bleed much, but enough to fill the hole about halfway.) I soaked her foot in Epsom salt for about 20 mins and checked it again. The gunk still would not come out. The hole is pretty deep, like 1/3 or 1/2 centimeter.
I wrapped her foot and applied neosporne to it until I figured out what to do.


Some people I might ask:
@Wyorp Rock
@Kiki
@Ridgerunner
@rosemarythyme
@Miss Lydia
@Eggcessive
@aart
@CIVA

The picture that shows what the scab looked like is a pic I pulled offline. It looks just like how it was.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sometimes the plug will come out once you get the scab off like it’s stuck to the scab did you see anything like that?

 

[coach723]

Sometimes there is no plug. Pictures of the actual foot (try to get some when you next change bandages) would help. Every foot is a little different. It's rarely an emergency, so let her rest til tomorrow or the next day, and then see what it looks like and get some pictures and we can better advise.
A simple and inexpensive treatment has worked well for me on some very stubborn ones, I will link to a thread that explains, see post #8 here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-not-healing.1443809/#post-23973555

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would plan on doing epsom salt soaks and rebandaging daily for a few days, and then reassess. You may need to excise the area again if everything didn't get out from the initial treatment, but hopefully you'll see some improvement and reduction of swelling/redness.

 

[Chickengirl209]

Sometimes the plug will come out once you get the scab off like it’s stuck to the scab did you see anything like that?

Attached to the scab was like 1/8" yellow crusty stuff, and I could see more crusty stuff still in the foot.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So how does it look today? have you tried to get anymore out? sometimes using a sterile pair of tweezers can help pick out any that is left. Soak the foot first in Warm Epsom salt water .

 

[Chickengirl209]

Sometimes there is no plug. Pictures of the actual foot (try to get some when you next change bandages) would help. Every foot is a little different. It's rarely an emergency, so let her rest til tomorrow or the next day, and then see what it looks like and get some pictures and we can better advise.
A simple and inexpensive treatment has worked well for me on some very stubborn ones, I will link to a thread that explains, see post #8 here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-not-healing.1443809/#post-23973555

Thanks!

 

[Chickengirl209]

So how does it look today? have you tried to get anymore out? sometimes using a sterile pair of tweezers can help pick out any that is left. Soak the foot first in Warm Epsom salt water .

I haven't tried today yet. How long would you suggest soaking it?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks!

I've had a few bumbles on my LF hens that once I got the scab off there wasn't anything but a hole so I packed it with triple antibiotic ointment and wrapped it up. Healed fine.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I haven't tried today yet. How long would you suggest soaking it?

As long as she'll let you usually mine are done with me holding them in 5-10 minutes.