Bumblefoot!

No I'm not referring to the bad American Rock band,  I'm referring to the problem with AL's foot. Whilst randomly looking on the Internet as I happen to do quite often, I came across a photo of the same thing that AL has on his foot. Apparently he has Bumblefoot, which is an infection, causing the foot to swell and for him not to be able to move.

I read thorough the article three times  thinking OMG I have to do what to his foot! Now for you expert chicken keepers out there performing mild surgery on your chickens/roosters may be common, errr for me its not! and to say I was apprehensive was an understatement. I'm more of a take it to the vet to sort out type chicken farmer, but as you all know my vet only understands chickens when they are roasted.

So, armed with a bucket full of hot water, some towels, a scalpel, and tweezers oh and a child I went to surgery. Whilst sitting on a rock soaking AL's foot a friend messaged me, and my response of " Can't speak soaking a chickens foot" received a reply of "no worries" There are some friends that simply understand, and never ask questions!

The procedure to cut away the infected piece and pull out all of the insides, apparently is straightforward, however, when faced with a chicken foot that is in fact attached to a chicken it is daunting. We soaked and scraped, and dug around, but in all honesty, it seemed as if we were doing a pedicure on a chicken rather than surgery.

After a while, and no real progress, I gave up, betodined his foot, and bandaged it, which did look quite good! I feel more effort will need to be applied today, to try and find the core problem, and the elusive "Bumble" in the foot!