WE'RE STUMPED, PLEASE HELP! Chicken foot scabs & bumps... (with photos)

[staceyj]

@Saaniya , a thought for your bird, since it's walking on floors. Making a donut shaped pad to go around the wound and take pressure off the wound itself may be helpful in your case. I've made them from pool noodle foam and from craft foam (the denser craft foam holds up better). Cut a circle that will fit the foot pad with an opening in the center the size of the wound, I put a piece of gauze down, then the pad, then wrap the foot to keep it in place. It will cushion the wound and may help with healing.

Sort of like a corn pad!
Our friend @Saaniya is in Delhi, she may have to improvise, but I love where you’re going with this concept !

 

[coach723]

Sort of like a corn pad!

Exactly! I've seen them used on some raptor sites for treating bumblefoot on raptors also.

 

[staceyj]

Exactly! I've seen them used on some raptor sites for treating bumblefoot on raptors also.

My mind is exploding. Lol
And it wouldn’t be so high as to throw them off orthopedically if it had to be used long term.

 

[chickenMamee]

Oh definitely need to open that up and drain the infection out. I would cut the top off of the pimple and squeeze it to see what may come out. I’d clean it with peroxide and QTips. Make sure to dig around inside of it and coat the inside. You can clean it betadine too and pack with neosporin and a mashed aspirin. The aspirin will help draw out any swelling. Repeat the neosporin for several days. I’d be careful using peroxide too often because it can hinder new cell growth. I’d do the same for the place on the bottom of her foot. Wrap it.

 

[erinnire]

Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions! We soaked her feet again in the Tricide Neo, making this Day #4 of the treatment. It looks to me like it is actually bringing the infection forward, so I'm hoping that within the next few days we start to see some kind of difference in appearance.

I am going to give it 10 days total of soaking before I go back in and make an incision. We started doing oral doses of Penicillin but we stopped those when we began using the Tricide. After I soaked her today I added Neosporin to the top of the lesion before I wrapped the foot back up. I don't think it's going to do much, considering the skin is not open, but I figured it was worth a shot.

This was her foot today:

Again, thank you so much everyone and I will definitely keep posting updates!

I was thinking this as well.
What I think you need is a penrose drain from the vet and some suture material on a needle.
*The non-absorbable kind.

This summer I had a welsummer with an invasive bumble presenting both topside and bottom. She is challenged with them frequently and so is her sister even though my other birds have NEVER had even one.

My treatment of them is constantly evolving.

On this event this is what I did:

After soaking and scrubbing the entire leg with hibiclens, I wrapped up my chicken burrito style.

Out of desperation, I was substituting a large wide rubberband cut flat into a strip of rubber for the penrose.
The purpose of a drain is to let a channel shaped wound heal slowly, from the inside and ALLOW(edited here) the infectious liquid matter inside the wound to escape or be flushed out rather than the exit wounds close prematurely and trap that festering goo inside.

I cut the boil on the top with a scalpel then reamed UP from the wound on the bottom.

I debrided the inside of the wound vigorously with a small piece of gauze soaked in hibiclens which I held with small straight Kelly forceps to loosen the pus away from the inside of the wound bed.

Then I flushed the wound many times with a betadine solution.

Then I inserted my “drain”.
And tied the little tails together so that it was now reconnected and would stay in place. Think of it like inserting a “hoop” earring through a pierced ear.

Here’s an example of how I prepared my drain

View attachment 1599345

Next I filled a 3 cc syringe about halfway with vetericyn antimicrobial spray gel and from the bottom of the wound, filled the wound until it was spilling out the top.

Finally I padded the bottom of the foot with a piece of gauze and also a small piece at the top and wrapped the whole thing with vet wrap.

Here is a completely unprofessional video I made some time ago to explain how to wrap a chickens foot.
If you struggle with this it may help. If not, it’ll provide you with a few minutes of entertainment.
Try not to laugh at me too hard though, I didn’t have anyone to help me. I’m a hot mess. But it gives you an idea at least.

I left the foot alone for a few days *2, I think, before unwrapping and repeating the flushing and filling of the wound.

It’s also important to gently displace the drain to discourage it from anchoring (meaning wiggle it, so it doesn’t get stuck to healing flesh )

The next time I think I left it alone for 3 days, and continued in this schedule to allow healing in between messing with it.

All together I left the drain in for a full week to ten days. ... more than a week- I wish I’d documented it.

After I removed the drain - I just cut it and pulled it out-, I continued to flush and fill the wound for roughly another week until the wound channel closed on its own.

I have to say it healed even better than I’d hoped and I am quite sold on that product I used.
It’s darn expensive but I feel worth it.
If you couldn’t get it I’d do the exact same procedure with antibiotic ointment inside the wound channel.


it was way down in the original post.
I mentioned it because a bird fighting an infection is not in optimal health, therefore fighting parasites at the same time could complicate the situation because parasites are opportunistic.

I am going to save all of this information, thank you so much!!

 

[andreanar]

I would lance that boil on the top of foot, and flush out all the gunk, debride any bad tissue, fill with antibiotic ointment and wrap. That's just my opinion, Im a picker, I wouldn't be able to leave it alone.

 

[erinnire]

I would lance that boil on the top of foot, and flush out all the gunk, debride any bad tissue, fill with antibiotic ointment and wrap. That's just my opinion, Im a picker, I wouldn't be able to leave it alone.

Yeah, I think that's going to be what we end up doing. I'm the same way, and have been wanting to pop the scab off of our other chicken's footpad for quite some time, but we've elected to leave that one alone for the time being.

 

[staceyj]

I’m just here to humbly suggest that you
DON’T wait to
1. Pop that topside boil and
2. Get that scab off the bottom.

Your efforts with the tricideneo soak will be MUCH
more effective if you remove these barriers and expose the infected tissue to the antibiotic.

 

[erinnire]

I’m just here to humbly suggesting that you
DON’T wait to
1. Pop that topside boil and
2. Get that scab off the bottom.

Your efforts with the tricideneo soak will be MUCH
more effective if you remove these barriers and expose the infected tissue to the antibiotic.

Oh, okay, thanks! I honestly was waiting because I wasn't sure it would be alright to put an open wound in the solution, but its intended purpose is to heal open ulcers on koi fish, so duh of course I can.

Thank you so much for all of your help, staceyj!!!

 

[Saaniya]

Your birds foot looks similar to mine @Saaniya . I think you have to be patient (though that can be hard when it seems to go on and on and on.......). In my case, if I finally have gotten it and the healing is started i would expect weeks to months before he can go bandage free. Once it's not actively infected any more then bandage changes can be a little less often, but it still needs to be checked and changed to make sure it's staying clean and nothing has interrupted the healing process. It can be a long term thing in some cases, as I've found out. In my case, antibiotics have been absolutely necessary to help stop the progression. Every case I've had has been a little different, and most have been easier than this guy.

Phewww I'll take.your advice and do a cushion pad Bandaging nxt time
Does it looks getting worsen.or healing ?
I'm waiting for his foot looks great