Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[CarolynF]

We found out a few days ago that George has a tiny bit of bumblefoot. I get to do a bit of surgery on her very soon to fix it. I'm really not looking forward to it, but it's for her own good.

I was able to get rid of a moderate case of bumblefoot without surgery with the solution in the link above. I also scrubbed the bottom of the foot with Chlorhexadine wash and soaked it in Iodine and epsome salts to reduce inflammation. I actually didn't soak it in the antibiotics until about 2-3 days in. I also put topical antibiotic ointment and then bandaged it with something like vet wrap. The swelling went away and later the scab fell right off. If you take care of it earlier and not let it get really infected you should have good luck with non invasive treatment.

Having dealt with the surgical approach to bumble foot this year, if I had it to do over again I would try the non-surgical remedies first. Once you have an open wound on the bottom of the foot you HAVE to wrap it to keep it protected. It's a royal pain getting the vet wrap on well. If you're also soaking the foot twice a day after the surgery then it's twice as big a pain.

I also read recently that just having a black spot is not bumblefoot thus there is nothing to cut out. I would definitely take the non-surgical route first. Also, if you have Vetericyn, give that a go.

 

[WhiskiRanch]

Where I live, you can't have roosters, which is very frustrating. I too was shocked at what the hawk(s) did. The cage was very secure, one of those large black ones with latching on both sides, thick wire, and a top, with a removable bottom. Right now, on the cage, there are dents in the wires from where we assume the hawk first tried to get them. The *hawks* as I mentioned earlier, there are 2. They were circling over the free-ranging layers who were hiding before I went and got them. My girls did put up quite the fight though. By how much feathers there were, vs. last weekend when it got the one in the open, was a lot more. It decapitated them too, which was shocking. Them animals are vicious, so beware.

We have a hawk that lives on our property. He does his fly overs a few times a day over my pasture and coop but has never tried to get inmy coop. Before the coop was built, I had him attack Momma Hen and her babies last summer. She gave him a whoopin he won't ever forget and he ended up flying away without a meal. She had 18 babies to protect and ll of them ducked into the pasture grass. When the hawk flew away, they popped their heads up one at a time. I'm a little worried though because once the bugs come out, my chickens will be out free ranging during the day.

 

[CarolynF]

Here's an update on Frodo.



Her wound is closed, that is a hard scab on top.

The other girls are being pretty nice to her, considering.

And yesterday she was looking for a place to lay an egg! And she has been squatting for me for a couple weeks.

Here's hoping I find a tiny egg today!

That's great! I hope you get that egg today, too.

 

[Hinotori]

 

[WhiskiRanch]

After sadly only finding 2 eggs this morning, this picture right here made me giggle thanks a bunch for sharing

 

[Hinotori]

There is nothing like watching an 80 pound german shepherd dog wrestle with a 4 pound kitten. She let the kitten win. Flopped on her side and let him hold on to her head.

 

[TerrorBird]

Quote: I was able to get rid of a moderate case of bumblefoot without surgery with the solution in the link above. I also scrubbed the bottom of the foot with Chlorhexadine wash and soaked it in Iodine and epsome salts to reduce inflammation. I actually didn't soak it in the antibiotics until about 2-3 days in. I also put topical antibiotic ointment and then bandaged it with something like vet wrap. The swelling went away and later the scab fell right off. If you take care of it earlier and not let it get really infected you should have good luck with non invasive treatment.
Thanks for your input, Russ and Kim! Mom says her case is quite mild right now, so it should be fine until the stuff gets here in the mail.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Here's another great article on Bumblefoot. I like her blog, it's very informative.
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/07/bumblefoot-causes-treatment-warning.html

 

[FirewifeJess]

Also this article (which begins talking about a prolapsed vent, but ends talking about treating bumblefoot non-invasively) is great:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/search/label/bumblefoot causes and treatment

 

[CarolynF]

Here's another great article on Bumblefoot. I like her blog, it's very informative.
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/07/bumblefoot-causes-treatment-warning.html

Nice article. It's good to see such a thorough explanation and her photos are super clear. I liked the pooping part because it was SO true!

She made a couple of statements about Vetericyn that I think should be corrected. You don't wash/clean the foot with Vetericyn, it's only used on already clean wounds. She also refers to it as "Vetericyn VF" which is the "Veterinarians Formula" (VF) which is a higher percentage of active ingredient. I looked high and low for that and was told it's only available to vets.

I did quite a lot of research on this product. There are several formulations for a variety of applications. And each has a different percentage of the primary active ingredient. I wanted the strongest concentration I could get and of course I wanted it at the lowest price point, too. Another difference is that there's a "HydroGel" version. It's still a spray, but it's thicker. I ended up with Vetericyn Wound & Infection Care HydroGel Spray. Active Ingredient: Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl) 0.008%

I also found a HUGE variation on the expiration dates of products at different stores. Depending on the store it varied from 4 weeks to 2 years for the exact same product! At $35 a pop I got very good at looking (or calling and asking) for the expiration date!!!