Duck Foot Sores (bumblefoot?)

[DuckQs]

Hello. I have 7 duck hens and one of them has had some issues with her feet for several months. I feel like I have read and tried everything and hoping someone can help.

The history:
I noticed Millie limping several months ago and so i grabbed her (fearing she was egg bound) and found a big ball with the scab on the bottom of her foot. So after research it seemed like bumblefoot. I soaked her foot lots of times and applied MicrocynAH wound spray for weeks (wrapping her foot). She seemed to get better but eventually would start limping not being able to keep up with the others as they free range my yard. So I decided to do the bumblefoot surgery (preluded by a week of PRID salve) only to find lots of blood and no hard kernel that is seemingly always found.
This healed (w/ neosporin) but the swelling never went away. I bought some neoprene duck booties for her to wear around which seemed to take the pressure off but again the swelling didn't go down after 2 weeks of wearing them.
I tried a second surgery on the other foot thinking maybe the other foot had bumblefoot but had the same results. Wish I hadn't done either of the surgeries!

Now I put her in my garage for 2.5 weeks on shavings to limit her walking and be on something soft hoping that would reduce the swelling, but it currently looks like the pictures. Now I'm worried I'm drying her feet out without proper access to bathing.

Any thoughts or help appreciated. No other ducks have this problem (3 pekins, 2 harlequin, 1 cayuga, 1 khaki).

 

[alinas2010]

Hello. I have 7 duck hens and one of them has had some issues with her feet for several months. I feel like I have read and tried everything and hoping someone can help.

The history:
I noticed Millie limping several months ago and so i grabbed her (fearing she was egg bound) and found a big ball with the scab on the bottom of her foot. So after research it seemed like bumblefoot. I soaked her foot lots of times and applied MicrocynAH wound spray for weeks (wrapping her foot). She seemed to get better but eventually would start limping not being able to keep up with the others as they free range my yard. So I decided to do the bumblefoot surgery (preluded by a week of PRID salve) only to find lots of blood and no hard kernel that is seemingly always found.
This healed (w/ neosporin) but the swelling never went away. I bought some neoprene duck booties for her to wear around which seemed to take the pressure off but again the swelling didn't go down after 2 weeks of wearing them.
I tried a second surgery on the other foot thinking maybe the other foot had bumblefoot but had the same results. Wish I hadn't done either of the surgeries!

Now I put her in my garage for 2.5 weeks on shavings to limit her walking and be on something soft hoping that would reduce the swelling, but it currently looks like the pictures. Now I'm worried I'm drying her feet out without proper access to bathing.

Any thoughts or help appreciated. No other ducks have this problem (3 pekins, 2 harlequin, 1 cayuga, 1 khaki).

View attachment 4019316View attachment 4019317

Sorry to see your duck is going through this. Those do look like bumblefoot to me. Unfortunately for bumblefoot to heal completely, the infection does need to be removed fully. I am in agreement with you on the surgery method of removal; it is not worth the risk. I know some people have luck with it, but I’ve seen so many chickens end up with missing toes or feet because of home surgeries that don’t heal. With that being said, sometimes severe bumblefoot cases can take weeks to months to completely heal.

Now I don’t have ducks, but I imagine the treatment to be somewhat similar to that of chickens with bumblefoot. I would keep soaking her feet in an epsom salt bath once a day until those plugs become soft enough to remove. They may bring a kernel out with them or they may not. But keep treating if there is residual swelling. Pack the open holes with plain triple antibiotic ointment and losely wrap with gauze and vet wrap. Some people with stubborn bumblefoot in chickens have used a sugardine paste made with sugar and a few drops of betadine; it’s supposed to be very helpful, you could try that.

 

[DuckQs]

Sorry to see your duck is going through this. Those do look like bumblefoot to me. Unfortunately for bumblefoot to heal completely, the infection does need to be removed fully. I am in agreement with you on the surgery method of removal; it is not worth the risk. I know some people have luck with it, but I’ve seen so many chickens end up with missing toes or feet because of home surgeries that don’t heal. With that being said, sometimes severe bumblefoot cases can take weeks to months to completely heal.

