And I was just talking about this in my chicken class and breathing a big ol' sigh of relief that I've never had to deal with it: the dreaded bumblefoot. Contrary to the name, this does not mean that my chicken stepped on a bee. Bumblefoot is caused by a staph infection and can be gruesome to get rid of. If you notice in the picture, the pad of the foot is swollen under the sore. This is the "plug" or "seed", basically a mat of staph bacteria that needs to be dug out. Gross!
After reading a few different discussions on the topic at Urban Chickens, Backyard Chickens (warning graphic pics), and Yuku's Backyard Chickens, I decided to start with something that didn't involve a scapel and digging around inside the tissue of the foot. I tore the scab all the way off, palpated the foot to see if any nasty things popped out, washed it in some special blue liquid that I got from the vet a year and a half ago when I ripped off Sweet Pea's toe (you can clearly see my handiwork in the pictures), soaked the foot again in diluted Betadine, shoved a buttload of triple antibiotic ointment in the wound, wrapped it up, and put a shoe on it made from foam insulation used for copper tubing and duck tape. That's right, I made a shoe for a chicken. Don't laugh. I'm like McGyver over here.
My fear is that I will have to go in for the "plug". We'll see how this goes first. What is up with Sweet Pea and her foot? This time it is so not my fault.
Whoa, thanks for sharing. I will keep an eye out for that from now on. I seriously don't want to do any infection digging. How painful for the poor bird.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the bumblefoot...the "shoe" is the funniest thing I have EVER seen.
ReplyDeletewow! That is sure a good doctoring effort. I am with you though. I had a chicken with a big gash in her side from the rooster's spurs. She had lost some feathers because I was too slow to notice a feather lice infestation before she denuded her back. I kept sticking plaster on it for about three weeks. Every day, I would bring her in, bathe the wound, pull it together and stick a big plaster over it. It worked. I hope your ministrations and shoe work too. I will follow Sweet Pea's progress with interest.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking yesterday about veterinary care for livestock. We thought our little doeling might have had pink eye so off I go to buy some OTC antibiotic eye ointment. Turns out it was just irritated and a good cleaning fixed her right up. Anyways, I was thinking how interesting it is that with livestock we can basically treat them ourselves with drugs that we wouldn't be able to get for "pets" let alone ourselves. As a side note, the girl at the feed store said there's a guy that buys that eye ointment and uses it on himself!
ReplyDeleteBut then again, I guess it also kind of makes sense. If a farmer had to take his cow to the vet for every little thing he'd go broke in no time.
You are SUCH a woman! I can see you in scrubs and your little mask, rushing from one farm emergency to the next. I so hope you don't have to go in...yuck. Now I feel the need to go check my 30 birds.
ReplyDeleteOh no! That is a terrible story, but I also have to admit that I laughed until I cried actual tears when I saw the chicken shoe.
ReplyDeleteugh. do you think it was all the rain? i am totally going to go check my flock. good luck Heidi.
ReplyDeleteOh NO the digging the plug thing out doesn't sound good at all, poor Sweet Pea. Hopefully the cleaning and your mad McGyver skill shoe will do the trick!
ReplyDeleteYou are so thorough! I am way squeamish and am more likely to dab something on and look away as quick as I can. I LOVE the shoe!!
ReplyDeleteYou might want to call up the folks at International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) in Cordelia and have them talk you through how they deal with bumblefoot. Of course, they primarily deal with aquatic birds, but I'd bet that they have more real-life experience than anyone else in the Bay Area.
ReplyDeleteHi, you need to really keep an eye on this as it will get out of control in a hurry and can be very difficult to deal with. I had a rescue turkey that was underweight as he started to gain some weight we noticed he wasn't walking around or following us as much. Upon inspection I found he had Bumblefoot from where he use to be where he walked on an asphalt parking lot most of the time. I started doing research and by the time I thought he may be healthy enough to remove the core it was too late . When I turned him over to work on his foot between the weight he had gained and the infection had traveled so far up I could see the skin of his rib cage was black. I tried to help him but he was in too bad of shape and died right there. The little bit of stress added to all the rest was too much. It was a very sad moment. Several months later I took a duck we have to the avian vet for bumblefoot and he prescribed an oral antibiotic. I gave the medicine as prescribed and put vet wrap and drawing salve on the chickens foot. within 2 days the scab came off and I could see the core so I got my gloves , scalpels, and other supplies needed to remove the core . Upon removal I noticed to the sides there were more cores. I got three separate cores out of the pad . Treated the wound after core removal and vet wrapped the foot changing it every couple of days. She healed and was doing fine , it's been a couple of months and I noticed her limping again. You must remember this is usually due to a lesion of some sort that has been exposed to staff. A Staff infection IS CONTAGIOUS to humans and other creatures so you must isolate the bird and sanitize it's living quarters where the other birds are sleeping or staying. You need to wear surgical gloves and safety glasses , even a mask wouldn't hurt. Some may think this a little overboard but I had a child with a Staff infection on her knee when she was young and it took forever to clear up. In fact it did not begin to clear up until I convinced the Pediatrician to lance it. My daughter could not even straighten her leg out.. Now back to my duck her name is Nipper and she has again places on her feet. Three weeks of oral Bactrim did not work, I believe a shot would have been better but I am not a vet. I researched again this morning and found a Vet on you tube in a remote villiage treating a rooster with bumble foot and he not only gave the rooster a shot in the muscle of the leg but also a shot directly into the staff infection. He did not remove the core but explained that the shots need to be continued for several weeks. This time after treating Nipper I am going to give her the shots of Clorox the floor of her coup where she normally sleeps at night and I will give her injection of Penicillin G in both places as this vet did. Here is a link in very DETAIL about what needle size to use. You will use a larger needle to draw up the Penn. G because it is so thick and a small to inject into the bird. READ EVERY bit of this link PLEASE. Here is a video of the vet in the village. Even if you can't understand the language he does say some of it in English, please watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXj8gk7BoXw Now here is a video of a lady performing surgery on a chicken with Bumblefoot that is quite good.. If you have a weak stomach this may not be for you but it is a very good video so you can see exactly how to do it. Sometimes you may have to feel for more cores or missed parts. I use tweezers sometimes for this. here is the Bumblefoot surgery Video hope it helps you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdigBHE-GsQ&feature=youtu.be
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