What's wrong with my rooster's foot?!

[Peregrine]

Six months ago, our favorite, sweet rooster started limping. We separated him from the flock so that he could heal and not get attacked by a younger rooster. After a MONTH nothing was better, and the injured foot looked swollen. The other rooster got eaten by a dog (

) so we reintroduced him to the flock with no problems (it took a bit for him to be able to mount the hens again).

Now it's half a year later, and it looks like he is having the same problems with his other foot! I found him laying out in the grass one evening, so I separated him again from the flock. He lays down a lot, but when he does stand up he puts his weight on what was his bad foot before. It's been 3 weeks and there's still no signs of improvement.

What I want to know is, what is it, is it treatable, and should we fork over the $ to take him to a vet, or will the vet tell us his best bet is as dinner?

Let me see if I can figure out how to get some pictures on here.....



The foot on the left is the one that started hurting 6 months ago. As you can see, he's now keeping weight off the other foot.



Here's a view from behind. It's hard to tell, but his feet are turned slightly inward. His spurs almost crash into each other.

Anybody ever seen this before?

P.S. It's SOOOOOO easy to post photos now! Thanks, BYC!

 

[Mrs.ChickChick]

Is there a scab with a black area on the underside of his foot? If so, he's got bumble foot. It's a bacterial infection. Do a search as there are many, many threads about this on BYC. It looks very swollen. If you can't do the surgery yourself, get him to the vet ASAP. Good luck, hope he gets better!

 

[NovaAman]

I am going to say bumble foot big time...

 

[willowbranchfarm]

I'm sorry to say but it looks to far gone to be treated to me. Looks like the other foot has some issues too. You can still try treatment but I'm surprised he is still able to walk.

 

[janinepeters]

If you want to save him, I would take him to a vet who sees chickens. If not, I would put the poor thing out of his misery.

 

[Peregrine]

Thanks, everyone! I had never even heard of bumblefoot before. We did some "outpatient surgery" this morning, thanks to the photos, explinations, and videos found through this sight. After we cleaned off his feet, the smaller foot seemed to be ok, but the black scab on the swollen foot was almost the size of a dime! And there was a second, smaller scab right next to it. We removed both and tried getting more out, but it was so hard we weren't sure if we were digging into the foot pad itself. DH pierced a soft "bubble" under the skin, and clear fluid oozed out. Then he squeezed A LOT of yellow puss out through that hole. My 12 yr. old son, who was holding the faucet hose on the foot, started looking a little pale! I had to talk to calm him down as much as I talked to my rooster as I held him down on the counter!

I'm not sure we got it all--some parts were very hard, and we were afraid we'd cut a tendon. Hopefully the antibiotic ointment and the garlic in his water will take care of the rest. I'll update on the progress in another few days or so, unless something drasticly changes.

Thanks again, everyone! He's a wonderful rooster! He's never charged anyone, not even once, he always makes sure the hens eat first when he finds food, he's gentle with them--their backs are never bare--, and even when we separated him from the flock, it was with a broody hen--he slept in the nest with her at night, sat on her eggs when she got up to eat, and never harmed the chicks when they hatched! What a dad!

Quick question: How contagious is bumblefoot? Do I have to worry a lot about my hens? (They free-range). Does the infection spread through the litter? Is there a way to prevent it?

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Bumble foot is caused from a small cut on there foot that gets infected. Since they free range they could get into sharp rocks or thorns so you cant really protect them from it. If someone knows of a way to strengthen the bottom of there feet I would love to know.

As far as I know its not contagious.

 

[janinepeters]

Quick question: How contagious is bumblefoot? Do I have to worry a lot about my hens? (They free-range). Does the infection spread through the litter? Is there a way to prevent it?

Bumblefoot itself is not really contagious, but it is possible that you have a lot of one or more of the bacteria which usually cause it, in your environment. One of them is Staphylococcus aureus, but there are several others. If you do have a lot of any one of those in your environment it might mean that your birds are at higher risk of developing bumblefoot when they do get cuts on their feet. If you've had a lot of chickens over a long period time and this is your first or 2nd case, I would not worry about it. Just try to keep their coop and run free of sharp edges so they won't cut their feet.

Soft, dry litter such as pine shavings is good. The dryness helps prevent the spread of bacteria, and obviously the softness helps prevents cuts on the feet.

 

[froggiesheins]

You might have to redo the soaking and surgery if you don't think you got everything.......sometimes you do have to go back in.
There is a video on U-Tube about de-spuring a rooster if his spurs are getting too long. It is SO EASY. Hugs to your roo. I hope he heals fast...

 

[janinepeters]

You might have to redo the soaking and surgery if you don't think you got everything.......sometimes you do have to go back in.

I hope you'll take him to a vet if he needs a second go, provided you can find a vet that sees birds. This surgery is done without an anesthetic and therefore very painful. Vets are trained to do surgery and have a better chance of getting it right in one shot.