Good Afternoon! The other day I was outside playing and my brother, Blake, came out and said “we have a problem with Rocky!” Rocky, our Rhode Island Red Rooster, was limping. Rocky is about 3 years old. He was limping so much that I could catch up with him and sit him in my lap (which I have never been able to do before). I inspected his feet to see if I could see a problem and it appears he has an infection called Bumblefoot. Bumblefoot is an infection chickens and chicks can get from walking on hard surfaces which can cause cuts to the chicken/chick feet where bacteria can enter and cause an infection. What I’ve read doing research says when a chicken has Bumblefoot there will be an iconic scab. I think this is what Rocky has on his foot. Here are some pictures of Rocky’s foot:
I am not sure how to treat the infection. I have seen and heard many ways to clean out the infection and stop the pain. I have been researching what to do and I found this list on the Chicken Chick‘s site where she describes one way to treat Bumblefoot. I’ve copied it below:
- peel off the scab after soaking the foot in Betadine mixed with water
- then squeeze the infection out
- if it is stuck, cut a little bit with a sanitized knife until you get the infection out of the foot
- then apply Vetericyn
- after applying Vetericyn wrap foot (or pinkie toe in our case) with vet tape or gauze.
Please, can someone confirm that this is Bumblefoot. And please let me know if this is the right treatment! Or if I need to do something else.
Thank you! See ya’ soon….
Hi, I grew up on a farm and we had this problem as well. I got this from the old timers but we used to just pour withchazel on it. I don’t know what it really is or if you can still buy it but we used to get it from the store and it worked really well. I hope that helps.
Mark Webber
Here is some more info on with-hazel and I guess you can buy it at a natural health store. Good luck,
Mark
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/witch-hazel-herbal-remedies.htm
If the soak, meds and wrap don’t work you can give him LA 200 or300. I have a chicken like that and the LA 300 is making it better. I didn’t treat mine for several months but her feet are responding well. I just draw about 2cc’s of meds, remove the needle and dispense it in her mouth. I think she thinks it tastes good.
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/07/bumblefoot-causes-treatment-warning.html
A year too late, but here is detailed info on what to do.
I treated a Guinea using this method last summer. It was pretty advanced by the time we could catch him and start treating it, but he is doing better this year. Still has a limp, but doesn’t let that slow him down! Hope you were successful with your treatment!!
my silkie chick had it well it looked like it and i soaked it in rose oil or rose hydrosol plus water a drop of rose and a dixie cup of water i got it at a spa and it worked i soaked it for a few minutes maybe even seconds not long then i scraped the scab with my nail and it came off left a indent in toe of chicken it did then i bandaged it.hopefully it will grow out the indention but it came off and i didnt squeeze nothing out cuz it didnt need it but it did look swollen before i soaked but after it looked good i will check today.which i see the article is old but thats how i cafound it looking on what to do for my chick didnt have bentadine so i thought of using this it was late so that gave me the idea of soaking it thanks to this article.cuz i thought soaking yeah right but then i figured i would try it and wow its better than me thinking i would have to cut it open.
i just wanted to add i also used epsom salt on it but both i used as to my comment above it came off but its back so im gonna try it again