Dropping in to say hello -
My barred rock has BUMBLEFOOT. She always roosts way up high, and now that she is molting, she does not quite flutter down from there any more, she drops like a lead balloon. I have been so busy that I did not notice her foot until late today when I was cleaning up in the coop. It looks worse than all the photos I have found of it online, but she is still eating and drinking fine, her crop is full of crumbles and has not lost her place in the pecking order, but she limps when she walks around and often holds the foot up. I am going to attempt the bumblefoot surgery myself. I won't be taking her to the vet. 3 weeks ago I had a $2,000 bill to get a tumor removed from my 11 year-old dog, and this week I spent $500 in tests and other stuff to try and figure out why my cat starting peeing on the floor the day we brought Willow home from the vet. I cancelled my eye exam and our annual vet visit for immunizations and Shasta's teeth cleaning as I was not expecting such a big bill.
Willow is doing great! She had a tumor on the top of her head for 5 years, but it suddenly grew really big. They had to remove and then re-attatch her ear to get to the tumor. They initially told me her ear would be attached near the top of her head, but thankfully it did not look that odd, and it has been migrating back down and only looks a little lop-sided now, and always is a little perked up like she's got one ear up eavesdropping on the conversation. She also had a major tooth extracted because it cracked all the way down to the root and she is on thyroid meds now as her thyroid levels were so low they were not detectable. She is far more energetic and happier than I have seen her in years, even using the wooden stair case again - she had not dared walk down it in years, and would have to walk down the hill ouside the house to get down stairs. I forget just how old she is until I take her to the dog park and see all the young dogs. But she is enjoying her walks again and has the energy to go on them, and that is a HUGE improvement! I thought she was looking thinner, but it is only my imagination. She weighs 97.5 pounds and weighed exactly 100 the day she had surgery. Shasta, who is 3 and much taller weighs 67.5 which is only 2.5 pounds more than she was at 5 months - she can use some of Willow's weight. As you can see, we all need to walk a lot more! (Alex turned 14 in October - he is 6'4"+ those feet are size 15!) The photo was an unusually warm day about 2 weeks ago, the first day willow was out after her surgery. She was so depressed until we took her outside and she has been fine since. (It snowed here today)
Back to chickens;
I'm a bit nervous about doing the bumblefoot surgery - poor hen looks in sad shape because she is molting and covered with pin feathers. She and one of my EE's are the last to molt; all of the others are in shiny new feathers, though only 3 have started to lay again. Last week I had to buy eggs for the first time in 3 years.
See if you can reduce infection by soaking in warm water with Epsom salt and iodine for a few days. After soaking you can put neosporin or vetrycin on it and wrap with vet wrap or that self stick stretchy wrap. I did this 3-4 times a week for 2 weeks and the infection was gone and the scab came off easily. I kept it wrapped for about 3 weeks.
