Is this bumble foot?

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Giffen Farms
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Is this bumble foot?

Post by Giffen Farms » Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:08 pm

Is this bumble foot? Looks like a big pimple ready to burst, anything I read on the interweb has several different remedies on how to treat it but no two are the same, any idea's?
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Happy
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by Happy » Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:09 pm

Yes looks like bumblefoot. Ive had no luck in getting it out on my own. You should see a big black scab usually on bottom of foot. Some say cut it out...others say squeeze it out. I have twice taken a hen to North Simcoe Vet and they injected the foot with antibiotics and i had to wrap it up for a bit. Hope you can fix her up...that looks painful.
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by Killerbunny » Tue Aug 20, 2019 6:56 am

When one of my girls had it between her toes it "popped" on it\s own and went down. In that case there was little under her foot and it wasn't bothering her. That looks worse. Not sure what to suggest.
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by Farrier1987 » Tue Aug 20, 2019 8:17 am

I have been lucky here for whatever reason. Havent had a bumblefoot in over a year. Look for a black scabbish thing in the bottom of the foot. Scrape it off. You may or may not need a very sharp knife to enlarge the hole just a little. Then squeeze like a zit. Should be a fairly solid kernel come out, seems like a piece of cartilage, is really congealed solidified pus. Afterward, I will insert a grain of pickling salt into the hole, and use a disinfectant like iodine or coppertox. I dont bandage, as letting it dry and drain has worked better for me than keeping it taped and moist for bacteria to regrow.

Good luck with it.
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by Jaye » Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:03 am

Try soaking the foot in a warm water and Epsom salts solution for 10-20 minutes first, to soften it up and hopefully get it to drain, before attempting to dig out the "plug".
Personally, I would not put straight salt in to an open wound, because I think that's got to hurt, but you could flush with a saline solution or some other antiseptic, or apply some sort of antibiotic ointment - the kind without pain killer in it (toxic to chickens) - and cover with a dressing and vet wrap for the first day.
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Farrier1987
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by Farrier1987 » Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:12 am

I have never had them drain, core has always been mostly solid like a half cooked rice grain or small kernel of corn. The salt. Yeah, it smarts pretty good for about five minutes as the osmosis part does its thing, then starts to heal. I do it to myself too, with something like a cat bite puncture wound or stepped on a nail. Never seems to get infected. Works for me and mine anyway.
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by Jaye » Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:20 am

Good point about making sure that the wound site is good and dry before applying any dressing, @Farrier1987 .
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by poultry_admin » Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:31 pm

Farrier1987 wrote:
Tue Aug 20, 2019 8:17 am
I have been lucky here for whatever reason. Havent had a bumblefoot in over a year. Look for a black scabbish thing in the bottom of the foot. Scrape it off. You may or may not need a very sharp knife to enlarge the hole just a little. Then squeeze like a zit. Should be a fairly solid kernel come out, seems like a piece of cartilage, is really congealed solidified pus. Afterward, I will insert a grain of pickling salt into the hole, and use a disinfectant like iodine or coppertox. I dont bandage, as letting it dry and drain has worked better for me than keeping it taped and moist for bacteria to regrow.

Good luck with it.
DW does that with her chickens, too. She just squeezes in antibiotic creme (Polysporin) instead of salt in the wound. I'm the lucky one to hold the chickens when she cuts. Cutting doesn't seem to hurt them. She leaves it open, too. The chicken is good after 2/3 steps.
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Kbr42
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by Kbr42 » Wed Aug 21, 2019 5:08 pm

I used drawing sauve. Purdy I believe was the name. Worked great. Put it on tape it up and I a couple of days it pops off.
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Re: Is this bumble foot?

Post by KimChick » Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:56 am

Bumblefoot was our intro to having chickens.
DH was the doctor. I wrapped the hens in a towel, held them in a warm Epson salt water solution for a few minutes. Then with me holding the hen in the towel, on her side, on a table, DH scraped and cut open the black scab, and tried to squeeze out a kernel which was often visible. Then we sprayed on Vetracyn and placed gauze over the wound and wrapped it with 1" MEDca wrap. We had to trim the wrap because even 1" was a bit wide. Some of the process did seem painful for the hen, but we only lost one.
Much later, I realized what caused it. Their feet were getting scratched and cut from old nails and broken glass from a hen house that was in the same spot many years earlier. We found that out from old photos that were left in the house. (We have an 1890's house.) So I magnet swept the whole area, especially where they started to scratch up a dust bath hole. There were a lot of old nails.
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