Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Hi all,

Our healthy chicken was pecking her foot recently so I picked her up. I was surprised to see such an advanced scab on her foot!

The foot looks mostly normal and maybe a little swollen. I also noticed she has a slight limp. Here are some pics.

She's generally healthy and not lethargic - at least not yet?

Does anyone here have experience with Bumble Foot or other foot-related injuries? What are your thoughts about this??

Thank you in advance for taking a look.

Evelyn

Hi, and welcome back! yes, it's almost definitely bumblefoot. If you do a quick search on bumblefoot on this site, you'll get lots of useful info on how to treat it. (go to 'quick links/search' on the top menu bar)

Certainly looks from the bottom like bumblefoot. Is there a lompish thing showing from the top of the foot? Have you palpated oround that scab to see if there seems to be a hard center? Is she lame?

If it is bumblefoot, scrape the scab off and (yuck) squeeze like a zit from the bottom of the lump. A hard thing sort of like a rce kernel should come out, followed by a little blood. Some times I have had to use a sharp knife to open it just a little before the kernel will dislodge. I then use some saturated salt water on it and let them go, it seems to work. Others will recommend salve and bandaging, seems to work for them too.

Thank you Jaye and Farrier!

Nothing shows from the top of the foot. So far, we have soaked the foot and removed the scab. There was nothing to be found under it really. we cleaned and dressed the wound. We'll keep that clean for now and see what happens.

She's not lame and she's still laying and quite chipper. Thanks for the help, I'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE:

We tried to re-integrate her to the flock, but she was dust-bathing and the bandage came right off. It was gauze with Vet Wrap which we thought would stick well enough.

Her foot has now become swollen, and I don't think it was this swollen before.

Here are my questions for anyone who could offer some advice/help:
- How does the search work in this forum? For example, where do I actually type my search? There are a lot of options! Please let me know.

- How long do you think it's ok for a chicken to be isolated from her flock? She's been in her crate for 2 days, and she's totally fine, but i think she misses other chickens

- Any advice on resilient bandaging?

Thanks so much for any thoughts and advice!

Check out this thread: Happy @ Is this bumble foot?
To search for more info, just click on 'Quick links' and select 'Search' from the drop-down menu. Type in "bumblefoot" in the search words field, and you will find a number of threads on the topic. If her foot pad is swollen I would suggest that there is still infection is still in her foot.
If you have her isolated in a cage, is it possible to at least have her in the coop or run where the rest of the flock hangs out? That way she will stay integrated and less lonely. Personally, I would give her foot another Epsom salts bath soak to start, and see if there are any other cuts in the creases between her toes and her foot pad. Vet wrap is probably your best bet for bandaging, but will need to be re-applied often, because nothing stays on a chicken's foot for long.

you can vet wrap and then run a strip of elastoplast tape-the brown horrible sticky stuff that you would never use on anything because the glue is like superglue tape- around where the vet wrap end is. works for me every time. but you will need scissors to cut it off in 2 days.

oh and you will need to open up the scab and really push all the junky yellow cheesy stuff out by squeezing...it is sometimes pretty tough to get out. then pack with polysporin or other antibiotic cream and then gauze over the bottom of her foot vet wrap and tape. i use black or blue or green vetwrap with the brown tape and just put mine back in the flock....

As I said in my previous post, I have found it necessary to enlarge the opening some with the point of a sharp knife, and then you can squeeze that hard cheesy core out. Getting that gone is the key.

Yep, that's a bumble! An early one. Hopefully you got the core out, otherwise the skin will heal over but the cyst in her foot will continue to bother her and likely grow and cause structural problems. The infection once loose of its cyst but no outside escape will eat tendons and even bone, or even cause sudden sepsis.
If you got the black scab off, and skin healed, but there is now increased swelling, she's in trouble. You need to get her foot open and the cause (often a splinter or thorn encased in solid pus) out, and antibiotic ointment packed into the hole wouldn't hurt either. Oral and/or injected antibiotics are a crapshoot if you don't get the core and all cheesy material out.
Sometimes a chicken will clear things on their own-- the infection sometimes just swells, pokes through the top of their foot in between toes, pops one day like a zit, and heals perfectly. This is the best scenario, but it's pretty rare. Once you decide to treat a bumble, you HAVE to get it all out.