# Bumble Foot???



## Elisabeth (Sep 25, 2013)

I have a backyard flock of 6 hens that will be a year old at the end of this month. This evening while doing foot inspections I noticed 5 of my hens had questionable spots in the bottoms of one or both feet.
































I have attached pics of all 5. Please help! I have read up on performing "surgery" for advanced cases or "treating" bumble foot if isn't too bad but I'm not confident in my own gut feelings on each of my birds...I could use some other opinions!!! Thanks!

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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Pics two and five look to be for certain bumble. The others are questionable. 

You've got something that they have continual contact with that is abrading their feet. You need to try to find it and eliminate it or this will happen over and over again.

Begin with soaking in epsom salts, get that scab off. Soak again and see how much you can get out without doing surgery. It is possible if the case is not too advanced to remove it without surgery.


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## brian (Sep 25, 2013)

I'm Elisabeth's husband how long do we have to soak with Epsom salt/water after the scab is removed?

Thanks


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You need to soak long enough to soften the solidified pus in the wound to be able to remove it. The most important thing for a cure is to get all of the pus out of the wound. Pack the hole with antibiotic ointment then wrap it to keep dirt out.

If you google it, which I think Elisabeth did, there is a wealth of information on how to deal with it. Its been caught quickly and should not have to go to the extreme of surgery. 

I would also consider doing the other girls. There are abrasions there. On second look this AM it appears that pic one is also affected. Hers might be very easy to work with.

Once you have the wounds open I'm going to suggest keeping them up on a thick bed of shavings for a while. 

But don't forget to look for what their feet are coming in contact with. Check their roost or ladder if you're using one. Many times that is the culprit. If they don't have a ladder and are jumping down to the floor consider lowering the roost.


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## Elisabeth (Sep 25, 2013)

Thank you so much for all the helpful advise! We are going to tackle this after I get out of work today! Should we soak all of them in Epsom salt just for preventative at least?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I would. Try to prevent it from traveling as far as it did with the three that are obvious. If you see pink tissue after wiping the feet then apply antibiotic ointment on them too and wrap. 

As abraded as their feet are it should be easy to find the source since its all of them.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Want to add, if you have a cage and a pan large enough, you can put all of them in the cage standing in the salt water because having five to do is going to be very time consuming.


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## Elisabeth (Sep 25, 2013)

So I preformed my first and second surgeries...pic #2 and pic #5. I appreciate all the helpful advice!! 

Pic #1 I soaked and cleaned off, picked the scabs off and hers seemed more callused than anything. I applied vetrycin, triple antibiotic ointment with gauze and wrapped the right foot. Left was dirt that peeled off.

Pic #2 I could not even peel her scap off so I had to cut hers. I dug around in there and squeezed a little to try to get a so called kernel and couldn't get anything. I got most of the infection out attached to the scab and dug out a tad bit more. I did take a pic of hers before covering it up.

Pic #3


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## Elisabeth (Sep 25, 2013)

Hit reply too soon!


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## Elisabeth (Sep 25, 2013)

Pic #3 I picked all her scabs off, a couple started to bleed a tad so I used Vetrycin, trip ointment cream on gauze and vet wrapped on both feet.

Pic #4 picked her scabs off and she was all good...no bleeding

Pic #5 peeled her scab away and saw some puss so I cut out all the infection I could get. No kernel in hers either that I could feel or get. Used the trip ointment cream, gauze and vet wrap.

Is it okay that I didn't get a kernel? Was it just caught early that it hadn't developed one?

I plan to give them all Epsom salt soaks daily until all healed (which they did all get tonight for about 10 min each). Use the vetrycin & ointment and wrap as needed. Anything else (besides finding what is causing this...tomorrow's project)?




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## Elisabeth (Sep 25, 2013)

This is hen #1 after cleaned and scabs removed.

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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

There should have been pus to remove in that right foot, I can't tell if you got it or not by the pic.

I'm not too surprised you didn't get anything from a couple of them. It didn't look like it had progressed far enough to have much going on yet. 

If you got it all out on the other girls and with the treatments you're doing now, they should all heal fine. 

If you both work its going to be a little harder to find that spot they are visiting often causing the wounds. Coop first and then? Chickens can cover a lot of ground during the day.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

On second thought, maybe bird one shouldn't have a plug. Its hard to tell from pics. 

Do you have the rough non skid on anything? Like steps or their roost? The only reason I ask is I know someone who put it on her roosts to give her birds a better grip and it ended up abrading the feet and causing the infection.


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