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does anyone have any idea how to cure bumblefoot? i've been washing and putting betadine on my wyandotte's foot for three days and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. please help!

Bumblefoot treatment
We were given three red Dorking hens with rose combs, quite rare birds with 5 toes, about 10 days ago. We immediately noticed that one of them has bumblefoot - cysts between the toes - one on each foot. Bumblefoot is almost always caused by a bacterial infection (often Staphylococcus aureus) of the webbing between the toes, usually caused by an injury or an abrasion (such as a splinter or walking a lot on concrete or a very rough perch) or by too narrow a perch (perches for full size chickens should be at least 1 3/4" in diameter. The resulting abscess eventually forms a cyst with a dark, hard scab on the bottom of the foot pad. The cyst can be quite large, and very painful for the hen walk on. So we decided to attemp to cure the problem since the the Chicken Health Handbook [Gail Damerow, 1994] states that if left untreated, bublefoot has a mortality up to 50%.

Our immediate treatment consisted of giving the hen a broad spectrum antibiotic, enroflaxin (Baytril), 15 mg/Kg b.i.d. (1/2 of one 68 mg tablet twice a day for a 5 lb chicken) and continuing the antibiotic for at least 10 days. (We are currently on day 9 and have not yet decided whether to continue for a full 14 days. Because the circulation, and therefore drug delivery, in the feet is very poor, we most likely will decide to continue the treatment after day 10.)

We also immediately started soaking the feet in warm soapy water and careful scaping away the loosened material and cleaning the cyst using tweezers on the hard yellow debris. After about two days, soaking the feet twice a day, it became possible to bluntly dissect the lump of hard material away from the underlying tissue leaving a rather deep pocket (cyst). We rinsed out the cyst with hydrogen peroxide and then filled the cyst with Neosporin ointment. The cleaning out process needs to be repeated twice a day and we continued to remove yellow clots from the cysts for several days thereafter.

After the hen had been on enroflaxin 5 days there is essentially no more exudate from the lesions. We continued to clean the lesion b.i.d., applying Gentian violet to dry and disinfect the cyst (see photo), and then filling the cavities after cleaning with Neosporin ointment (for the first three days) and with a surgical scrub (Techni-care) recommended to us by our podiatrist friend thereafter. (We keep telling him that a foot is a foot and he should treat chickens - but he won't do it).
The question now arose, what do we do from here, since to leave the cyst open is just inviting reinfection. So we looked and asked around and got conflicting advice. Some sources suggest surgically removing the margins of the lesion and then sewing the resulting wound closed across the opening; others suggest taking a needle and making multiple sticks throughout the walls of the cavity to stimulate regrowth; still other sources suggest leaving it alone although a sterile cyst may form that may be just as hobbling as the original cyst.
So, I asked my friend and former colleague, Kim T. Blackwell, who is a veterinarian with a doctorate in bioengineering and a Professor at George Mason university what her opinion might be. Her response, reproduced here with her permission, was:

"I consulted two books. Both emphasize the importance of removing all the pus or hard material in the cavity, which usually requires surgery (this may be where the surgical advice came from.) One book [Petrak, Diseases of Caged and Aviary Birds] then recommends suturing, the other [Merck Veterinary manual, 5th ed.] recommends painting with tincture of iodine or packing with ammoniated mercurial ointment. It sounds as if the neosporin and surgical scrub satisfied that recommendation. The next part is probably why your seeing different advice."

"The avian medicine book says these are VERY slow to heal. You need to protect the foot until the lesion closes completely (even if you are suturing). This book recommends a padded bandage until the foot is
completely healed. It specifically says if the lesion is not healed in 10 days, re-bandage."

"So, your intuition is correct. If you try surgery, you need to suture it, and then bandage until healed. But even if you don't try surgery, you need to protect it until it heals. Being the conservative vet I am, I would not try the surgery at first, because it you get a sterile cyst, you can do surgery then."

"Both sources mention that this is an environment problem, though the environmental problems they list - sandpaper perches and concrete floors - is clearly not an issue here. Nonetheless, I would keep her on a _very_ clean floor, and keep checking and changing the bandage until it is completely healed. And even then, I would continue checking daily since scar tissue is very weak and prone to injury for several weeks."

We are taking Dr. Blackwell's advice, and taping the wound up after cleaning with two layers of sterile pads held on with surgical tape. We are amazed at how well the chicken tolerates the tape on her legs. We have seen no signs of her picking at it. We are also resigned to having the chicken, whose name is Cinnamon) in the house for the next month. We will keep you posted (I know you can barely tolerate the wait) on how the chicken is doing.

It is now day 12 and the chicken clearly is doing well. She spends much more time on her feet (rather than lying down) and is far less hesitant to jump from her cage onto the floor and back up. We deduce that this is hurting her less. We are beginning to be optimistic.

This information is from - up island eggs - web site is - http://upislandeggs.blog-city.com/bumbl ... atment.htm
I found it useful, hope you do
Denny