about to preform bumblefoot surgery---any tips befor doing so?

[Mutchi]

im about to preform a bumblefoot surgery! any tips and/or instructions? this is what my instructions say . is it wrong?

(warning this is copy and paste)(also not my pics)


When I took care of the first bumblefoot infection in our flock, I read as much as I could. Most of the information available at the time, recommended a type of surgical procedure using a scalpel to cut into the foot and remove the core of infection. Many in the chicken community still recommend this approach and avian veterinarians if you can find one, will use this approach.

A foot soak in Betadine solution and vetrycin spray to clean the feet and disinfect


Other chicken websites and chicken caretakers began to treat the infection with out using invasive techniques involving surgery and were having good results. As we often do, I took what I thought were the best parts of each method and have a method that works and that I am comfortable using. Fortunately, bumblefoot infections in my flock are not all that frequent. But I have had success using either method. The non-surgical approach is much easier for most people to stomach though, so I will describe that here.

What to Look For​

The first clue that something is wrong may come from observing your chicken’s behavior. Often the chicken will be hesitant to walk on the affected leg and foot. It may hold the foot up off the ground or stay hunkered down on the ground. Upon lifting the chicken up and looking at the bottom of the foot, this may be what you see. An obvious sore or abscess that has formed on the bottom of the foot.

Bumblefoot is a Staph Infection.​

When working with a bumble foot infection it is a good idea to wear disposable exam gloves.
First you should gather up your supplies for treating the infection.

I cut the strips of vet wrap and hang them near by so I can grab the next strip quickly.

Here’s what I use:​

• Saline solution to rinse and clean
• Veterycin wound and infection spray
• Triple antibiotic ointment (make sure it is the kind with NO pain reliever added)
• Gauze pads, 2 inch by 2 inch
• Cohesive bandage cut in long strips
• Electric Tape
• Scalpel in case you need it.
• Tweezers

Find a Quiet Place to Work on the Chicken​

Next, you will gather up the chicken and take her somewhere calm to work on her. I usually include snacks of meal worms or some other tasty morsel to sweeten the deal.


A quick tip- When working on a chicken, tipping them upside down and tucking the head and wings under your arm can give you a good angle for working on the feet and seems to calm the bird down.
Look at both feet. Hopefully there is only one foot infected with bumblefoot, but sometimes both feet will be affected.

Cleanliness!​

I like to clean up the foot and start with a clean area. I stood my hen in a mixture of Betadine and Vetrycin wound spray. After the foot bath, I dried her feet and tucked her under my arm to control the wings while I worked on the foot. In this case the infection had abscessed already so I was also dealing with an open wound. I cleaned it out as best I could, not really using the scalpel to cut into the foot but just to clean away the debris and any scab. Tweezers might also be helpful at this point.

Next I soaked a gauze pad with Vetrycin spray and held it on the bumblefoot wound. I wanted the solution to soak in. I prepared another gauze pad to get it ready for bandaging.
While holding the clean gauze pad with Vetrycin and triple antibiotic ointment on the wound, grab one strip of vet wrap. Hold the end of the vet wrap strip around the shank on the lower leg. Bring the vet wrap down and between two toes and back over the top of the foot. Continue wrapping in a figure 8 style through the toes and around the foot ending back up on the shank. I often use two or three strips of vet wrap on each foot.

When the wrapping is completed, grab the strip of electrical tape and again, starting on the shank do a wrap that will hold the vet wrap bandage in place, ending up on top or on the shank. The electrical tape will hold the bandage job in place and resist moisture that might allow the bandage to unwrap and fall off.

Observe the Chicken for a Few Minutes​

Slowly allow the chicken to return upright and set her on the ground. She will inspect the bandage job but should be able to walk normally and scratch at the ground. The bandage will keep most of the dirt from reaching the bumblefoot wound site.

The bandage should be changed every day and a cleaning done on the bumblefoot wound. Reapply a fresh bandage. After a week you should notice a difference in the appearance of the bumble. It should start to look less inflamed, less swollen and sore and look like it is healing. Usually, in the cases I have treated, the wound is well on the way to being completely gone within a month’s time. Good routine care is the key, along with observing that the problem is starting to go away and not get worse. If you start to see signs of infection returning, feel heat in the foot and leg and notice the chicken not acting well, you should seek veterinary assistance.

healing up nicely. notice that the inflammation is gone and the wound is nearly gone


is this corect?? i dont want to be following wrong info and hurt my chicken more than it allready is...

