Bumblefoot Question

I'd read through the thread on here about how to do bumblefoot surgery, but it didn't go quite as I expected it to.

This hen started limping about 2 weeks ago and I brought her inside to chicken ICU. I gave her duramycin in her water for a week because one foot was very hot and a little bit swollen and that helped with the heat and inflammation. It took me a little while to find time to do the surgery and when I got the scabs off, there was no hole there like I thought there would be. It looked like it had healed up from the inside?

I had soaked her feet in epsom salts and water for about an hour before I started. I was afraid to cut into the fleshy part because I didn't know what I was doing and it looked healed up--I didn't want to hurt her. But I hear there should be a kernel-like thing in there. Do I have to cut deeper through the healthy foot tissue to get to it or should there have been a hole there already? Should I put her back out and just keep an eye on her for now? I applied some neosporin to a gauze pad and wrapped her feet for now. I didn't want to proceed without further advice!





ETA: The blood on the other foot is where I slipped and cut a little too deep with the exacto knife.

I had a hen that looked just like that. The scab would keep coming back every few weeks. Finally I read about tricide-neo here on this site and ordered some right away. I soaked her feet for one week as directed and the core worked its way up through the top of her foot and FELL OFF. No surgery needed. Months later Fin is fine, no sign of bumblefoot and she is still boss of everyone.

Oh thanks, Jenni! That medicine sounds a lot better than cutting at it and bleeding everywhere.

That's what I was afraid of--that the bumblefoot would otherwise just keep coming back...