When Dorothy molted and had all these bald patches all that were left were those filoplumes ! Once she regrew her feathers they became more hidden again.A bit of research reveals that birds have a type of feather called a filoplume. All the pictures look identical to what Bernie has.
They act like cats whiskers - ie a strong sensory function - things like wind speed etc.
The only problem is they are supposed to be very short whereas Bernie's are very long.
I think I might post these on a thread to see if any BYC folk have experience.
Here is a diagram showing a filoplume feather.
Can everyone have a look and see if their chickens have them too?
View attachment 3340898