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Swollen chicken foot. Bumble foot?

 
steward
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One of my birds has this lump on her foot and it's been slowly growing. I looked up bumble foot on the internets and all the pictures show swelling and a sore on the bottom of their foot. This is on the top of her foot. She doesn't limp, and appears to walk around normally. Should I lance this and let it drain? I'm open to all thoughts and suggestions, though I don't think she's ready for the freezer. yet. :)

The image is kinda lousy, the smartphone chose to focus on the background, not the subject.

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pollinator
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Location: New Zealand
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Can we have a photo of the underside of the foot?
I recently picked up a mates chicken who was limping and had swelling in the same area and she had a lump of mud jammed up in her foot. I should've taken photos it was massive.
 
James Freyr
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I'll do my best to get another picture when my wife gets home this afternoon.
 
James Freyr
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Alright. This little bugger is hard to catch, and I've been distracted, but here I am with new pics, and I did get one of the bottom of the foot in question. As awful as it looks, interestingly she still doesn't limp. She walks and runs normally, and even scratches with her lump foot. Now that it's been a few weeks, I'm inclined to think "if it's not bothering her, it's not bothering me" and I'm just gonna let this go. What do you folks think?
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pollinator
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Location: South Central Indiana
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Hi James,

Doesn't look like bumble foot.  Bumble can have a similar swelling, but there's a dark spot or scab on the bottom side of the foot.  After soaking, this dark spot can be scraped off or cut out and there is usually a lot of white waxy material that needs cleaned out.  Your chicken looks like she just has an abscess, maybe from a small cut or scrape.  If she doesn't favor it and appears normal in every other way, I'd say leave it.  If it starts to hinder her movement or she begins favoring it, you could lance it and see if that helps.  Again, it doesn't look like any bumble that I've dealt with.  
 
Marcus Billings
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James, I just noticed the time between the photos.  Although it doesn't look larger, it does look more inflamed and irritated.  I think you'll find that it will break open on it's own at some point and drain.  
 
James Freyr
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I want to post an update. Marcus, that's exactly what happened. While I didn't keep track of this girl every day and partly forgot about her foot, I did notice one day a black spot on the surface of the lump that looked like a scab. Then, gradually over many weeks, the lump deflated, and now I can't tell it was ever there. Her foot healed up nicely.
 
pollinator
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Great object lesson James - excellent photos!
 
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It looks like it was bumble foot to me. Bumble foot is usually on the bottom of the foot since that is the area most likely to be injured (bacteria gets inside and the resulting infection causes a big lump/abscess).  I think this bird had an small infected injury on the top of her foot instead.
 
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