What causes bumblefoot?

[montanaSarah]

so what are the symptoms? do they limp or will a sore just appear one day? i have zero experience and am beginning to think i'm in over my head with this whole chicken thing!

haha

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Hi,

I noticed one of my gals with swelling between her toes. I inspected her foot and found a black scab. Her other foot actually had a larger scab but no swelling.

I debated what to do and decided to take her to a vet and he took good care of her feet. It has taken a while to heal as the swelling wasn't going down between one of the toes. He found that she had a "kernel" up high near the swelling. Thursday is her last check up. ( I have been fortunate not to have to pay for any visit after the initial visit...Love our Dr. Bob.)

Dr. Bob suggested that she could have scraped her feet which got infected from excrement. He also suggested that since she was a heavy breed that the roosts should be lower as not to put too much pressure on her feet when landing on the floor. He also suggested to wrap the roosts with astro turf. The Big Box store was out the day I went but I got indoor/outdoor carpet. Nice and soft on their roosts.

The girls seem to like their covered roosts. We even wrapped their roost in the run to avoid splinters.

 

[LindsayB]

Okay, DH and I are going to do the surgery on both birds this weekend. Hopefully it won't get any worse until then. I really think its the sand we used in the run. their roost wouldn't cause any problems, its very smooth. add we don't have any plants that would give them thorns.

 

[LindsayB]

My girls feet look like the one that isnt swollen. I'll have to try the astro turf on their roost. Thats a great idea!

 

[DickGJ]

Quote:
Geez, that chicken coops looks cleaner than my 10 and 12 year olds bedroom!

 

[speckledhen]

You can't pad their entire existence, is the problem. I live on a mountain with sharp rocks, thorns, rough wood, etc. Even if the entire coop and pens were soft as cotton balls, the moment they step outside, they'd scrape their feet. All you can do is the best you can do.

Larger, heavier hens are definitely more prone to it than others. Hens that like to jump down from high places, even if they are smaller, are also more prone, but generally, small standards and bantams are less prone as well as chickens who have ladder type step roosts.