Now I don’t have ducks, but I imagine the treatment to be somewhat similar to that of chickens with bumblefoot. I would keep soaking her feet in an epsom salt bath once a day until those plugs become soft enough to remove. They may bring a kernel out with them or they may not. But keep treating if there is residual swelling. Pack the open holes with plain triple antibiotic ointment and losely wrap with gauze and vet wrap. Some people with stubborn bumblefoot in chickens have used a sugardine paste made with sugar and a few drops of betadine; it’s supposed to be very helpful, you could try that.

Thanks for this. My previous soaking attempts had not seem to do much in the realm of softening but I have been soaking again the last 5 days or so and I'm seeing some pretty good results. the black mounds are falling off with little pulling on my part and healthier skin is underneath but I need to keep soaking for what is underneath still like you're saying with completely removing the infection. I've been doing the neosporin, gauze, wet wrap like you're saying.

She has still laid some eggs for me in January! So she has lots of life still which is great.

 

[Jenbirdee]

After every time daily I soak a Bumblefoot in warm Epson salt water then I generously apply this Epson salt poultice and use a gauze pad and then vet wrap the foot .

 

[DuckQs]

Thanks for the suggestion. To clarify, are you doing this dry or wet? Would you also do a neosporin with it?

 

[alinas2010]

Thanks for the suggestion. To clarify, are you doing this dry or wet? Would you also do a neosporin with it?

I think the idea is to do your soak, dry it off, spray with a wound spray if you are including that in your regimen, and then pack the wound with the poultice. It probably wouldn’t hurt to add neosporin, too, but also if you don’t want to that won’t hurt, either. @Jenbirdee can correct me if I am wrong, though

 

[Jenbirdee]

I think the idea is to do your soak, dry it off, spray with a wound spray if you are including that in your regimen, and then pack the wound with the poultice. It probably wouldn’t hurt to add neosporin, too, but also if you don’t want to that won’t hurt, either. @Jenbirdee can correct me if I am wrong, though

I only use the poultice after soaking when there is still a scab that needs to be softened for removal. I don’t try to dry it before the poultice , because the whole point is to keep it moist to get the scab covering the kernel soft enough for removal.
After the scab is removed and the kernel is cleaned out I just use a spray of veterycin and then a glob of antibacterial ointment before the gauze And vet wrap.

 

[alinas2010]

I only use the poultice after soaking when there is still a scab that needs to be softened for removal. I don’t try to dry it before the poultice , because the whole point is to keep it moist to get the scab covering the kernel soft enough for removal.
After the scab is removed and the kernel is cleaned out I just use a spray of veterycin and then a glob of antibacterial ointment before the gauze And vet wrap.

Good to know! Thanks for sharing I was thinking it was the same as you would do with sugardine, where you pack the hole with it. I’ve heard of people having good luck with that poultice, but I’ve never used it myself, so I wasn’t sure how it’s used.

So the idea of the poultice is more to soften the scab?

 

[nfoster70]

Hello, we have a 3 year old female Indian Runner duck. Last weekend we found her leg bleeding and noticed her left leg dew claw had been broken at the nail and was bleeding a little bit. We came to notice it because we saw blood on her orange leg. The toe appears fine. It it not warm to the touch or swollen. We did some duck first aid and put blue cote on it for the night. For the following week, we’ve soaked it in some warm baths, kept her separated so she lays down and stays off of it, and did one epsom salt bath.

Flash forward to today and she isn’t putting weight on the other foot. We examined this leg not realizing that it wasn’t the foot with the broken claw until an hour or so ago. It doesn’t feel warm, and doesn’t appear infected. She has no sensitivity to me touching the leg in any place. But when put on the ground she stands on one leg, has restricted movement and doesn’t follow the other ducks, but if forced to walk she has a noticeable limp or swims. We put some T-Relief cream on both legs tonight and have her separated from the rest of the ducks as a precaution.

Could the forum help me identify if this is actually from bumblefoot as she has a bigger callous on the foot she isn’t putting weight on, than the other. I can’t tell if it is bumblefoot or we are dealing with a sprain/strain situation. Pictures are attached.

Thank you for your help.