FINCHforum

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?

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?

cindy

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

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?

That's what it looks like from here

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!