Bumblefoot in Poultry

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Helen Russell — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:01:09 GMT

Give me a few weeks as I am on holiday. If you send me your email address, I will email pic over to you. Regards Helen

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:58:42 GMT

[quote user="Vet Nurse"]

We tend to clean the area well, and depending how bad (if not needing GA and debriding) we apply Preparation H cream (from the Chemist) and apply shoes made from foam, cut out around the toes to support the foot, with a hole made in the bottom to allow air to get to the area-then bandage in place (still leaving an area over the hole open to allow it to breathe)

[/quote]

I can't picture the shoes in my head, could you draw a picture or do you have one you could take a photo of?

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Helen Russell — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:11:17 GMT

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

A Little TLC — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:57:24 GMT

haha, used potassium permanganate alot, i never got confused, but my fried could NEVER say it, i don't think shes EVER been able to!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:00:33 GMT

right I've ordered some Condy's Crystals! :D

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:54:53 GMT

Cheers Caro! that's a great help. I think I'm gonna have to write Potassium permanganate on a piece of paper though and take it in cause i don't think i will be able to pronounce it properly!!! hahah

Thank you so much to everyone for your support and advice you all have been so helpful! Will keep you posted on lil Laya as we go on! Might see if I can snap some shots of the wound tonight for the wound library!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Caro Laithwaite VN — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:49:51 GMT

Just go into a chemist and ask for some potassium pomegranate. (sp?) Be careful it will stain EVERYTHING brown. although the colour when mixed with h20 is pretty purple. Use it outside and careful you have no stray crystals on you when done. Oh and use old clothes

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

A Little TLC — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:03:48 GMT

Shes lush, and blue wedges eh? VERY Fashionable.

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:57:30 GMT

[quote user="SaskiaVN"]

nice pics of the little hen Steph

bit worrying though that it may be a tumour though is it not?

[/quote]

Yeah, but hay ho, not much you can do and she's a cross breed so there was bound to be something wrong with her down the line! She's given us 2 yrs of an egg a day for 9 out of 12 months.

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Saskia Quinn — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:04:26 GMT

nice pics of the little hen Steph

bit worrying though that it may be a tumour though is it not?

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:48:03 GMT

Not working in a practice anymore where could i acquire some of these crystals?

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:24:48 GMT

[quote user="sal the 1st"]apply a small wad of cotton wool moistened in clean condy's soln and bandage in place. place dressing just before the bird goes to roost and leave in place overnight. next day remove the dressing and if the skin has softened enough sometimes the corn will start to lift.[/quote]

Yep - a textbook wet-to-dry dressing - excellent for debridement of damaged/infected tissue!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Vicky RVN — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:17:48 GMT

[quote user="sal the 1st"](we also used condys for nails that bled post nail clip[/quote]

We still have some kicking around that was used used for that purpose i presume!!! There was a little pot of it in each consult room. Never seen it used though, just use a silver nitrite pencil!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Sal the 1st — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:19:25 GMT

didnt post this before because i didnt know whether people would think it too old fashioned and outdated - did use it on a couple of my hens with infected callouses (corn) and it might have been the condy's crystals or it may just have been getting rid of the necrotic tissue that did the trick??

this was advice given me by a very old school vet who has long since passed. make a dilute soln of condy's (potassium permanganate) by adding 1 or 2 small crystals to a pint mug of warmish water, clean the foot up and then apply a small wad of cotton wool moistened in clean condy's soln and bandage in place. place dressing just before the bird goes to roost and leave in place overnight. next day remove the dressing and if the skin has softened enough sometimes the corn will start to lift. if it has started to lift it makes it easier to remove with a blade.if bleeding a lot dip a small wad of damp cotton wool into the condy's crystals and then apply directly to the wound to arrest bleeding. rebandage and recheck and redress daily until healed. initial dressings to soften corn were repeated until the corn lifted and could be removed. I have no doubt my vet would have removed the corn without anaesthetic - his reasoning was it was just a bit of dead skin but I used to request a GA for my birds. As I say old fashioned probably way out of date but got results.

(we also used condys for nails that bled post nail clip - makes a mess of your fingers and floor big time) was only later I found out about its antiseptic qualities

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:45:48 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

[quote user="StephB"] she's been given some antibiotics IM[/quote]

7 day egg withdrawal then...

[/quote]

yeah we're keeping her in isolation for 7 days. Thanks!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:03:57 GMT

[quote user="StephB"] she's been given some antibiotics IM[/quote]

7 day egg withdrawal then...

