hurt foot

I have a hen that was limping, she has a swollen place that is hard on the bottom of her foot. Has anyone else had this?

Potential bumblefoot. Hang on while I find the post I made about it before, quite recent.

Here's some info:

Symptoms: in mature birds, especially males of heavy breeds, lameness, reluctance to walk, inflamed foot, hot, hard, swollen, or pus-filled abscess or dark black scab on the bottom of foot. Resting on hocks, sometimes sores appear on hocks or bottom of toes.

Cause: Staphylococcus aureus bacteria

Prevention: practice good sanitation, provide deep, dry litter that does not pack, avoid high perches, round off edges of perches and sand off splinters, feed vitamin supplement (especially vitamin A).

Treatment: Difficult to cure. Inject swollen area with 1/2 cc penicillin or streptomycin. If abscess is large, wash foot, cut open abscess, squeeze out cheesy core, rinse well with hydrogen peroxide, pack with neosporin, wrap foot with bandage or clean cloth and tape. Confine bird on deep litter and re-dress foot every 2-3 days.

(above info from the Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow)

Once again Claire you have given excellent advice that indeed is bumble foot and your advice was right on. Same with the egg thing earlier your getting good grasshopper "Sniff Sniff" I'm proud of you my little grasshopper. Soon you will be ready to leave the fold and fly on your own and i will watch you soar and be proud!

thanks so much. I gave her an injection of penacillin in the area a little while ago. I will try to lance it and open it. this is the first time this has ever happened. I keep my birds outside freeranging all day and they come in the hen house at night. The sanitation is good. I keep clean shavings in the hen house and outside is 3 acres to roam.

It may simply be a thorn or something that she stepped on and the body has encapsulated it. If there is no sign of infection or soreness, I might leave it alone and watch it. Once it is lanced and open, you have a new potential for infection.

good idea. maybe I will just keep giving her the penicillin for a week and see what it does. She is really good about it. very sweet americana hen.

It's always good to remember that, just like people, animals get little injuries and illness. Not all are serious and require intervention. I try to raise my flocks with little or no medications and antibiotics, so I am slow to use them. It is important to remember that anything we give to our chickens, ultimately ends up in the eggs or meat. Scientists know that many bacteria are becoming antibiotic resistant in the direct host, but also suspect that the food chain may be contributing to the resistant strains in humans.

If an animal seems alert and eating, I normally opt for "wait and see", I can always interviene later.

Good Advice and i feel the same.

very good advice indeed. Thanks. I feel the same way. Her foot is really swollen and must hurt. I want to help her and stop her pain. thanks all for good sound advice. I really appreciate it.

Well, I went the lance route. I snipped the opening open a little more to access the hard white matter inside and removed it. then filled the cavity with neosporin and gave her a penacillin shot. It seems to be working just fine. The swelling is going down and she is getting around with less discomfort.Checking on it a couple times a day and no sign of infection. Thank you all for the advice.

Great to hear that she is improving. Definitely does sound like a bumblefoot issue.

she was well enough to put back in the flock today. swelling went down and she healed up fast.
I got her from a friend who could no longer aford to feed her flock so she downsized. another one she gave me had the same kind of cottage cheesey thing in her throat. It was about the size of a ping pong ball. I broke it up with my finger and managed to work it out of her throat. Her throat was all inflamed. she is much better now too. poor thing was not able to eat or drink before and was very weak. she is gaining strenght now and really perking up. Strange that this was in her throat, just under her chin where your tonsils would be if she were a human.

Wow, weird, I have no idea what that would be.

Being a newbie.. I sure thank you for posting your progress! I won't be in such a panic if/when I have to face the same thing.

I'm so glad you were able to manage it so well.. Congrats!

The Yellow Growths Sounds like what mine have and it's very contagious to the other chickens i would sudjest isolateing her. Mine started with one chicken and has spread to 4 others and may get worse I've had to completely empty and disifect all my pens,Waters and feeders and it's taken me three days in and attempt to stop the spread.

I have been swabbing the throats of mine with iodine twice daily and it seems to be healing them.
It has been going through my flock going on 2 weeks and i've done this last thing in hopes of containing it. It is spread through water and food and it's identified by the yellow cheesy growths in their mouths which will come back if not treated. I'm also giveing antibiotics and the ones that aren't sick i'm giveing vitamins too. I believe mine is canker or wet pox and it is highly contagious and can be deadly if not treated.

This message was edited Oct 6, 2008 9:34 PM

I believe mine to be canker and not wet pox as i have Pigeons and canker is carried by them and they have no warts or scabs but do have the Cheesy Growths in thier mouths and throats it has responded well to the iodine.

This message was edited Oct 6, 2008 10:23 PM

Bumping i think this needs attention and I'm not sure Innbetween is still here and i want her to read my answer................