I understand how you feel! My hen had bumblefoot in both feet. One was small but the other was very bad. The black scab covered majority of her entire foot pad. She wasn't walking much for a few weeks!! Her foot felt hot, reddish, and was puffy.My favourite chicken has had mild bumblefoot for quite a long time, but recently I noticed it had got worse and so today she has been at the vet. She had an anaesthetic and they cut open and flushed it out, but the vet said it has spread to her joint. Everything we and they have done will give her the best chance- flushed out, pain meds and antibiotics etc- but I wondered, does anyone have experience of a chicken recovering from bumblefoot spread to the joint? It had definitely got worse but from the images that I’ve seen online it really didn’t look as bad as some of the photos I’ve seen… attaching a photo of the swelling a few days ago. I don’t have a photo of the scab but I’m sure you can imagine- it was about the size of 2 small peas/half a small coin (5p in uk! 1 Cent in America maybe?!) please be gentle I am very sad and worried today. I hoping for positive stories of recovery x
The vet took tweezers and took out the hard core in one foot. She couldn't get the other out.
I gave her epsom salt baths daily for 10-20 minutes. The epsom salt relaxes the muscles. Then I put her on a towel. She was uncomfortable being on her side, so I figured out a system. I would get iodine and mix some with warm water. I dipped a cotton pad in the iodine solution and disinfected her foot pads by gently lifting up her feet. Then I dabbed some
Silver sulfadiazine cream on the spot. I then took soft gauze and wrapped it around each toe and around the leg, not too tight.I used gauze tape to seal it together. You want padding.
I gave her antibiotics once a day for 14 days too.
Bumblefoot is a long healing process, and I did this daily for a week. it was so tiring! Especially since I'm still in school. Eventually I changed the treatment to once a week. Her feet both recovered and she can now run around without pain. She still has small little traces of bumblefoot, but much better than before. There are also little chicken boots on amazon that protect for future cases.
You can probably see all my concerned threads in my profile, lol. I was really scared that she would never recover, but she did!! Good luck and don't give up!!