Waiting to treat bumblefoot?

[chickmashnoon]

Hi- I have a Brahma roo and two australorps that have been roosting on top of the coop instead of inside like everyone else, and all three have come down with bumblefoot.

We are leaving friday on a trip to Mexico and I don't want to make someone else care for them and wrap feet and such. None of them are limping, and we are planing on butchering the roo tommorow anyway, so bumblefoot is the least of his worries (he's really rough on the hens). I have spent the past two nights soaking their feet in epsom salts for 20 min, placing antibiotic ointment on their feet, and wrapping them to keep the dirt out. One of the hens I tried to cut into her foot to remove the bumble, failed utterly, had second thoughts since I won't be here to baby her feet this comming week, and wrapped her foot back up. They are my top two hens, both in pecking order and eggs, so it doesn't seem to have affected their production or social order.

Do you think I can leave them for a week and just do the major surgery when I get back? My husband wants to just cull them since we are eating the rooster anyway, but I'm tempted to try to heal them, but It's going to be a week before I can do it. both seem to be behaving normally, only the one that I did cut her foot hasn't laid an egg today- but a kidnapping out of the coop and a dunk in a bathtub and a scalpel in your foot might make you not lay an egg either . . .

So, should I give my pretty girls the axe so the staph doesn't spread? or should I come back from my trip armed with antibiotic?
I don't currently have a place to isolate them and I really don't want to make life hard on my chickensitter How fast does bumblefoot progress?

 

[klmclain1]

Bumble foot WILL progress and kill them. Personally - I would not eat a chicken that had a staph infection. Maybe someone else will have a more educated opinion of that than me.

 

[welasharon]

It doesn't progress that fast although the longer it goes, of course, the worse it will get. They pick up the staff from the soil when they get a puncture or scratch on the foot. It isn't contagious in the sense that the others are going to catch it from them. You can always see how they are when you get back and decide then which course to take.

 

[sharol]

I agree. A week one way or the other shouldn't make any difference. My EE hen who is partially cured (one foot is still a little scabby) has laid regularly throughout treatments (since last September).

It doesn't progress that fast although the longer it goes, of course, the worse it will get. They pick up the staff from the soil when they get a puncture or scratch on the foot. It isn't contagious in the sense that the others are going to catch it from them. You can always see how they are when you get back and decide then which course to take.

 

[chickmashnoon]

oh, that makes me feel sooooo much better. I'm still soaking their feet, but I don't want to do anything major like surgery or oral antibiotics until I can be back here and monitor, and/or set up a place to observe them in the house.

as for the staph- if they were acting sick at all it would for sure be systemic and i would not think of eating them, but now i am just going to see how they are when i get back, so it is a mute point.

I remember someone talking about getting an order of chickenfeet from an organic chicken farm. he was really disappointed because when he got home all the feet he had just bought for his soup had bumblefoot. I'm sure all the factory birds we have ever eaten have most likely had bumblefoot.

 

[sharol]

As common as it is, I suspect you are right. I had never thought of that, though I did ponder the possibilities of bumblefoot among chickens in large flocks where no one checks their feet periodically. I would think it was pretty common.

I remember someone talking about getting an order of chickenfeet from an organic chicken farm. he was really disappointed because when he got home all the feet he had just bought for his soup had bumblefoot. I'm sure all the factory birds we have ever eaten have most likely had bumblefoot.

 

[klmclain1]

As common as it is, I suspect you are right. I had never thought of that, though I did ponder the possibilities of bumblefoot among chickens in large flocks where no one checks their feet periodically. I would think it was pretty common.

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[sharol]

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[purpletree23]

If the foot isn't swollen or sore (limping) I would just leave it alone. I have hens that have a scab on the bottom of their feet but no infection and the foot doesn't bother them. I only treat for bumblefoot if the foot is infected.

 

[chickmashnoon]

Thanks purpletree- I'm glad I didn't give them the axe I mean, I know I have chickens for eggs AND meat, but I really would like them to have a bit of a life before the soup pot. And it doesn't seem to be bothering them. Many times nodules of infection form because the immune system and the body build a barrier around it to keep it from spreading. Thus the "chunk" in the bumblefoot. I will be treating them with antibiotic when I get back, but for now, they seem to be unaffected.