Baby Fledgling with Dandruff?

[GouldieFledge]

I had a chick fledge a couple of days ago and I noticed some kind of dust or dander looking material on him. I also noticed when he shook, dust from all over the body fell off of him--don't know if this was from sitting in the bowl of Herb Salad. I tried to get some macro shots of what I'm seeing.

Does this look like dandruff, or dust from growing out feathers....or something mite related?

[cindy]

might be from the coating around the new feathers flaking off as the feathers grow out. The coating around the feathers growing out looks like a clear-white tube.

Can you push some of the feathers back and look under at the skin and new feathers growing in?

[GouldieFledge]

cindy

I think it may just be tube flaking. These aren't the greatest pictures, they're kind of dark...

[GouldieFledge]

When the chick finally fledged, I took out the nest after a few days so I could get rid of the eggs that had been sitting in there and get rid of some of the poop that accumulated. When I upturned the nest and shook it out, tons of "dust" flurried down into the garbage...I'm assuming that's all the shed from feathers?

[debbie276]

That's what it looks like from here

[Jason in TX]

Don't stress. Little fellas been sitting around in dried poo for a while now and is also making his big guy feathers. He is going to be a wreck! Baths are important to finches IMO. I would put a clean 80 degree bath in there and let mom or dad teach him how to clean up. Good luck!