White tipped feathers around head - lice? mites? or normal?

[manoa_moa]

Hi all, I noticed that the feathers around the face and head of my black australorp (Dora) have white specks on the tip. It has been like this for several months - honestly has progressed so slowly that I have not really been concerned. She behaves normally, lays eggs, has never shown any signs of lice or mites around her vent (will have to do more thorough search later though if needed). Is this normal in black australorps, or could it be a sign of parasites? I don't see this on any of our other hens. She does seem to have some dandruff upon closer inspection of these pics, but that could also just be dirt/dust she was digging around in. Pictures included...

 

[nuthatched]

She's molting. Try giving her a higher protein feed to get through it.

 

[coach723]

How old is she? Did she molt this year? Sometimes older feathers can get faded and worn before molt. Birds between one and two often get pretty ratty looking before they have their first real annual molt. I don't see anything really concerning.

 

[manoa_moa]

How old is she? Did she molt this year? Sometimes older feathers can get faded and worn before molt. Birds between one and two often get pretty ratty looking before they have their first real annual molt. I don't see anything really concerning.

She is turning 2 years old this Thursday! She has never done a full molt all at once - there have been periods where I've noticed a few of her feathers accumulating around the run, but nothing obvious on her body (unlike the other hens). I have noticed these white speckles on her head feathers since about October (just looked back on some photos)

 

[NatJ]

She's molting. Try giving her a higher protein feed to get through it.

I'm not sure about that.

When I zoom in on the photo, I see normal-shaped feather tips that are white, like I would expect on a bird with the mottling gene. (This hen should not have that gene, I'm just saying the appearance of the feathers is similar.)

I do not see the white bits that are common on the tips of new feathers when chickens molt.

Hi all, I noticed that the feathers around the face and head of my black australorp (Dora) have white specks on the tip. It has been like this for several months - honestly has progressed so slowly that I have not really been concerned. She behaves normally, lays eggs, has never shown any signs of lice or mites around her vent (will have to do more thorough search later though if needed). Is this normal in black australorps, or could it be a sign of parasites? I don't see this on any of our other hens.

I think for some reason, this hen has produced some feathers with no pigment in their ends.
They will probably be that way until the next time they fall out and get replaced (i.e. next time she molts.) I have no idea whether the next feathers will have white tips too, or not.

I don't know why it happened, but if she seems otherwise normal, it is probably not anything to worry about.

She does seem to have some dandruff upon closer inspection of these pics, but that could also just be dirt/dust she was digging around in.

White stuff that looks like dandruff is pretty common when a chicken is molting. So she might be molting in addition to having those white tips on the feathers.

Does she also have white in the center of some feathers on her back and breast?
I wondering if she is not really a Black Australorp, or if there is some mixing or poor breeding in her ancestry. If she's got white in her head feathers and in some of her other feathers, she may not have the right genes to grow completely black feathers all over.