🩺 Health & Disease · 6 min
Bumblefoot
Why this matters
Bumblefoot is a husbandry failure that becomes a medical emergency, and severe cases are fatal. It is also entirely visible if you look at the feet.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Describe the stages of bumblefoot
- List its causes, including the dietary one
- State the prevention measures
What it is
Bumblefoot (pododermatitis) is any inflammatory condition of the foot, which quickly progresses into infection. It begins as a small bruise or corn on the bottom of the foot, becomes a small localised swelling that is warm and reddened, and then spreads until the whole foot may become involved.
It is not easily treated and it is not minor. Severe cases can be fatal. Stage one is a thinning of the skin on the sole; the earlier you catch it, the better the outcome, and the gap between early and late is enormous.
Causes
The infection enters through damaged skin, and the epithelium gets damaged by any of a long list: poor or unpadded perches, rough bating on a long leash, punctures, bruising, obesity, heavy imping wire, and a bad diet.
The diet link
Foot swelling in trained falcons is, more often than not, linked to a diet of lean beef and general poor husbandry. Lean beef is an unacceptable substitute for the rich whole-prey diet these birds eat in the wild, and it turns up as a cause in this unit again and again.
Prevention
- A short leash, which prevents rough bating.
- Good perch padding: rope wrapping, or an Astroturf soft enough not to cut or scratch. Avoid over-padding, which is its own problem.
- A correct diet.
- Frequent physical examination. Check the feet every single time you handle the bird, and examine the bird regularly even when it is not being flown. Early detection is the whole game.
This lesson is part of the NY Falconry Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.