Turkey with hock injury

[amccann]

Hey everyone,
I’m having a hard time deciding what to do for treatment on my 2 yr old bronze turkey hen.
She has had bumblefoot alternating between feet off and on since she was just shy of a year. She had a horse step on her toe and amputated it by force, and she then compensated on the other foot and here we are 16 months later still fighting the same monster. She hasn’t ever been one to roost because of her feet constantly being uncomfortable so she usually just hangs out in the dog house “nesting box” at night. This June she got broody and sat. And sat. And sat. And now that she has started coming out and acknowledging that she isn’t having any babies, she has swollen hocks that have the same bumblefoot looking scab in the middle of them.
I have applied draws, soaked in epsom salt (which is not easy, by the way) wrapped with gauze and vet wrap, added bedding to the box, removed bedding from the box etc etc. I am at a loss. Any insight would be helpful as I don’t even know what to try aside from what I have done for her bumblefoot over the last 16 months.
Thank you all so much!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have photos of her swollen joints?

Have you given any antibiotics at all?

 

[amccann]

Do you have photos of her swollen joints?

Have you given any antibiotics at all?

I will take some this afternoon when I get home from work. I haven’t given any as I don’t know what I am fighting against. The hocks are swollen and the swelling is malleable. I don’t have anyone in my area who is bird savvy and no vets who are bird specialists, so when a 50+ year poultry keeper told me to treat her feet without injection antibiotics, that was all I had to go on.

 

[amccann]

Do you have photos of her swollen joints?

Have you given any antibiotics at all?

I will take some this afternoon when I get home from work. I haven’t given any as I don’t know what I am fighting against. The hocks are swollen and the swelling is malleable which makes me think there is

Hey everyone,
I’m having a hard time deciding what to do for treatment on my 2 yr old bronze turkey hen.
She has had bumblefoot alternating between feet off and on since she was just shy of a year. She had a horse step on her toe and amputated it by force, and she then compensated on the other foot and here we are 16 months later still fighting the same monster. She hasn’t ever been one to roost because of her feet constantly being uncomfortable so she usually just hangs out in the dog house “nesting box” at night. This June she got broody and sat. And sat. And sat. And now that she has started coming out and acknowledging that she isn’t having any babies, she has swollen hocks that have the same bumblefoot looking scab in the middle of them.
I have applied draws, soaked in epsom salt (which is not easy, by the way) wrapped with gauze and vet wrap, added bedding to the box, removed bedding from the box etc etc. I am at a loss. Any insight would be helpful as I don’t even know what to try aside from what I have done for her bumblefoot over the last 16 months.
Thank you all so much!

Had my other half nab some pictures. Its been raining for a few days and my birds look like mud monsters, please forgive them

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She hasn’t ever been one to roost because of her feet constantly being uncomfortable so she usually just hangs out in the dog house “nesting box” at night. This June she got broody and sat. And sat. And sat. And now that she has started coming out and acknowledging that she isn’t having any babies, she has swollen hocks that have the same bumblefoot looking scab in the middle of them.

She's large, but if she's not roosting and laying down all the time/resting a lot on those joints especially at night, it's going to be harder for her to heal.

You could try placing her in a sling to get the pressure off the joints during the night. She may tolerate a sling, may not. It would be good to test it out for monitored periods of time during the day to see how she reacts.

An antibiotic may be helpful, but if she's continually putting pressure on the joints, they likely will still well and get sores.

I'm going to tag in @casportpony and @Eggcessive to see if they have any other suggestions.

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t have any experience with turkeys. But swollen hocks can be a sign of mycoplasma synovitis (MS,) a bacterial arthritis, that causes swollen hocks and joints. There are other types of arthritis from bacteria or viruses. Having bumblefoot, it could be related to staph infection. Lying on her legs is probably not helping her. Are you planning on butchering her this year, or is she a pet or for breeding? Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) can respond to antibiotics such as Tylosin powder in the water, Denagard, or Tetracycline, and a couple of others. But MS is not very successfully treated. It also is contagious and can pass through hatching eggs. There is an egg and meat withdrawal time with some antibiotics. Hopefully, others will offer suggestions. There also is the turkey forum where you can post as well. Here is where to post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/turkeys.20/

 

[Susan Skylark]

I’m not an expert in bird joint infections, especially Mycoplasma but in mammalian species it usually isn’t symmetrical, and the one study I did read on mycoplasma in zebra finches seemed to imply the same: randomly affected sites. If this was a sick bird or had a history of injury, I might lean infectious arthritis but as this is an older, larger bird with a history of lameness and apparently feels fine, a degenerative cause is more likely. And even if it is infectious, antibiotics aren’t going to do much if anything to help (chronic, joint, and possible mycoplasma make that difficult). Long term prognosis isn’t great (tends to get worse) so mostly you just make them comfortable, maintain a healthy weight, encourage non traumatic exercise (swimming is great too bad she isn’t a goose!), pain meds and maybe a joint supplement (do birds take glucosamine?).

 

[amccann]

She comes out and wanders the yard and eats and does bird things without any visible discomfort, though it’s hard to tell because she has a distinct wobbly gait. She has gotten a few epsom salt baths in a high sided tote to just above the hocks over the past couple of days. I have made her bedding deeper and fluffier in the nest box and put wraps/gauze pads on her before bed and take them off when she gets up. The swelling is pretty much gone, it almost looks like floor burn from a gym floor more than anything, so I’m wondering if she has been kicking all of the bedding out from under herself in her haste to have babies(she doesn’t have any eggs mind you, she tries to steal the eggs from one of my lavender orphingtons) and has rubbed her hocks raw. No smell/ooze/pus pockets, I have been putting antibiotic ointment on them after bandage removal in the morning to help them supple up and not be dry cracked elbow status while she’s mobile. To break her of broodiness, she has gotten belly dunked in cold water about 10 times and that seems to have been successful. Thank you all for your input and time