Vet doesnt know what’s wrong with my hen’s foot… please help me figure out!

[LapisA]

When I had to treat them we would take the foot remove the scab then squeeze the grunge and not out till like a kernel at the bottom.
neosporin no pain killer fill the whole left. wrap lightly with vet wrap.
change every two days repack with same neosporin.
Birds do not show pain like we do.

Thank you!
How long did it take for them to recover from bumble foot?

 

[Loving my girls]

Attached is the silver sulfadiazine cream 1% pamphlet adverse reactions… reading it, I feel like it’s more in line with Lapis’s condition…. Maybe this is what was causing her foot to look so terrible? Maybe she happens to be one of those rare case that she has an allergic reaction to it?

I agree

 

[triciayoung]

I also read somewhere on here and I can’t seem to find the thread anywhere…that silver sulfadiazine cream is good for bumble foot. How’s Abby doing? Are you still doing this regimen now? Do you have a picture somewhere or do you have a thread somewhere about her I can read? Speaking of silver sulfadiazine, I would like to know how much you used and did you notice any skin discoloration on her foot while using it?

Abby is doing fine, I believe. I cannot get the donut right when bandaging, so I don't do it. The vet wrapped both feet so that her gait was stable and bumblefoot wasn't caused on the opposite foot. Elasticon is a bioch to remove to change her bandage. She has me filling the cavity with silver sulfadiazine during changes.

 

[triciayoung]

I just got off the phone with the vet’s technician and I’m overwhelmed, shocked, and mentally distressed, to say the least.

On 8/23 sometimes in the early afternoon, one of my hens started limping. Next day, she did not walk at all. I read up about bumble foot, and she did have a small scab on the bottom of her foot, along with swollen foot pad. I proceeded to soak her foot with epsom salt, isolated her to grassy area. I started giving her antibiotic on Monday’s morning. This was the antibiotic prescribed to my other hen, who had passed away and these are still good for another 2 years so they aren’t expired. I also started dressing her foot with neosporin, after cleaning it up with vetericyn poultry spray. I got the regimen done for her until Wednesday, dropped her off at the vet bc the office is an hour away. Next day, It was determined by the vet that she has bumble foot, and nothing else. The vet prescribed the exact same antibiotic with metacam, and tricide solution spray. Instructions given to me were to medicate her, soaking the foot, then spray.

I picked her up on Friday, so she was at the vet office for roughly 48-55 hours. I wasn’t able to pick her up so my husband did.

She got back home on Friday midday.

Her foot looked worse. I’d seen many,many,many bumble foot pictures, including the most severe cases, but none that I saw was anything like my Lapis’ foot. I noticed yellow “liquid” seeping out of her toes. They were terrible looking. I changed her bandage twice a day, cleaned it, sprayed it, soaked, etc. To me, her foot has something else going on besides bumble foot. I stopped soaking her foot with epsom salt for 2 days now. Earlier this morning, before taking her back to the same vet, was the first time since 12 days ago that she was able to stand on her bumble foot. For the past 11 days, she was on the ground, and only hopped around for a minute if she had to. Her appetite and water intake has been drastically reduced for the last 12 days, and she also stopped laying 12 days ago.

I called the vet yesterday and told them I need to get her back in because I strongly feel there’s something else going on with her because her foot does not look like it’s just only bumble foot. To clarify this, when we got her back from the first visit with the vet, I also told the technician over the phone that I felt something else was wrong but that the vet only thought it was only bumble foot, so to give it time with antibiotic. I didn’t know what else to say…

Fast forward to earlier today, they called me, letting me know the vet now thinks there’s something else going on with her. The vet thinks there’s blood clot and her foot doesn’t get the blood flow, and eventually it’ll die off. So to make it short, she’s dying.

She’s roughly 1.5 years of age and I got her as days old chick from another chicken keeper who had hatched her at home along with about two dozen eggs.

I’m beyond distressed. I wonder if they had done something the very first time I dropped her off, then maybe they could have figured out there’s definitely something else going on besides just bumble foot(?)

Please, I need your help to figure out what oils be the case with her foot. I know this community has a huge number of chicken keepers and experts so if you know someone, can you please help share and tag this thread?

I’m attaching a few pictures of her foot that I took a few days ago.

How is your hen?

