Bumblefoot

[Eggofarms]

Yeah. We soaked for 25 minutes in Epsom salt and then got everything ready.

I picked the scab off completely in pieces and as soon as I got through pus started coming out. Inserted the tweezers and kind of went around in a circle to open it up.

We did sterilize the scissors and tweezers on a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes as well. Didn't want to introduce another bacteria.

We literally watched this and did it except I don't see or feel a kernel. Ours didn't push out like hers so I just kept going deeper and pus came out.

 

[Eggofarms]

Here is ours. Pretty similar placement. Like I said I don't see or feel or kernel but there is definitely an abscess cavity

 

[DonyaQuick]

We definitely got past the scab. I could put the tweezers in at least 1/2 in deep and she bled a decent amount. I probed around but didn't feel anything hard along with squeezing.

I had a bumblefoot outbreak in my flock this year. Most of the hens produced hard kernels, but one hen's feet never produced solid kernels. She had it on both feet, treatment dragged on for a good two months, and it was really hard to clean out the abscess areas completely because of the lack of kernes - there was nothing solid to push on unlike with the other birds where I'd eventually feel the kernel moving around and be able to work it out. So, I'd say it is absolutely possible to have a bad case of bumblefoot that is just goop of varying consistencies. It's just more common to see the kernel come out easily or even for it to take a few iterations for it to finally come out if it's really deep.

If you see the swelling start to go down, that's an indication you've got all the gunk out. If something's still in there, the redness and swelling will typically come back again.

 

[Eggofarms]

I had a bumblefoot outbreak in my flock this year. Most of the hens produced hard kernels, but one hen's feet never produced solid kernels. She had it on both feet, treatment dragged on for a good two months, and it was really hard to clean out the abscess areas completely because of the lack of kernes - there was nothing solid to push on unlike with the other birds where I'd eventually feel the kernel moving around and be able to work it out. So, I'd say it is absolutely possible to have a bad case of bumblefoot that is just goop of varying consistencies. It's just more common to see the kernel come out easily or even for it to take a few iterations for it to finally come out if it's really deep.

If you see the swelling start to go down, that's an indication you've got all the gunk out. If something's still in there, the redness and swelling will typically come back again.

If it comes back I may track down some antibiotics to feed her with a syringe. This is our first time so we will see over the next day or two. It's definitely inflamed today so we should hopefully see improvement over the next day or two.

 

[Eggofarms]

This hen doesn't even lay for us anymore. She was very productive the first 2 years or maybe another underlying issue.

We love her though and she is the last of our original flock.

 

[Eggofarms]

Got some cephalexin. Going to start administrating tonight. Our girl is alert but still hurting. May have to back in but I'm checking the swelling when we let her soak

On another note, one of our laying hens decided to jump over their fence with the dogs out. A lot of feathers but she's walking around and strutting. We will see about internal injuries tomorrow. Sigh