Whats on his feet

[JakRat]

I noticed while giving my Porcelain d'uccle a bath today that his feet feathers have weird stuff around them. This also seems to go down into the follicle. One feather pulled out and one feather while I was cleaning it came out but then he started to bleed. This black stuff was in the feather that came out... AGH!!! ANy ideas?

This last picture shows one of the feathers that seems to have a core of this black stuff... it comes off when I wash it but it is very weird....

 

[SilverFire5467]

Very weird haha I've never noticed that before. maybe its just dirt build up under the feather casing?

 

[JakRat]

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I thought it might be cuz it comes off but the last pic shows how the feathers ate wrapped around it.I have been giving him a bath once a week to keep the feathers clean.

 

[JakRat]

bump....

Any ideas out there??

 

[nurse_turtle]

The one with the "black stuff in the core" is a blood feather. New feathers have a blood supply until it breaks the casing. If a blood feather is cut, a bird can bleed to death. If a blood feather is plucked, you will see blood, but it clots quickly. This is important to know in case you ever trim wings. The other areas of feather thinning in a barred shape is usually diet related.

 

[JakRat]

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Thanks! SO there is nothing to worry about then right? What could the feather barring be diet wise??? The rest of his feathers dont have this it is just the ones on his feet.

 

[nurse_turtle]

Is he young? It could also be from wear and tear. It gets pretty rough down the around the feet. As long as other feathers look good, I would totally not worry about that. A blood feather is just a new developing grown up feather. I looked up an adult porcelain d'uccle and noticed they have some black streaking in the tail area. That's what I think the little black areas are on the feather shaft. Your baby looks fine and new feathers will grow where the others were.

 

[JakRat]

YAY! Yeah I have no idea how old he is... or if he is even a he! was suppose to be a she! sigh....I think he may be at like 12 or 14 weeks... maybe? He seems to hate his feet feathers... so thats good that they are his big boy feathers

maybe I will give him a little protein to boost him up a bit.

 

[nurse_turtle]

YAY! I'm glad that's one less thing for you to worry about.

 

[JakRat]

yeah I have enough to worry about at the moment. I have a sneezy chick and after reading all these posts I am pretty sure that she is going to spontaneously com-bust or something... I swear I will never buy from a breeder again.