Bumblefoot Mystery

[Primchick88]

Nope, it wont heal. Its a infection so it wont just go away unless you get antibiotics. Give your hens treats when they go to get there "pedicure" then they will really enjoy it. Like my hen! You can place a towel over them, to make sure they dont flap thete wings. (Odiviously not over her head.) It does not really hurt them, just be gentle. Blood is fine, too much. Not that fine. Be gentle enough so that if they move there foot quickly, you wont hurt them. Also make sure not to wrap the vet wrap to tight.

When you pack with Neosporin after you have plucked out the pus kernel following a 15min epsom and iodine soak, be sure to use the type without pain relief because it is toxic to chickens. If you can’t remove the whole kernel first time, you may have to repeat the process in a couple days until it is taken care of and cleared. I’ve done these mini operations many times. Wish you well

 

[Primchick88]

When you pack with Neosporin after you have plucked out the pus kernel following a 15min epsom and iodine soak, be sure to use the type without pain relief because it is toxic to chickens. If you can’t remove the whole kernel first time, you may have to repeat the process in a couple days until it is taken care of and cleared. I’ve done these mini operations many times. Wish you well

Internal antibiotics only cause other problems by destroying the gut biome so unless you’re doing that under veterinarian supervision and following with probiotics, it’s not recommended. I find that a little bit of mixed with Neosporin works beautifully for these external infections.

 

[Primchick88]

Internal antibiotics only cause other problems by destroying the gut biome so unless you’re doing that under veterinarian supervision and following with probiotics, it’s not recommended. I find that a little bit of mixed with Neosporin works beautifully for these external infections.

Sorry, talk text didn’t pick up PRID salve. I usually combine it with an Neosporin and then wrap with vet wrap with a little plug of cotton in the center over the wound. I have done many of these little operations without the PRID and the results are just as effective.

 

[Primchick88]

Sorry, talk text didn’t pick up PRID salve. I usually combine it with an Neosporin and then wrap with vet wrap with a little plug of cotton in the center over the wound. I have done many of these little operations without the PRID and the results are just as effective.

Vetricyn spray before the neo and prid if using it

 

[Primchick88]

What causes bumblefoot? Is it staph? @Eggcessive
Would Mupiricin work better than, say, Neosporin to clear it up?

Staph

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Staph

Thank you.

 

[crazy chicken ladies]

I've been dealing with Bumble foot off and on and after my first round of cleaning and changing bandages every day, I now clean, apply antibiotic ointment and wait a couple of days. Then repeat. So far, after removing the bandage the second time, the Bumble is soft and comes right out. Then I cleaned and bandaged regularly until it was healed

 

[Sylvester017]

Our vet has seen a couple of our chickens though he doesn't normally have chicken experience (he's very nice). I called him about the bumble foot going on and told him about this and he really liked the toothbrushing idea. I happened to have some Mupirocin ointment and he said that ought to really knock it out, so I'm using that.

I wanted to ask you how often you unwrapped, re-treated, and re-wrapped their feet and how long it took for the scabs to fall away and their feet to heal up. Also, once the scabs fall off, did you keep applying the ointment and wrap their feet? If so for how many days longer until you were sure it was healed enough?

I haven't read ahead what others have done but our 1st bumble hen we took her to our vet who is experienced w/chickens. We didn't even know what bumblefoot was since no previous hens ever developed it before! The 1st hen w/bumble had it on both footpads & had surgery & sent home w/instructions to Epsom soak, triple antibiotic, vet wrap daily both feet. Took a few weeks before the healing scabs removed in the soak. We did not force pulling or squeezing on any part of the treatment. To keep the vetwrap clean we kept the hen indoors. She had a mirror to keep her company. Mirrors are great companion chicken sitters!

After our 1st vet visit w/bumble we became more aware of checking the hens' feet at first signs of bumble to catch it early for easier treatment before any swelling forms.

The vet recommended padding the coop perch to alleviate bumble issues but we discovered a couple years later that the 2 bumble hens got bumble anyway ~ not from the perch roost but from snoozing daily on rough stone garden bed borders and sitting on the cedarwood borders of their sandbox dustbath! The 3rd year in a row of the 2 hens getting bumble is when we finally realized what was causing bumble scabs to form.

When the 2nd hen got bumble she did not need surgery ~ the vet sent us home to just do Epsom salt soak, triple antibiotic ointment, vet wrap daily till the scab came off on its own. After the bumble scab came off we continued the Epsom salt/ointment/vetwrap treatment until the healing scab also came off. We continued vetwrapping after the healing scab came off (no soaking or ointment this time) to allow the new skin to toughen up before turning the hen outdoors to join the flock.

Some owners turn the chicken outdoors each day after treatments but we kept a treated hen indoors to keep her wraps clean plus to keep the flock from picking at the wraps.

The way we treated for bumble took weeks to clear up for each hen but we don't mind since we have a 4'x4' dog crate in our den for sick, injured, surgery, or quarantined birds. My DH calls the crate our "HEN-i-tentiary"

 

[egghead@1265]

Howdy folks, looking for some insight.

Noticed last week one of my chickens had a limp to her, i saw that on her right foot she had a scab on the base of her foot and was clearly twice as large as her left foot.

My immediate thought was bumblefoot, so i start the treatment, i soak her in epsom salts for 15 mins, then get some PRID drawing salve and cover the scab. Get some gauze and wrap it. I do this every day for a week.

Now is where it gets tricky, After the pre treatment has finished, i start to peel away the scab, expecting to bring out the bumble that is infecting her foot, however the scab did not bring up any bumble. It just seemed to take the scab but there was no flesh underneath that seemed unhealthy or was a bumble. I washed it with iodine and neosporin and wrapped it again.

I am at a loss, her right foot is clearly far more swollen yet there was no bumble i could peel away. I am not going to just go in and slice her foot open to see if there is anything. Anyone experience anything similar? is there something i can do?

(it is also important to note her left foot [the smaller one] seems to have the scales splay out more than i feel is normal, but there does not seem to be any cuts or signs of infection)

Seems we have one like this also. Treating 3 of over 100 that we have and struggling

 

[Sylvester017]

Hang in there ~ you are aware it's a long treatment process. What frustrated us is it took us 3 seasons to finally realize what caused bumble w/our 2 hens.