Lavender hen shedding dark feather sheathing during molt?

[LoneStarBirds]

If anyone is curious about the dark spots my lavender hen was shedding, here is a video. It's not the feather casing, but whatever dark material is inside the feather casing.

Hello, she is just lovely!

What you are seeing is the dried remains of what was once the blood supply to the developing feather. I have always referred to it as the aftershaft. I have large macaws and on them the aftershaft is quite large on their tail feathers. If you have a large piece look at it under a magnifying glass and looks kind of like scaffolding.

 

[SourRoses]

Attaching pics of two of the girls to demonstrate that barring, in these at least, is NOT a sex-linked characteristic.

They are such pretty girls! They look nice and full bodied too, I bet the eggs will be a good size!

When the rooster is barred and the hen is not, both male and female chicks can inherit barring or not.
Barring is sex-linked when the hen is barred and the rooster is not. All of the barred hens sons will have barring, and none of her daughters will.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I have one that seems more cockerel in behaviour, but they are still young, so time will tell. The two that had faint barring in early feathers I'm not able to see it now. And the slow feathering one is still a mystery. I will try to update with new pictures when they are old enough to tell, and see if they are all actually pullets or not.

Don't give up hope. My Blue Rock was very bold and outgoing as a chick, and had an early comb pop. I worried for a while! Here's a pic of Siggy the Blue Rock (little bird w/ big comb on the left) and her same age flockmate, Chicory, who is a Rhode Island Blue (Blue Australorp x RIR mix). Chicory developed faster. Siggy's build resembles the Andalusian more than the BR and she's always been a little on the hyper side.

Here is Siggy now. She's 2 years old.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I see it a lot, but I like to pick at my birds feathers as they're growing in, so maybe it's not something all that noticeable if you respect your birds' privacy more than I do. I think it may be dried blood from the blood feathers, but don't quote me on that just yet.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only "picker," LOL! I try to use self control and just not touch my molting birds, but if I do have to touch them, I just want to pull all the casings off! They hate it! So instead I annoy my dogs by picking loose tufts of hair off of them, haha.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Hello, she is just lovely!

What you are seeing is the dried remains of what was once the blood supply to the developing feather. I have always referred to it as the aftershaft. I have large macaws and on them the aftershaft is quite large on their tail feathers. If you have a large piece look at it under a magnifying glass and looks kind of like scaffolding.

Thank you for clarifying.

Do you know if it's typical or could be an indication of something? She had been struggling with a partial impaction & sour crop, so I wondered if she was dehydrated and that may have contributed. Her crop has been improving and the last 2 days I didn't notice hardly any of the dark pieces when I gave her her meds.

 

[LoneStarBirds]

Thank you for clarifying.

Do you know if it's typical or could be an indication of something? She had been struggling with a partial impaction & sour crop, so I wondered if she was dehydrated and that may have contributed. Her crop has been improving and the last 2 days I didn't notice hardly any of the dark pieces when I gave her her meds.

It is part of the normal feather development. Every blood feather will have it and the larger the feather the more noticeable it will be. Here is a picture of how a feather develops and in the pic its called pulp.

Depending on how many feathers and how big the feather or feathers are, it could be that she had already removed all that was ready to come off.

I can't see where any crop issue would have anything to do with it. What medication are you giving your bird for their crop? Hope you don't mind me asking.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I can't see where any crop issue would have anything to do with it. What medication are you giving your bird for their crop? Hope you don't mind me asking.

Of course not. We're doing 7 days of Miconozole now that the impaction is cleared. She arleady seems to be feeling better. She's having more solid stools and acts like she's feeling better.

 

[LoneStarBirds]

Of course not. We're doing 7 days of Miconozole now that the impaction is cleared. She arleady seems to be feeling better. She's having more solid stools and acts like she's feeling better.

Thank you, I didn't want to come across nosy. Is she prone to fungal infections or is this her first?

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Thank you, I didn't want to come across nosy. Is she prone to fungal infections or is this her first?

This is the first for Willow, but we've had a tough time with crops this summer. Apparently the grass in the yard is extra delicious this year so I periodically need to clear grass impactions.