[Liv]

Hi all.
My oldest hen Maggie, a light sussex has a huge swollen foot and when I had a look at it from underneath theres  a huge, hard gravelly looking bulge about the size of a penny.
Shes not off her food (she never is!) and is walking around quite happily. We put her in a nest box so that she would have a comfy place to spend the night but she jumped out and on to a perch.
Is it an infection? Should I do something about it or just leave it and see how it goes? Ive put some savlon on it, and am thinking about bathing it in warm salty water tomorrow?

I would be very glad of any advice!
Olivia

[themagicaltoad1]

Sounds odd, can you post a picture? also, I was a bit puzzled by the swollen food in the title

[richyrich7]

Could be a ball of hardened mud ? I've had this before on mine it makes them limp.

Try bathing it in warm water , bit of a laugh with a hen but it works, then just gently rub it off. It gets real hard I tried shaving some off with a sharp knife but the hen objected and I like my fingers  

[orchardlady]

I have never experienced this problem but might it be bumble foot? I've put a link below.
Hope the foot gets better.

http://www.poultry.allotment-garden.org/Chicken_a/bumblefoot-chickens.php

[Curlytop]

It sounds like bumblefoot, my Sussex has the same problem. Yesterday we got all the equipment ready to operate on it ourselves armed with step by step instructions, bathed it for 10 mins in salty water and then chickened out (excuse the pun) so she is seeing the vet this afternoon.

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

I would say Bumblefoot - it sounds exactly like what quite a few of my girls have got.  We're mid point through the treatment stage.

I would suggest getting her to a poultry friendly vets for a professional opinion and some antibiotics as if it is Bumblefoot it won't clear up on its own sadly.

Good luck and I hope Maggie is soon on the mend.

[bantam novice]

I would agree that it may be a good idea to find a chicken-friendly vet to check her out     good luck and I hope she soon starts to get better.