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I would pick her up today, and try the soaks to her feet once a day. I think the bumblefoot did not look that bad either. But we see a lot of threads here where people use splints and the tape or vet wrap gets too tight causing damage. Don’t beat yourself up if something happens to her leg, since chickens can get around using one leg. It happens with frostbite in winter, and we have many threads about during Jan-Feb. Just finish the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicines, and get to work on attempting to save the foot. Keep us informed with pictures, and let your 5 year old help. I can post some pictures of some chickens who have lost toes or a foot, to know what to expect if you want. You will get through this.

agreed. my aunt has a chicken that lost four talons due to frostbite, and the chicken basically looked around like "well, that happened" and then limped away to go eat a grasshopper or something.

 

[LapisA]

I had severe headache over the weekend and it must be how sick I’ve been worried about Lapis’s condition. I’m still overwhelmed by everyone here and how thoughtful and kind you all have been. I honestly couldn’t have been better without all the support, and knowledge you all have offered!

I still don’t know what caused Lapis’s foot to be the way that it is, but the good news now is that the skin layer that somehow got “cooked” because of a strange reaction to whatever that was, is starting to peel off slowly.

My current regimen for her is vet wrap her (and I’ve learned not to do it tight) after spraying vetericyn spray, neosporin, then a dab of Epsom salt poultice. @CCsGarden suggested I tried the Epsom salt poultice gel to help with the bumble foot scab after soaking with Epsom salt. I’m hoping it’ll come off but I also understand it might take a few weeks… the vet didn’t offer to lance it so I’m going to try with the soaking once a day. I wish I could have the time to do twice a day. I decided that I need to take the vet wrap off at night so her new skin can come in so she’s with the vet wrap during daytime only.

She’s joining the others for the first time since 16 days of being isolated. She still is very much limping but she could move around a bit more and not just laying down. Her appetite is very low still so I’ve been tube feeding her once a day with ground up layer pellet, iced in with Poultry cell, and Lily of the valley detox formula, hoping it’ll help with her general health. I also make scrambled eggs to give her and chopped up spring mix. But she doesn’t seem to enjoy it as much anymore…

If you have any suggestions for me to give her a better feed, please let me know!

So I realize just yesterday that I have another hen with a case of bumble foot on both of her feet as well. I’m trying to figure out how I can improve their run and roosting. I’ve never had to deal with bumble foot before so this is all new and overwhelmed for me.

During the heat in peak summer, I had a mister that generate a bit of wetness on the ground for them for a few minutes every hour. Maybe that’s the culprit ? I also have gravel on one side of the yard so I’ve manually tried to clear some of it out but still have lots of work to do. I’m planing to add new soil/ dirt and change that portion of the yard to have small river pebbles. Anyone thinks this is ok or I need to do something else to improve?

Thank you so much everyone for being there for me!

I’ve attached pictures of her foot that I took yesterday.

 

[LapisA]

How is your hen?

She’s holding up ok so far. Foot is still swollen, but seems to get new tissue so that’s a good sign. She’s extremely underweight so I’m tube feeding her once a day, when I can. Thank you for asking!

 

[LapisA]

I agree

I’m holding off on putting it on her foot for now. I do need to find a new vet. I found out my other 2 hens are having Bumblefoot as well…. I need to improve the yard they walk on I think. I’ve been exhausted but just feel better that maybe Lapis will have time to heal but she’s very much underweight.

Thank you for all your support!

 

[Loving my girls]

Not sure if anyone has asked this already.

How far are your perches from the floor ie how far do the have to jump to get down ?

Just an idea.

 

[LapisA]

Not sure if anyone has asked this already.

How far are your perches from the floor ie how far do the have to jump to get down ?

Just an idea.

I have limited space so two hens are in an X-Large dog crate for the night. They have a perch in the crate that’s about 5” off the bottom. Since Lapis’ condition, I’ve since for the past 2 weeks, making sure I actually pick each of them up and put them on the ground. Before, they jump off from about 3 feet off the ground. I also have a small section of the yard with small rocks so I’ve been manually working on clearing those away, but I’ll need to do more work on it.

Vet didn’t want to do anything with the swollen foot but had me continue antibiotic for her for another 14 days, I’m not sure if I’m ok with that. She’s so underweight although she is just starting to eat a bit here and there, not much feed at all, just greens, and some cooked rice with scrambled eggs.

I’m looking for another vet….