Chicken Dandruff?

[lindseyawest]

My pullets and cockerel are doing lots of scratching with their beaks and they all have a ton of what I can best describe as dandruff. Is this because more adult feathers are coming in? Molting? Mites? Normal?

 

[lindalouly]

Lice????

 

[lindseyawest]

It's definitely flakes. But are you saying it's an indication of lice?

 

[lindalouly]

No. I was saying that could be a possibility as well. You can usually see mites along the comb of the chicken.... How old are they. The first year of life they constantly lose feathers. Do they have a place to take a sand bath or dirt bath. Birds will constantly preen with their beaks. Give her a good once over to see if you see anything. It's hard to tell what it could be... Are her feet flaky??

 

[lindseyawest]

Ok, gotcha. They've had live before but we treated successfully and now their run is covered so no new birds should be getting in. They have lots of dirt to dust bathe in - I saw them all having a good bath yesterday. The birds are about 3.5-5.5 months old on range. Their feet have seemed a little dryer than usual the last few weeks, but I don't notice it getting worse. Here's from today:

 

[aart]

Ok, gotcha. They've had live before but we treated successfully and now their run is covered so no new birds should be getting in. They have lots of dirt to dust bathe in - I saw them all having a good bath yesterday. The birds are about 3.5-5.5 months old on range. Their feet have seemed a little dryer than usual the last few weeks, but I don't notice it getting worse. Here's from today:

Probably new feather sheathing being preened off, at that age they are growing new plumage.

Look closely at the feathers, you may see new 'pin' feathers growing in. They are short and pointy, as they grow out the 'sheathing' starts to flake off of the tips and the feather spreads out.

Lice are mostly often found around the vent, spread the feathers down to the skin to look for them on the skin or their egg clusters at the bottom of the feather shafts.