When is Bumblefoot just a callous ?

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

She is next to me as I write this, center of the house, next to everything, with the best window in the house behind her, in a little cage (parrot cage on its side, which is a comfy little apartment for a bantam) and she is eating and drinking to her heart's content. The only bright side to all this is that as one of the very bottom of the pecking order birds, she is getting a little vacation where she has the best of the best foods and no one is pushing her around. She gets her own bowl of all the treats before her sisters see them. I am worried about the bumblefoot because it is so big, but glad I can fatten her up a little while we figure this out. Thank you for sharing all your hard-earned knowledge. All of the heartache they gave you as you nursed them, trying to find the best treatments and identify the variables have become a 'greater-good' as you relieve the suffering of my tiny-little girl far away (and that of those whose care-takers come here after us looking for similar help). She will never meet you, but you are truly her auntie. (she is digging and pecking at the dish-towel she is lying on at the moment. I placed it in a big low-sided serving dish to make a comfy bed. She is making it into a soft little nest, settling in for the night.) I thank you on her behalf, and hope she continues to be this happy and energetic all her life. *blessings to you for your kindness.* I am sorry for the suffering that you had as you learned these things, but grateful to you for sharing. A very sincere thank you.

 

[chickenlover007]

Hi, I don't know if this thread is resolved yet, but I did three bumble foot removal procedures on my chickens in the past all without surgery. I would soak her foot every day two to three times a day for three days, then soak her foot for 15 minutes or more if needed and then gently try to pull out the eschar, then pluck out the extra bits. Then plug the hole with neosporin, spray with anti bacterial, and bandage. Her eschar is quite big though, so if the non invasive technique doesn't work, you can do the same thing as before, but use a scalpel to cut around the eschar. Good luck to you and your hen!!

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

This is to update, the images of the plug that came out, there was no infection, and she was never limping or in any way uncomfortable in her movements. She did NOT enjoy having it removed, and took a terribly exhausted nap in my arms when it was done, but she was running around the house within an hour and ran amok all the day. She then slept soundly and recovered easily. There never seemed to be an infection other than slight discoloration of the skin.

This was my first bumblefoot, and unfortunately not my last, I adopted my birds from a local feed store and they seem to have had limited food before we got them. They had lots of issues with their little feet.

 

[webmistress32]

I had one here with that big, tight bubble in between her toes. What I figured is that the infection is up in there and needs to be worked out. What I did in order to avoid cutting into her foot that deep was to soak and medicate/bandage her foot every three days to try to work that bubble out the hole in the bottom of her foot after I soaked and rubbed the scab off it. It took a couple of weeks but it did eventually come out and when it did, there was indeed a hard infection mass in there. You have to get it out. btw I also tried the anti biotic method first, it did nothing. You have to get that hard nugget out, no pill is going to help you avoid that part of the process.

 

[webmistress32]

View attachment 2496187

That big old mass looks like paydirt to me. I am not sure why you keep saying you didn't find anything in her foot. There it is!

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

sorry, by 'anything' I meant the scary bits of white thread or pus or squishy infection. Just the nicely healed plug.

I was worried the infection was still active

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I also tried ALL the types of soaking, and that seems to have dissolved the outer bit of the plug, it had a different texture than it did originally and it wore it off a lot. It just did nothing for the plug inside (as you mentioned).