Need advice. Been trying to fix bumblefoot

[greenkjb]

Photos attached. A week and a half ago I removed the plug and some additional cheesy stuff from my hen's foot. The foot is still swollen (see photos) but not too bad. I don't know if the swelling is due to more cheesy stuff or just the natural healing process. I have been trying to leave it alone and only change the bandage every couple of days. I removed the scab again today but cannot get anything out. I have soaked and squeezed it and don't want to aggravate it more. What to do now? The first pic is a close up of where the swelling still is.

 

[klmclain1]

From the top it looks like you may have more kernels in there. If it were me, I'd cut into the top where it's swollen and poke around with tweezers and pull any more out. If you squeeze around can you feel any hard spots? That's where the kernels are. I pulled out about 4 from one of my girls and the next day I pulled out one more that I hadn't located before. It took some pretty aggressive cutting to get them all. Then tons of neosporin and daily bandage changes for 5 days, then every other day for another week.

 

[stoopid]

X2. Although it doesn't look very big, it does look like it may be up in there far enough where you have to go in from the top.

 

[greenkjb]

I'm a little terrified about cutting into the top. An advice? All I can find online is about cutting into the bottom. Will it bleed a lot? Should I just make an incision on top of the swollen part and squeeze?
Thank you all so much for your help.

 

[fishnet1971]

i just had one like that three weeks ago. I thought I had a kernal at the top as well. But it ended up i bruised her top of the foot from squeezing her foot to get stuff out of the underside. I became a baby and just neosporined, soaked, and wrapped and checked it daily for a week. Figured if I had to open the top up I would. But two days later the swelling went down and the green and purple bruise went away. Foot looks fine now. I am scared to open from the top as well, but we gotta do what we gotta do right?

 

[klmclain1]

I sliced into the top - but I sliced fairly deeply and didn't do any squeezing. I cut an X on the bottom, and a single straight cut on the top. It was drastic, yes, but I got it all and she's healed up fine. If you go right in on top of the lump, you'll see it fairly quickly. Get some GOOD tweezers and probe and pull. There is some blood but it's not awful. Keep some gauze on hand to blot the blood. It's not fun, but just keep telling yourself that it will probably save her life. Then have a beer or a glass of wine after!