We were feeding the hens this afternoon (3rd January 2005) when we noticed that Yoko’s foot was rather swollen. We had seen this before, on Henrietta, a few months back. We found out then that we would need to clean it, lance it, dress it and renew its dressing until the swelling subsided. So we had gone out to buy all the cleaning and treatment stuff, but on the following day, the swelling in Henrietta’s foot had subsided considerably, so we just observed it and did not treat it. Within a day or two it had gone back to normal.
Now, looking at the swelling on Yoko’s foot,we were glad that we had the items required to treat it, but we were not sure if it was the same ailment. Daniel uploaded photos of Yoko’s foot on our website, and sought answers from http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi linking his request to our photos. The response confirmed that it was bumblefoot.
We decided to start treatment on Yoko’s foot immediately. As we do not have a bath tub in our house, we had to use the kitchen sink. First of all, we laid out on the work surface everything we needed, including a sticky plaster ready to just peel off and stick on. Ready to use were a bottle of tea-tree antiseptic, cotton buds to apply the antiseptic, a large bowl with a solution of hydrogen peroxide already mixed to a 1:3 proportion, micropore tape, a pair of tweezers, an old toothbrush and a large towel.
We half filled the sink with a weak solution of warm soapy water, and immersed Yoko’s feet into this. Daniel held on to her while I used the toothbrush to gently but firmly scrub clean her affected foot, in particular around the scab on the sole. Her foot was then soaked in the hydrogen peroxide solution for a few minutes. Then I used a pair of tweezers to remove as much of the scab as possible, without going too deep. After drying her foot, I dabbed a few drops of the antiseptic on to the area, and covered with the sticky plaster where the scab had been. To keep the plaster on, I used micropore tape all around her foot, making sure that she still had free movement of all her toes and the spur.
By this time her feathers were a bit wet, and so we dried her out with our hairdryer. She was as good as gold, and kept still, enjoying the dryer. Very soon, she crouched right down, turned onto to her side and started to stretch out the wing that was on top, to expose more of herself to the warm air.
When all three of us were satisfied that she was dry enough, we let her walk around the kitchen for a bit. Daniel of course gave her chopped ham as a treat, and she lapped up the ham as well as the attention.
After about ten more minutes of observation, we were happy that she was not in any pain, so we let her out to join the rest of the gang who immediately had come to the back door to see what the fuss was all about. Yoko kept them guessing.
Anticipating that we may need to give Yoko a penicillin injection, I had assessed her body as we held her, and noticed that she is not very meaty. I hope that her foot improves without requiring much more treatment.
Photos in the gallery of the swelling