What is wrong with my quail’s foot?

[GodLovesU]

What is wrong? I pulled a brown crusty thing out of the pink and red part. How can I fix this? Is it bumblefoot?

 

[User690263]

View attachment 4235455What is wrong? I pulled a brown crusty thing out of the pink and red part. How can I fix this? Is it bumblefoot?

The spot on the center of her foot looks like bumble foot, not sure about the other spots though

 

[Nabiki]

That looks like bumblefoot. Epsom salt bath, keep it clean. Are these the ones that you got from the person who was getting rid of their quail? They sure don't seem to have been taken care of very well.

 

[GodLovesU]

That looks like bumblefoot. Epsom salt bath, keep it clean. Are these the ones that you got from the person who was getting rid of their quail? They sure don't seem to have been taken care of very well.

Is there any ointment I should put in the “hole”? It is the same group of quail. Their previous owner was an older man. He just recently had surgery, which was why he was rehoming. He called them “his babies”. I think he was caring for them as best he could.

 

[Nabiki]

Is there any ointment I should put in the “hole”? It is the same group of quail. Their previous owner was an older man. He just recently had surgery, which was why he was rehoming. He called them “his babies”. I think he was caring for them as best he could.

Anti-bacterial ointment without painkiller would probably be a good idea. You'll need to wrap it to keep it clean. Make sure you get one without painkiller since most painkillers used in those are toxic to birds.

 

[GodLovesU]

How long should I soak his foot in the epsom salt bath? Also, should I try to remove the “corn” in his foot?

 

[catesquire]

I personally haven't found "corns" in any of my birds' feet, I'm starting to suspect that might be a chicken thing (aka: you can avoid foot surgery unless you have a cause to suspect it would help).

I do about a half hour bath in warm water (I've been skipping the Epsom salt, since I can't find anything about what it's supposed to actually be doing for the birds, and your bird is going to drink a LOT of that water while they're standing around, and Epsom salt is a laxative in humans). After the soak, I wrap them in a hand towel to dry them + make them easier to handle, then very gently tug at the scab edges with a pair of tweezers to see if it's loose--they seem to have trouble getting rid of the scabs on their own, probably because the bedding we use isn't anywhere near as rough as the natural ground they'd be running on in the wild. Take off what you can without making them bleed, then leave them alone for a few days and check again.

If they're not getting noticably worse, repeat the soak + gentle scab removal every 1-3ish weeks until they've healed (you're basically just giving them time for the skin underneath the scab to totally heal, and then helping them get the scab off). If they're getting worse, make sure you've dealt with whatever caused it (it was damp bedding, in my case), and try putting Neosporin (plain, NO PAINKILLERS) on their feet and wrapping with vet tape for a day or two. (That's what to do if you accidentally open the scab, as well.)

Good luck! It's going to take awhile to heal but as long as you've removed the root cause, your birds should improve steadily week to week.