Went out to see my chickens today, and found one of my three year old self-blue cochin bantam hens with weird black stuff in her feathers.
The best way I can describe it is like if you have a fake leather couch or chair, and it gets old and eventually the leather veneer starts flaking off and it winds up in little tiny pieces all over the house.
The black stuff does not appear to be bugs. I can't see any legs or movement, and if I squish the stuff it seems flat already. No blood comes out, and the stuff itself is not blood either (like how "flea dirt" leaves dark clumps but when you wet them they melt back into blood). Her skin is clear. No bugs or bites on it.
She is molting currently, and some of the new feathers look like they have this black stuff coming from inside them. I can't prove it's not something that latched onto the growing in feathers, but it really seems to be coming from inside. If you really soak the stuff and let it sit, it gives the water a gray pigment. She is a gray chicken, so I'm wondering if she just has some feathers that aren't forming right and this clumpy stuff is just feather material.
I found a few feathers where there is literally just the shaft (fishing line-like center stalk) with tons of the black clumpy stuff on it.
Does anyone have any insight? I'm freaking out. I've never had any parasite issues with my birds, internal or external.
Any help is much appreciated.
And I'm paranoid that I infested my bathroom now if it is parasites, cause she flapped her wings and the black flakes flew off and now they're on the floor and stuff.
The best way I can describe it is like if you have a fake leather couch or chair, and it gets old and eventually the leather veneer starts flaking off and it winds up in little tiny pieces all over the house.
The black stuff does not appear to be bugs. I can't see any legs or movement, and if I squish the stuff it seems flat already. No blood comes out, and the stuff itself is not blood either (like how "flea dirt" leaves dark clumps but when you wet them they melt back into blood). Her skin is clear. No bugs or bites on it.
She is molting currently, and some of the new feathers look like they have this black stuff coming from inside them. I can't prove it's not something that latched onto the growing in feathers, but it really seems to be coming from inside. If you really soak the stuff and let it sit, it gives the water a gray pigment. She is a gray chicken, so I'm wondering if she just has some feathers that aren't forming right and this clumpy stuff is just feather material.
I found a few feathers where there is literally just the shaft (fishing line-like center stalk) with tons of the black clumpy stuff on it.
Does anyone have any insight? I'm freaking out. I've never had any parasite issues with my birds, internal or external.
Any help is much appreciated.
And I'm paranoid that I infested my bathroom now if it is parasites, cause she flapped her wings and the black flakes flew off and now they're on the floor and stuff.
