Big "thing" on Aylesbury duck foot.

[redfernchucks2016]

Hello! First time posting so hope I'm doing things right.
We have had 3 Aylesbury ducks since their feathers started coming through. When they reached near full size, one of the biggest, named Eliza, began limping. We contacted the breeder and she thought that she had just pulled a muscle. We kept her inside for a few days and it seemed to clear up although, she has always had a limp and a slightly twisted foot it has never bothered her.
Jump forward a year and a half we find ourselves in a similar position. Eliza has started limping really badly and will sit down as much as possible. She is eating and drinking well and just to make sure we bound her leg and put some cream that was recommended to us by her breeder. Tonight we decided to take the bandage off. My dad lifted her up on her back to make it easier for me to take the bandage off. On her foot was a massive "thing" (I will attach images). I googled it and the look of it is bumblefoot but it looks way bigger than any cases I've seen. The "growth" is quite hard and the black bit(?) is rather soft. It was obviously causing her a lot of pain.
Hope some people can help,
May

 

[FluffTheDuck]

Hi, that is severe bumblefoot. Put medicine on it .. I had this once. I would soak their feet in a salt (don't do this until somebody else clarifies me) water bath for 20 minutes. Squeeze the foot until goo comes out. I would hurry (once again, after somebody clarifies me) because soon it will travel up the foot making it not walk, leading to death. And it looks like she's almost there. She will need surgery I bet if it does not heal up after its been a week of doing that salt water bath, 3 times a day, every day.
Good LUCK!
(ps my duck lived)

 

[PirateGirl]

There are a few articles on bumblefoot here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/injuries-diseases-cures.29/

I also would start with a soak to loosen things up. Some of that dead skin on the surface will hopefully come off pretty easily and you should be able to get a better look at the wound in general.

 

[redfernchucks2016]

Hi, thanks for the replies!
What would you recommend for antibacterial after 'surgery'?

 

[DobieLover]

You can also try this:

Any drawing salve would do. As already recommended, you should really start treatment immediately.
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[PirateGirl]

Since it is so large, if it was one of my ducks, I'd probably keep it separate from the flock for a bit during recovery, possibly inside to keep the inevitable mud that ducks like to make out of it. In our household we like to use plain old triple antibiotic ointment on all creatures, humans and others as it seems to be mild and effective.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Please soak her foot real good in Epsom salt water and post another pic with her foot clean and better angle so we can get a real good look.thanks. Most of the time with bumble foot squeezing does nothing you will need to get any scab off and then work on getting the plug infection out. That’s one reason we need a clean soaked pic of the foot

 

[redfernchucks2016]

Hello and thank you for all the replies. I believe that time zones might be against me as I live in the UK and our girls are all away at the moment. Will 12 hours be a risk as we can only do it in the morning? As well as that, there are no over-the-counter antibiotics available over here, will normal antiseptic do or some iodine spray?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just when you get a chance tomorrow will be fine. It just needs to be treated as soon as possible once you get the infection out with post op care it should heal fine. And Welcome if your a new member my phone doesn’t show that.

 

[redfernchucks2016]

Hi, thank you for the welcome. So are you saying that antibiotics aren't necessary and we can perform surgery without and her body should be able to fight off infection, providing we wrap the foot and keep her confined for a few days?