Have a hen with a swollen foot. Thought something might be in it but can't see any problem. badly swollen. Any ideas as to what it might be and what to do for it?

-- Donna Deen (grammied@aol.com), June 11, 2000

Answers

It's probably what they call bumblefoot. I forget what you do for it. Put ameraserve into your browser. I have microsoft and it's very simple with it. It'll take you to a banner selling site. Scroll down to where it says return to poultry iformation exchange and click there. When you get to the info. exchange click on read messages. There's usually something posted about it or just post what you did here. There are experts on that board that can help you. If you have trouble finding it let me know and I'll type in the correct address for it, after I look it up.

-- Jill (AZ) (lance1_86404@yahoo.com), June 11, 2000.

Donna, What exactly is swollen? Does she have like a big blister on the "palm" of her foot? Is it a toe? Is it her whole foot?

Most likely is an injury, such as a wrench from getting a toe caught in something, or stung or bitten by something, or stepping on a burr, nail or the like.

Bumble foot is caused by a variety of things. If it is (or has become) a staph infection, decide if you want to try working out the pus (probably cheesy). It might be helpful to soak it in warm water for a while, maybe even adding a bit of Epsom salts. Work the pus out, there hopefully will be an opening or you can choose to lance it. Clean the cavity out well, and irrigate (use a syringe) the cleaned out cavity with hydrogen peroxide. If there's a big enough hole (don't make it big please) pack 100% cotton soaked in more hydrogen peroxide into the cavity, bandage well but don't cut of her circulation. Keep her well-bedded and don't let her be jumping off a high roost or nest box for a while. Change her bandages every couple of days.

Typically bumble foot affects BOTH feet, so hopefully this isn't what she has. There is one type caused by a shortage of vitamin A, so feeding her some dark yellow and orange vegetables wouldn't hurt.

There are a number of other things that could be causing the problem, they aren't especially likely. So I'm going with some sort of injury. If you do decide to open and clean the area, make sure you've got fresh hydrogen peroxide. Let us know who she's doing. Geribl

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), June 12, 2000.