Dandruff/white skin while molting?

Apr 9, 2019
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977
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Maryland
Most of my chickens are starting to molt and they are losing feathers around their heads and under their crops. I noticed that one of my chickens has white, dead skin making dandruff... is this normal?
*edit* omg why isn't anybody answering? This has never happened before (to me at least)
 
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Can you post some pictures of the birds in question, and close ups of the areas? How old are the chickens? Where in the world (generally) are you located?
 
Are you sure they are molting? Pin feathers coming in? If they are molting then the dandruff could be feather shaft dust, the dust from the shafts that protects the new feathers until they are ready to open, they pick that off while preening and it gets everywhere. If they are not molting then it could be feather picking causing the bare spots. Without pictures I can't say for sure. It's early in the year for molt, but not unheard of. At a year old I'd have expected they would molt later in the summer or early fall, but stranger things have happened. But without pictures I'm guessing.
 
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Are you sure they are molting? Pin feathers coming in? If they are molting then the dandruff could be feather shaft dust, the dust from the shafts that protects the new feathers until they are ready to open, they pick that off while preening and it gets everywhere. If they are not molting then it could be feather picking causing the bare spots. Without pictures I can't say for sure. It's early in the year for molt, but not unheard of. At a year old I'd have expected they would molt later in the summer or early fall, but stranger things have happened. But without pictures I'm guessing.
I’m pretty sure they are molting because most of my chickens are losing feathers under them so I feel it when I pick them up.
 
On that particular bird it doesn't really look like molt. It looks more like the feathers have been maybe rubbed off by putting the head through something, like fencing, and the constant wear has removed them. If it is only head/neck on all of them, then that seems more likely. They may be trying to get to something tasty on the other side. It is always a good idea to check for mites/lice whenever you have feather loss, just to be safe. https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/
Some mites only come out at night to feed on the birds, so checking after dark with a flashlight once they have gone to roost is best. Another possibility is feather picking, which in most cases is caused by overcrowding or boredom. Often times the picking takes place on the roosts at night. With molt the biggest clues are lots of feathers laying all over the coop and run, pin feathers coming in somewhere on their body, and stoppage of laying for those still laying. Sometimes young birds can get pretty ratty looking before their first molt happens, commonly after about 18 months old, lots of time for wear and tear on that set of feathers. Molt can happen earlier though.
Here are a couple of images of pinfeathers, and a link for info on molting.
https://www.wideopenpets.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-molting-chickens/
14ba7dd4f1d9979334dee2c224d63f44.jpg

20101116pinfeathers.jpg
 

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