Urgent help needed with abscess removal advice please 💕

[JessTas]

Hi, if anyone has experience with abscesses please could you share some advice? I have a roo with a lump in his neck, it grew fast and is almost perfectly round and seems to be in the skin layer - I can get my fingers behind it, it isn't attached to the neck muscles much at all. The vet thought aggressive tumor and couldn't aspirate anything, and thought he would pass quickly. A week later he's made a good recovery and besides the lump he's almost back to normal.
I soaked him for half an hour in very warm Epsom salt water, but the central scab doesn't want to soften, so I think I need to cut in to the flesh to see what's inside. I'd love advice about this, where to cut and what you think... I'll include photos in the comments section...
Thanks in advance,
Jess

 

[JessTas]

Here are some photos...

 

[Eggcessive]

I do think that is probably a cancer, maybe squamous cell carcinoma, but no one can diagnose it without removing it first. You could stry to disinfect the skin and lance it in the swollen area. Then squeeze it to see it any pus comes out. My thought is that it just may bleed. Have you ever seen any tumors before in your chickens? A couple of viruses (Mareks and leukosis) can cause tumors, but there are many types not connected to viruses. Let us know what you find. Here is an article that shows squamous cell cancer on chickens:
https://sesc.cat/en/squamous-cell-carcinoma-in-laying-hens/

 

[JessTas]

I do think that is probably a cancer, maybe squamous cell carcinoma, but no one can diagnose it without removing it first. You could stry to disinfect the skin and lance it in the swollen area. Then squeeze it to see it any pus comes out. My thought is that it just may bleed. Have you ever seen any tumors before in your chickens? A couple of viruses (Mareks and leukosis) can cause tumors, but there are many types not connected to viruses. Let us know what you find.

Thank you so much for replying so quickly!
I was able to lift the scab gently, and on the inside it did seem to be yellow waxy fibrous stuff but also quite a bit of dark blood. I have a photo of the inside of the scab, showing the yellow texture... We closed it back up and will take her back to the vet for their opinion tmrw, and hopefully they can excise it if it's an abscess...

 

[Eggcessive]

Let us know what they decide on it. Maybe they could make a slide and look at it under a microscope to see if it is bacterial, viral, or other cells.