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:21:28 GMT

Still waiting for the contents of my camera to load HP is not playing ball! But have now returned from the vet and am the happy owner of a £30 hen... It's apparently not looking like bumblefoot and more like a tumor. It was full of old blood and the vet actually shot himself in the face with blood when he gave it a poke with a needle and squeezed lol. Not sure yet... she's been given some antibiotics IM and we've decided to keep it bandaged for a week and in isolation. We shall see how it goes from there. I might keep putting on the calendula and chickweed to help reduce it. If it doesn't go then he's suggested surgical removal. She is a favorite of mine, but i don't know if i want to put her through all that :( Not to mention it's a 20min op and risky for a hen, but she's a 2yr old and a great layer. I donno...

Poor lil Laya!! but she does look cute in her lil bootie!

here are some photos of her!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=399811&id=819455446

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

A Little TLC — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:19:49 GMT

Aww bless her, lil chicken flip flop!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:10:15 GMT

Right spoken to the vet, he wants to see her tonight. In the mean time he asked if I could soak it and see if it weeps. I'm soaked her in some warm aloe vera and calendula water for 10mins. No luck getting it to burst or weep though. I put some Flamazine on it and wrapped it with an Allenvyn non-adhesive, cotton for protection and vet wrap. I wrapped it between the first and third toe and up the ankle since it's just under the second toe. She's happily munching on some grass now that I pulled up for her. :D Hopefully all will go well this afternoon! Will post some photos in a min...

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:05:41 GMT

[quote user="A Little TLC"]

I've done allevyn & vet wrap. works well.

[/quote]

cheers! she's sat looking sorry for herself. I'm still waiting for a call back at the moment. I think they have ops until lunch so If i don't hear anything by then I will give them another ring... you know what some vets are like calling people back!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

A Little TLC — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:17:48 GMT

I've done allevyn & vet wrap. works well.

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:40:41 GMT

I found treating her this evening with the warm compress and caledula/chickweed cream she was very tolerant but I don't know if this was because it was dusk or because the infection has made her unwell. I will keep you posted in the morning and have a chat to the farm vet about her. Thank you so much for all your advice guys! I have a few large litter trays I can fill with warm water to help her soak so I will give that a crack tomorrow and see if I can get it t drain. I just hope I've caught it early. she's one of my favorites and the best layer of the lot we hatched.

I have some Flamazine here and some Hibiscrub, will need to get the antibiotic from the vets. Would you recommend that once i get most of the exudate out that I flush it with the warm hibi with a syringe as well? Would peroxide be useful? what about a poultice? I'm assuming I want an absorbent dressing like the Alven(sp)? and some vet wrap?

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Gillian Mostyn — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:27:54 GMT

With bumblefoot it really depends on how advanced it is. The term bumblefoot can be used to describe just a very small pressure sore with minimal infection to a large abscessed area with progression to osteomyelitis of the foot bones.....can be difficult to tell sometimes how deep the problem goes.

Generally, you are best removing any infected/damaged tissues under GA, placing dressings on the foot that will take the pressure off the affected area, and antibiosis (local if not too bad, systemic if severe). I like betadine cream (cannot get hold of it at the moment tho) and silver sulphadiazine cream ('flamazine') - both seem to penetrate quite well.

You haven't said if it is a layer or not. If it is and you need systemic antibiosis, then you could use 'aureomycin' powder - you can purchase in 225g tubs which aren't too expensive - and then you don't have to isolate the chicken to remove the eggs.

If you want to try to treat yourself, and it doesn't look very advanced, then soak the affected foot in antiseptic (savlon, chlorhexidine etc) for as long as chuck will tolerate it, and get the area as clean as you possibly can. Wipe away the damaged tissue and any pus etc that you can, then apply cream and dress it. Repeat daily.

Good luck!

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:50:20 GMT

I will be speaking to a vet tomorrow about it so will do, but to be honest we are really scraping by with everything at the moment since we are about to move house and I just started a new job. Figures that this would happen now! Just my luck it would seem... :( just spent £2000 on my own medical bills recently, which is the main reason we're so skint.

Re: Bumblefoot in Poultry

Phrin Vernon RVN — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:47:12 GMT

if you are with a mixed practice they don't tend to charge as much for non companion animals - would be well worth asking for an estimate - hope you manage to sort her out!