Bumblefoot- is it contagious?

[kathyd]

Hi

One of my birds was recently limping due to a swollen toe. took her to the vet where she had an injection and we came home with a course of antibiotic injections to administer at home (luckily OH did this!). It's improved but not fixed. Now I've discovered another bird with black spots under both feet, a 3rd bird with a black spot under one foot, and another whose feet were so dirty when I looked it was hard to tell, but I have a feeling she may have one too...

I've never had this before in the flock as far as I know, so I'm not sure of the best way to deal with it. I've read you can carry out 'surgery' yourself at home, but not sure I can cope with it - I'm a bit squeamish at the best of times, and I still have a dressing on my finger from a bad infection in February when I nearly lost it, so not sure it's the best time to be experimenting really... I can't see injections working once the birds have those hard black spot things? Does this mean multiple trips to the vets to have them cut out, followed by regular foot dressings for each bird?? Argh! And I'm now also wondering if it's contagious - otherwise why would so many birds be suffering from it suddenly? Can I blame the cockerel for it - I've always found it best to blame the male side of things wherever possible ?

[Nicos]

Sounds like your gals are getting infected cuts on their feet.
Do you have sharp stones where they run?

No idea about treatments- sorry

[fishpond]

Hi
No it is not contagious.
As Nicos says, they must be cutting their feet in some way or landing on rough ground/concrete from height.
Cuts to the feet is how the bacteria enter to cause the infection.

[kathyd]

OK, thanks for your input ... we do have gravel paths all over the place and they free range, but we've always had the paths and they've not had the problem before. They sleep on top of the coop inside an outbuilding, and most insist on jumping down onto the concrete underneath, usually head-butting the wall in the process, despite 'easy' ways down. We had started wondering if we needed to build long ramps of some kind... But again, they've been up there for a long time without (apparent) problems. The only things that have changed over the past 12 months are a) infestation of gape worm, b) getting the cockerel and c) getting the ducks. The chickens do seem to like spending time in the ducks' bit if the weather's bad. However, I'll re-visit the idea of ramps up to the coop roof initially, make yet another visit to the vet (some of my birds have their own named personal records on file!) and see what they suggest.