Black skin

[LauraPowell]

Our neighbors’ chickens skin is turning black. what would cause that.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC!
Can you get a picture of the area that's turning black real quick?

 

[nuthatched]

Is is a melanistic breed?

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Several breeds of chickens have fibromelanism, which can cause the skin to naturally be black when the chick is developing in its egg and at any other time in their life from then on. Fibromelanism can either be complete or not quite complete, with complete making everything except the blood and the eggs of the chicken black (even the organs), which can be found in the Ayam Cemani breed and a few others. However, a chicken's skin should not be turning black unnaturally. Can you post a picture?

 

[LauraPowell]

Here are our neighbors' chicken photos.

Laura

 

[Eggcessive]

I’m having trouble seeing the pics. What part of the chicken is turning black—comb, wattles, feet?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Our neighbors’ chickens skin is turning black. what would cause that.

Welcome To BYC

Do you have your own chickens? If not, perhaps it would be nice to go to your neighbor, introduce yourself and tell them you are interested in chickens and wish to learn more about them.
They may be happy to answer your questions, tell you about chickens and may even appreciate an offer of you helping out with chores on occasion (like raking, cleaning up poop in the coop, etc.) in exchange for their time and knowledge of raising chickens.

Did you take the photos with their permission or?

The hen in the photos to me looks like she's molting which is occurs naturally about once a year, the hen sheds old feathers and those are replaced with new ones.
She may have some areas where pin feathers have been plucked (not uncommon when in molt), but it's hard to tell since all photos are from a distance and presumably over or through a fence. Have someone hold the hen and taking nice close up photos of the hen and the skin - perhaps the neighbor will be kind enough to hold the hen and let you take some photos while you explain to them that you are asking for assistance on their behalf on a public forum and more photos have been requested.

It would be nice if you would just upload the photos instead of putting them in a zip, most people will not open them and it's a hassle to scan them.

I have reloaded your photos below, so everyone can see them.

Pardon me if my assumptions about this scenario are incorrect.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Here are our neighbors' chicken photos.

Laura

I don't see any black coming in on that chicken's skin. The areas where her feathers are missing is where she is either doing her yearly autumn-time molt, or she is getting picked on by a more dominant hen. If the answer is the latter of the two options, then the seemingly black spots on her skin could be dried blood.

 

[NatJ]

I don't see any black coming in on that chicken's skin.

I see what looks like black dots, especially near the shoulder/neck area in the first photo. I think it is actually the tips of some pinfeathers.

If the dark bits are pinfeathers, it shouldn't be too long until they start to look more like normal feathers. They definitely can look odd while they are first growing in.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I see what looks like black dots, especially near the shoulder/neck area in the first photo. I think it is actually the tips of some pinfeathers.

If the dark bits are pinfeathers, it shouldn't be too long until they start to look more like normal feathers. They definitely can look odd while they are first growing in.

I kind of see that but I don't at the same time, maybe I'm looking the wrong way.