Duck bumblefoot advice needed please

My duck has what looks like a bumble on his foot. I followed the advice I have found on this forum and cleaned and soaked it, then tried to pick out the scab. Thing is, the scab is not black it is foot-coloured and it is in several bits. It looks and feels just like hard skin. When I picked at it, it started to bleed underneath the hard layer and inside it looked pink not yellow. If there is a plug, then I think it is under health skin. Problem is, I'm a bit nervous about digging around and hurting him, and about damaging good skin. Is this really a proper bumble and am I doing it right?
I ended up chickening out (ha ha) of the scab digging bit and just put a poultice of sugar and neomycin/chlorhexidine cream covered by a gauze pad and vet wrap, topped with strips of duct tape made into a shoe to keep it clean and dry.
I thought I would leave it wrapped in the poultice for a couple of days, and then have a look at it. Hopefully the scab will have softened and some of the infection drawn out? Perhaps this is all useless unless I have first got off the scab and dug out the plug. I just wish I could be a bit bolder with the surgery.

I treated a bumbled chicken before but the lump was around the joint and was just calcified scar and gristle and no lump of pus to remove, despite having cut into the skin to try and expose it. So I had to poultice it to clean any infection out and it healed well, but still has a lump and the toe points a different way (I think she has arthritis from a possible broken toe in the past, which is prone to bumble infections because it is now misshapen and she treads on it differently). Therefore my history of digging out an actual plug is nil!

maybe this will help, I am like you and would rather not cut if it's at all possible to treat another way. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=27163

this is even better. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4181210 I ordered this stuff to have on hand just in case I ever need it. so far I haven't

Thanks Lydia. That is helpful. I am not sure if I can get hold of that stuff that was recommended for the soaks, but will try. In the meantime, I will do another foot soak in a couple of days with iodine or epsom salts and see if I can loosen the scabby area. I wish it was one hard scab which I could just pull off in one piece. It is just so granular at the moment. More like a fragmented callous or bunch of warts!

I'll post an update later in the week.

Well, all was fine until I put a little girlfriend in his pen to keep him company for a bit, as he was calling for the girls all day. I have had to separate him for other reasons besides the bumblefoot

Anyhoo, within 5 mins of his conjugal visit, the little shoe-boot came off! And that was without him even getting any action So I had to bring him indoors and wash, scrub and soak the foot again before redressing it in the same poultice, vetwrap and duct tape shoe-boot. It looked the same as yesterday really, so no progress on the lump coming free yet. My son just wanted to cut into his foot and get it over and done with, rather than the longer method, but I am trying to avoid having to do that. It is so well wrapped now, I will have trouble getting the darn thing off when I need to, I just know it!

I also checked over both feet thoroughly and he has a few tiny black spots on various of his other toe joints, which I think are the start of more bumbles, but there is no swelling at all on them. I am hoping it is just ingrained dirt for now. None of my other ducks have any bumbles, so I think it is down to him being heavier perhaps, or less well-balanced in his gait (his legs are really long and he wobbles sometimes).

I just wish I could give him a medicine and it would all just go away...

Unfortunately it's a staph infection and if you dont dig it out or use the tricide neo, the infection will spead to his leg, then it will be too late to treat even with penicillin injections. The infection will spread to the rest of his body causing organ failure first, then death. I recommend you start minor surgery now...the sooner the better. You can order tricide neo here at this link if you decide not to do the surgery.
http://www.koiacres.com/

FYI we have had a bumblefoot issue on a few birds, to the point of limping. No response from Epsom soaks and Vetericyn sprays. Duramycine and Tetracycline were recommended through several threads and a Cornell animal disease specialist in poultry. Unfortunately, I just spoke to a vet at the Cornell Duck Research Lab and since we sell our eggs - these antibiotics are NOT recommended for chickens or ducks if eggs are consumed by humans.

Resource of interest - Cornell Duck Research Lab. They have a web site.

vidariffic said:

FYI we have had a bumblefoot issue on a few birds, to the point of limping. No response from Epsom soaks and Vetericyn sprays.  Duramycine and Tetracycline were recommended through several threads and a Cornell animal disease specialist in poultry.  Unfortunately, I just spoke to a vet at the Cornell Duck Research Lab and since we sell our eggs -  these antibiotics are NOT recommended for chickens or ducks if eggs are consumed by humans. 

Resource of interest - Cornell Duck Research Lab.  They have a web site.

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Have you tried the triple antibiotic ointment or clear iodine?

Yes, i did try the clear iodine and antibiotic ointment too. It seems the infection from the foot spread and both were limping badly.

vidariffic said:

Yes, i did try the clear iodine and antibiotic ointment too.   It seems the infection from the foot spread and both were limping badly.

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You're going to lose these animals - it's animal cruelty to not give them proper medical attention. Once the antibiotic cycle is finished you can continue to sell the eggs. I have a duck on antibiotics now - once she is off, I can consume her eggs again.
The longer you wait the more aggressive the staph infection becomes.

ellieuki said:

Once the antibiotic cycle is finished you can continue to sell the eggs. I have a duck on antibiotics now - once she is off, I can consume her eggs again.

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It depends on the washout period for that particular antibiotic. Eating (or selling especially) of the eggs too soon leads to drug resistant bacteria such as MRSA. It can also cause problems in those with immunity issues.