Is this normal? Yellowish crusty deposits on skin at feather base.

[Georgieworgy]

Hi All,

My lavender pekin bantam, 'Lavender', has had greasy looking head feathers for a while now and she doesn't look as fluffy and healthy as my other pekin. I inspected her feathers and found that her skin doesn't look right. It's not healthy and pink like Debbie's (my other bantam, although she's white).
Lavender has what I can best describe as a clingy yellow soft but crusty deposit at the base of her feathers and it does seem to be on most of her body. she is shedding a lot of feather debris, flakey calcium? and little black bits that look like ash (which I assume are from feather growth) but her feathers are fine, she's not losing many at all. She seems fine in herself, no itching/scratching and doesn't seem irritated at all, although she is the quietest of all my girls and spends a lot of time on the perch by herself. I wonder if this is just dry skin/dermatitis, a fungal issue or maybe something to do with calcium? I saw another thread on here by 'rugbratmom' from 2016 and the images look very similar to my chicken's issues.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/crusty-skin-on-head-and-shoulders.1488248/#post-24811472

Rugbratmom ended up using Veterycin and it seemed to work, so I am going to put some of the Veterycin plus gel on her and see what happens. But if anyone knows what this is please help! Thanks x

 

[Eggcessive]

Have found any evidence of lice or mites? It looks like sebum and dried skin. Perhaps if she could have a place to dust bathe regularly, her skin might improve. A little fish oil in her feed occasionally might also help, but she just needs to dust bathe.

 

[Georgieworgy]

I haven't found any sign of lice or mites. She is currently living in a partial indoor set up and I put out a dirt area in the daytime for them to have a scratch about in but it's muddy and wet here at the moment and I haven't introduced them to the great outdoors as yet. I will have to put a bigger dust bathing area out for her and encourage her. what kind of fish oil would I put in her food? is there a supplement I can buy for chickens? Thanks for your kind advice x

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

My CB house roo had this and generally occurred during a molt. I believe it had to do with nutrition or a missing vitamin as he was an avid dust bather. I ended upping his vitamins and it seemed to lessen the amount of yellow dander he had.

 

[Georgieworgy]

My CB house roo had this and generally occurred during a molt. I believe it had to do with nutrition or a missing vitamin as he was an avid dust bather. I ended upping his vitamins and it seemed to lessen the amount of yellow dander he had.

Thankyou MilesFluffybutt, Great name by the way ; )
What vitamins did you give to him? I don't currently give my girls any kind of supplements but I probably should. Can you recommend something? I live in the UK so It would need to be something universally available. Thanks x

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

I used Poly Aid Plus. It's widely available. I gave it to my sick chickens and they slurped it right up so it must be tasty.

https://vetafarm.com.au/product/poly-aid-plus-40g/

 

[Eggcessive]

Any fish oil for humans is good for animals and chickens. Most chicken feed nowadays has omega 3 fatty acids, but this would give extra.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Supposedly deficiency in Vitamin A could possibly be part of the problem. Some types of greens, including broccoli, red/orange vegetables, cod liver oil, etc. are good sources for Vit A.
However, one of my hens has the same problem and I haven't seen improvement in crustiness and flakiness since I started giving her extra Vit A. However, her comb has turned good and red, she put weight back on, and she's laying again.
https://azeah.com/chickens-cockatoos-parakeets-other-parrots/scaly-skin-birds