 

[Chicalina]

I have swaddled the chicken in a towel so it feels secure, cannot flap and I can lay it down like a sausage on my kitchen counter with its feet hanging over the sink. I wouldn't do this surgery outdoors.

Those pics look dirty. You need a clean environment and clean chicken feet.

Epsom salts is a good foot bath. Scrub the foot with a toothbrush to get it sparkling. Then you can see what you are dealing with and reduce risk of reinfection. The article gives no detail about the digging you may have to do to get the pus plug out, either with tweezers or scalpel. It is often hard like cheese or soft like cottage cheese. This takes some time. Have clean gauze handy to mop up bleeding. An extra person is useful too to hold the chicken down. Mostly they lie there if we'll swaddled.

What are you putting on the wound after? A good dollop of antibiotic cream on gauze before you wrap is good. And only change the bandage and clean it every 2 to 3 days or you'll wash out clots and reopen the wound.

If the wound is a gaping cavern when you've finished, you may need to pack it with iodine soaked gauze inside so it stays moist and heals from the inside out.

duct tape cut in strips makes a good cover boot if you don't have electrical tape.

 

[Chicalina]

Also, I've made the covering boot over the whole foot so it ends up looking like a ducks foot, with no toes sticking out. Then the scratching in the dirt can't get into the bandage between the toes while the wound is healing.

And check every few minutes that the chicken is breathing and happy while you do the surgery. Cover their head loosely with the end of the towel you use to wrap the body fairly tightly with, so they are in the dark. It will keep them calmer. And ideally don't lay them on their back as that compresses their lungs. So, front or side which also gives you better access to the underside of their foot too.

 

[Mutchi]

I have swaddled the chicken in a towel so it feels secure, cannot flap and I can lay it down like a sausage on my kitchen counter with its feet hanging over the sink. I wouldn't do this surgery outdoors.

Those pics look dirty. You need a clean environment and clean chicken feet.

Epsom salts is a good foot bath. Scrub the foot with a toothbrush to get it sparkling. Then you can see what you are dealing with and reduce risk of reinfection. The article gives no detail about the digging you may have to do to get the pus plug out, either with tweezers or scalpel. It is often hard like cheese or soft like cottage cheese. This takes some time. Have clean gauze handy to mop up bleeding. An extra person is useful too to hold the chicken down. Mostly they lie there if we'll swaddled.

What are you putting on the wound after? A good dollop of antibiotic cream on gauze before you wrap is good. And only change the bandage and clean it every 2 to 3 days or you'll wash out clots and reopen the wound.

If the wound is a gaping cavern when you've finished, you may need to pack it with iodine soaked gauze inside so it stays moist and heals from the inside out.

duct tape cut in strips makes a good cover boot if you don't have electrical tape.

to put on the foot afterwards was just going to be a normal pet cast. what is iodine???

 

[Chicalina]

to put on the foot afterwards was just going to be a normal pet cast. what is iodine???

what is a normal pet cast?

Iodine in the pic. What equipment and medications do you have? List them please.

 

[Mutchi]

i have...

one bottle of vetericyn pluse
one bottle of herbal skin spray
one roll of waterproof tape
two rolls of cast
one box of gause pads and one roll of rolled gause

 

[Chicalina]

ok that's a start. I have no idea about the herbal skin spray or the cast. Is the cast the stuff they use in hospital when you've broken a bone and it sets hard? If so you don't need that. I can't imagine the herbal spray is any use.

You need antibiotic cream really. At least antiseptic cream if you have no antibiotic cream. You can mix sugar into a paste with iodine or water or the cream or a drop of tea tree oil and put a lump of it on the open would then cover with gauze. That helps to draw infection out of the wound.

You may need to get more gauze pads than you have over the course of the next week.

 

[Mutchi]

ok that's a start. I have no idea about the herbal skin spray or the cast. Is the cast the stuff they use in hospital when you've broken a bone and it sets hard? If so you don't need that. I can't imagine the herbal spray is any use.

You need antibiotic cream really. At least antiseptic cream if you have no antibiotic cream. You can mix sugar into a paste with iodine or water or the cream or a drop of tea tree oil and put a lump of it on the open would then cover with gauze. That helps to draw infection out of the wound.

You may need to get more gauze pads than you have over the course of the next week.

dont worry about the gause pads, i just found lots more!
and would neosporin be a antibiotic cream?

 

[Chicalina]

@Isaac 0 @ryneaeiel I've tagged these people who might give better advice.

 

[Mutchi]

ok!