Monday, May 19, 2014

Questions For Big Bird - Bumblefoot

Question:

I am not sure how to identify bumblefoot infection Therese on Bumblefoot Infection

Big Bird:

Bumblefoot is a general term for any inflammatory or degenerative condition of the avian foot. The condition varies from mild to severe. Looking at the bottom of the foot, you may see mild redness or swelling to deep open abscess.  It is prevented by using proper perches (never use the sand paper perch covers as this can cause abrasion), good sanitation of facilities, and proper nutrition.

When a bird favors a foot and sits around on one foot, holding the other up, take a look at the foot. Is it red and swollen or do you see an open sore? If it is just red and swollen, immediately drop dietary protein and feed lots of greens and even the next day, if that is the cause, on a low protein diet and the bird will stand normally on two feet and the redness and swelling will be gone.

If you see an open sore, dip the foot a couple of times a day in an iodine solution until healed. In canaries, bacteria such as Staphlococcus and Klebsiella may result in a deep abscess. Oral antibiotics or antibiotic ointments are not effective for bacterial infection in the foot but the iodine dip will get rid of the problem.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Linda,

I have a question not related to this post, it stems from a canay book I'm currently reading (I just dont have the title and or author right now)...

The author promotes leaving the pair together year round. Apparently it then allows the birds to come into breeding condition naturally and seems to work better than our way of trying to "manage" the breeding seasons. Have you ever tried this? It makes sense to me that the male and female will progress naturally as the male testosterone levels increase which will result in him systematically starting to court the hen (bringing her into breeding condition) and then ultimately starting their breeding as a synchronised pair..

I would love to hear your thoughts on this as I would like to try it out.

Shawn

Anonymous said...

Hi Linda,

In your book the article "recycling the infertile hen" you refer to philips yeast mixture. Is this any different from the dry yeast used to make bread with?
Could i substitute?

Thanks
Shawn

Linda Hogan said...

Phillips Yeast Mixture is a vet med product that contains a number of ingredients such as yeast, iodine, calcium and other minerals. It is used for a bird tonic and is not the same as dry yeast for bread baking. I can no longer get it in the US but it is available in Europe.

Linda Hogan said...

Pairing a hen with a cock outside of breeding season is stressful for the hen who will likely lose weight and health. When a hen accidently is caged with several males she usually will not come into breeding condition.

When I first bred colorbred, one old timer always paired them up early and let them come in together. I also did this some and it did work for them. I still pair early when I have the problem of the hen getting ready before her intended cock. In that case she will either try to kill him or slow her cycle down and weight for him.

Borders are more difficult and the ones I tried pairing before ready became lazy and uninterested. It seems the hens never would invite mating. The only way I got them to mate was taking him out of the cage and waiting till she was desperate and then using the stricker method.

If I were going to do this I would not pair them together all year but rather wait till six weeks before breeding.

Anonymous said...

Awesome thanks so much Linda!! Makes a lot of sense. I'm gonna try it with a pair of colours and I'm also gonna try the colony breeding with my borders (two identical hens and a cock bird in a double breeder.) we're still in show season so still a ways to go yet. Thanks for the update Shawn ps the book is Canaries and related birds by Horst Bielfeld.