Bumble foot is a staph infection that is very prevalent in large breed chickens. A tell-tale sign that a chicken has bumble foot is a button-like scab on the bottom of their foot.
If you see your chicken limping, it would be a good idea to check it for bumble foot. If left untreated, the infection will eventually lead to the death of the chicken.
Since we live in Illinois and I didn’t want to heat the coop during winter, I bought Columbian Wyandotte and Ameraucana chicks. Being cold hardy means that those breeds tends to be a heavier bird.
(I really bought the Ameraucanas because they are Easter Eggers that lay blue and green eggs and I thought that was beyond cool…but I tell myself that it’s because they are cold hardy birds.)
I felt like a horrible pet parent the first time my chickens got bumble foot. I carted Violet off to a vet that said that they treated chickens. Well the ad said they treated chickens but, gauging from how everyone in the entire place had to come see the chicken hopping around in the room and thought that it was just the funniest thing ever…I’m going to guess that they don’t actually get too many chicken patients…
The vet was really nice but didn’t really know what to do to treat that type of infection in a chicken. We ended up with antibiotic ointment, a little donut on each foot to cushion her feet when she walked, and the ‘stick-to-itself’ gauze bandaging to hold it all together. Sixty bucks and I was out the door with an odd footed looking chicken.
Well…the antibiotic ointment didn’t work. So I decided to try fix it without the vet. Violet is cute and all that and she lays the prettiest blue colored eggs but, in the end, a chicken is a chicken and I’m not going to spend a ton of money on vet bills for it when I can replace it at the farm store for three bucks.
Fortunately the bumble foot was not bad enough that I had to do the icky surgery that you can read about online. Unfortunately, bumble foot is contagious so if one chicken gets it then the rest of the flock has to be checked. After checking the flock, I found more that needed treatment.
My first attempt was Vetericyn. It’s an anti-septic spray that is safe for animals and can usually be purchased at a local pet or farm store. I love this stuff and use it on all my creatures on the homestead. Just recently, one of the rabbits had a cut on her back. Instead of trying to wrangle her up and treat it, I simply let her get close enough and then sprayed her with the Vetericyn. The cut healed nicely.
The blogs that I read about treating bumble foot with Vetericyn said to spray and wrap the infected area with the gauzy bandage stuff twice a day.
Um….ain’t nobody got time for that!
I did it once a day. The bumble foot responded better to the Vetericyn that it did to the antibiotics. Woohoo, progress is good!
However, winter was fast approaching and it was getting too cold to go wrangle up the chickens and gauze up their feet. I really needed them to be healed quicker.
Second try, I sprayed their feet with Vetericyn, put a glob of honey on them and then wrapped them up. Honey is a fabulous home remedy for infections and cuts. We use it on ourselves so I figured why not use it on a chicken???!!!
That seemed to do the trick! They healed twice as fast and I no longer had to shiver in the chicken pen wrapping tiny feet with itty bitty strips of gauze.
Well this year, after taking an herbal course, I figured that maybe possibly I could whip up my own home remedy for their case of bumble foot. Vetericyn works well but if I could make something out of the items in my own home then I wouldn’t have to make a trip to the store when I ran out of spray.
I started out by infusing oregano leaves in olive oil. I filled up a jar with the oregano leaves, filled it to the top with olive oil, and then put it, uncovered, in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven for three hours.
After 3 hours, I took it out of the oven and let it cool. Once it was cool enough to handle, I squished the rest of the oil out of the leaves, discarded the leaves, and then bottled up the oil.
Since honey worked well the year before, I decided to combine it with the oregano oil using a 1:1 ratio. To make it into a solid form, a 2:1 ratio of melted coconut oil was then added to the honey/oil mixture.
Oh…don’t forget, having a cat around to help makes the project more interesting. If you don’t have a cat you might want to consider borrowing one. It’s never the same without a “helper”…
My coconut oil is 76 degree so in order for the recipe to stay solid it needs to be kept in the fridge. On a really hot day, I had to work fast to apply the mixture before it melted into a puddle. If I ever make it again I’ll considering putting a little bit of beeswax into the mixture so that it holds its form better.
I wrapped my chickens up in a towel, flipped them on their backs and then applied the salve. Working quickly so that it didn’t melt, I then wrapped their tiny feet in gauze bandaging and sent them on their bug-pecking way.
Like the previous treatment, this mix worked well…but still wasn’t a fast enough healing agent for my liking.
Just recently, someone I know had an ingrown toenail. She used the oregano oil that I had, a few drops a day, and the infection cleared right up. With this in mind, I put my home brewed creation to one side and started to use straight oregano oil on the bumble foot.
I already had the oregano oil so it was just a matter of grabbing it and walking out to the coop with it. I put 3-5 drops on the infected area and then wrapped it up with the gauze.
So far, out of the four treatments that I’ve tried, I’m happiest with the plain oregano oil. It seems to work faster than the other treatments. It’s also the least complicated. I know running to the store and grabbing some Vetericyn doesn’t seem complicated to some but in my world the extra 30 – 45 mins in travel time can make or break my schedule if I’m working a gazillion hours at my pay-the-bills job.
For those of you who have battled bumble foot in your flock and won, we’d love to hear your story and how you conquered it in the comments below.
Until Next Time,
TT
