[Izzy]

http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/16844015@N02/
 
I'm not IT literate so have put photos on flickr.
 
I have a chook go lame today. After cleaning her feet I found these sores. I will try to examine the others in the next few days.
 
From what I can see on t'internet it doesn't fix itself. It's either DIY surgery, vet or euthanasia. I'm tempted to do DIY surgery. Has anyone on here had success with oral antibiotics only or is surgery always required? I thought manuka honey might be good for healing the wound once I get the scab and infection out.
 
I would be interested to hear from anyone with experience of this. She is about 6 months old and we got her about 2 months ago. Our henhouse is clean and roost bars are smooth and the right size.

[Izzy]

Doesn't look like the flickr link works. Will try something else.

[chrismahon]

Hi Izzy. We've treated many cases with surgery -depends if the pad is swollen, as a few don't develop and can be left. The puss inside is always a solid lump in our experience and builds up unless removed. It requires good close vision and a very steady hand. You need to cut around the sore, releasing it from the pad  and squeeze out the puss, without cutting flesh and starting bleeding. We then pack the wound with Teatree cream and bind it up with gauze and micropore tape. Needs to be kept dry, checked after a few days and re-bound. We have never needed antibiotics, but have them to hand. I use a stanley knife blade held in my fingers. The pads are tough and a fine scalpel may break. Obviously a two person job.


You need to establish the cause. Too high perches in the coop (depends on the breed and size of coop) or sharp bedding or sharp stuff in the ground.

[Izzy]

Thanks Chris I might give DIY surgery a go. I have Stanley blades etc.
 
I'm a little perplexed about the cause. We've had hens since 2009 with no such problems. The bedding/roost bars/run is unchanged. It doesn't look recent and I wonder if she arrived with it.

[chrismahon]

Possibly Izzy. We have found that some develop into a fungal infection and grow quickly. Looks the same but smells of athletes foot.

[Izzy]

http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/16844015@N02/
 
Well the deed has been done. She is 2 hours post operative and seems ok. I didn't take pix of the op as I thought it would prolong the procedure. But I have a picture of the material which has been removed. She is to spend tonight in a dog crate. Tomorrow I will update you on progress.

[chrismahon]

Not a pleasant task Izzy and we have never taken photos. The last one was our neighbour's hen and it took half an hour to remove a lump the size of a thimble. She was fine after a few days. The bandage just wore way and fell off. The ground in the UK was very bad. The garden was used as a rubbish dump by the neighbours in the 60's and 70's and had many rusty nails in it. Our bumblefoot cases all came from the same area and many developed into a fungal infection as I believe the ground was somehow poisoned with the rubbish dumped and burned there.

[Izzy]

She's still here. Not on her feet but has had a wee bit of sweet porridge.
 
My pix are too big to post on here. Sorry.
 
Thank you Chris for your advice.

[chrismahon]

She should be on her feet in two days -we've never had a case as bad as yours though. The worst had a slight limp and once we realised we had a problem we checked them all every couple of weeks.