Bumble What?

     The other day I was visiting with some of my hen friends when they started to tell me about their concern for The Old Queen. Well you probably remember The Old Queen. She is the flock queen and she is a beautiful older lady who is very fair when it comes to all the politics in the coop. She is the one who stood up for Speckles when The Diva was being rude and mean after Speckles returned from surgery.
     My friend hens said, The Old Queen had an injury on her foot and she was going to have surgery. The hens were worried because the queen would be away from the coop for a few days and hens like The Diva might get out of line.
     You would think that the Blue Roo would keep peace in the coop but he is not that kind of rooster, he is too vain for any of that. It frustrates me to talk about that so in order to keep my hackles down I won't waste any more time on that right now.
     It turns out that The Old Queen had what is known as "Bumblefoot". Bumblefoot is a common infection that poultry and some domesticated rodents get. "Rodents can be domesticated? Hmmm, who knew?" Anyway, due to constant walking on rough surfaces poultry and rodents can get small wounds on the bottom of their feet. These wounds are very susceptible to the bacteria Staphylococcus and they can become very infected. The treatment often requires surgery to open the wound to drain the pus. "Yuck, just the word 'pus' makes me a little queasy."
     You get to have a time warp when you write blogs, (it is in the handbook, really I'm not just making that up) and it has been a few days since The Old Queen had surgery. I'm am happy to report she is completely healed and back to being the wonderful leader and mentor to all of the flock. The Diva did not behave too badly after all. I guess The Old Queen had a talk with her before she went into surgery.

The shepherdess photographed the surgery so that the flock could see it. If you are like me and get queasy at the sight or even mention of blood and pus, just turn off your computer now and go find something else to do. If not, then keep scrolling down. As for me I think I will go chase the Guinea hens.


First all of the supplies for surgery were set out on the counter.

Second all of the bandaging materials for after the surgery were set out on the counter. Those blue things are strips of self-adherent elastic wrap aka: vetwrap or coban.

Next The Old Queen was gently wrapped in a towel so she could relax and take a little nap while she underwent surgery.

The surgical assistant scrubbed The Old Queen's feet to make sure that all of the dirt and debris were gone and so no germs would get into the surgery cite.





Now surgery begins and the injury is carefully excised (cut away).



There is minimal bleeding and all of the dead and infected skin has been removed.

The wound is then dried and packed with antibiotic ointment.

Last but not least the foot is wrapped with the self-adherent elastic wrap. The Old Queen was then able to walk around without getting her foot infected. The bandages stayed on for 5 days and when they came off she was as good as new.

*Please note ~ all surgical situations should include the use of gloves both for the surgeon's safety and that of  the assistant and the patient! This has been pointed out to our staff and we will wear them with all future medical procedures ~ Thanks Mom.  :-)