diff --git a/channeldb/migrations.go b/channeldb/migrations.go
index 810e14d9..e98bf238 100644
--- a/channeldb/migrations.go
+++ b/channeldb/migrations.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/binary"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/coreos/bbolt"
@@ -474,20 +473,24 @@ func migratePruneEdgeUpdateIndex(tx *bolt.Tx) error {
 	if edges == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	edgeUpdateIndex := edges.Bucket(edgeUpdateIndexBucket)
-	if edgeUpdateIndex == nil {
-		return nil
+	edgeUpdateIndex, err := edges.CreateBucketIfNotExists(
+		edgeUpdateIndexBucket,
+	)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to create/fetch edge update " +
+			"index bucket")
 	}
 
 	// Retrieve some buckets that will be needed later on. These should
 	// already exist given the assumption that the buckets above do as well.
-	edgeIndex := edges.Bucket(edgeIndexBucket)
+	edgeIndex, err := edges.CreateBucketIfNotExists(edgeIndexBucket)
 	if edgeIndex == nil {
-		return errors.New("edge index should exist but does not")
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to create/fetch edge index " +
+			"bucket")
 	}
-	nodes := tx.Bucket(nodeBucket)
-	if nodes == nil {
-		return errors.New("node bucket should exist but does not")
+	nodes, err := tx.CreateBucketIfNotExists(nodeBucket)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to make node bucket")
 	}
 
 	log.Info("Migrating database to properly prune edge update index")
@@ -496,7 +499,7 @@ func migratePruneEdgeUpdateIndex(tx *bolt.Tx) error {
 	// update index. To do so, we'll gather all of the existing policies
 	// within the graph to re-populate them later on.
 	var edgeKeys [][]byte
-	err := edges.ForEach(func(edgeKey, edgePolicyBytes []byte) error {
+	err = edges.ForEach(func(edgeKey, edgePolicyBytes []byte) error {
 		// All valid entries are indexed by a public key (33 bytes)
 		// followed by a channel ID (8 bytes), so we'll skip any entries
 		// with keys that do not match this.