Budgie FeathersWhat is a budgie without budgie feathers? A pink, scrawny, funny looking little thing. Though not for long as an adult budgie without its feathers would not survive on its own. Feathers enable budgies to regulate their temperature, preventing over heating and chilling. They provide a degree of water proofing and physical protection and are used in courtship and communication. Seeing as they are so important, lets learn a bit more about budgie feathers. Feathers are made of keratin, the same stuff that makes up the budgies skin, beak and toenails. There are two basic types; vaned feathers, and down feathers which lie underneath them. Vaned feathers are all the ones with a stiff central shaft, whilst down feathers are the smaller fluffy grey/white ones that float around and get stuck in everything... Vaned feathers come in several types including flight feathers, tail feathers and the contour feathers that cover the budgies body. They come in several different shapes and sizes but have the same basic layout. The parts of a vaned feather
1. Vane the section of the feather with the feathery bits. 2. Rachis - the main shaft 3. Barb - thin branches that are attached to the rachis. Each of these has many more tiny branches coming off it called barbules. The barbules hook onto each other to hold the feathers shape. These are the bits that become a mess when you rub a feather up the wrong way! See the image below for a closeupof the barbs and barbules. 4. Afterfeather - a downy section of feather at the base of the vane. 5. Hollow shaft, calamus - the section of the feather without barbs that is attached to the skin. Close up of barbs and barbules
As you can see in the close up, the barbs look like tiny shafts with the barbules coming off them. The barbules have tiny hooks that they hold onto each other with, keeping the feathers shape. When a feather gets messed up the budgie will run its beak down it to align the barbs again so they hook back onto each other.... isn't that simply amazing!Down feathers have no hooks so the barbs and barbule float loosely, creating a fluffy feather. These budgie feathers trap the air close to its body where it helps insulate it. When your budgie gets cold it will fluff itself up to trap more air under its feathers. When it is hot it will pull its feathers down tight to sqeeze out the air. Feather tractsOne of the things that I find really amazing is that feather do not grow evenly over the budgies whole body. They only grow in certain places, called feather tracts. This is most obvious on chicks, where you can see the feathers as they are growing out. You can see large bald areas, which disappear as soon as your budgie feathers open out. The image below shows where the feathers actually grow.
Wing feathersYour budgies wing feathers are very important and, of course, beautiful! They provide your pet with its only real means of protection; flight. They can also use their beak (as most budgie owners learn at some painful point!) but if it needs to use it, then it has already been caught by a predator and it is probably too late… So the wing feathers are extremely important to your pet, providing them with a feeling of security that is lost if you trim them. For this reason I would always try to find a different option to doing this.The picture below shows the layout of your budgies wing feathers to give you an idea of the layout. Pin feathers
When budgie feathers are moulted another grows up in its place. When it first emerges from the skin it is encased in a waxy sheath. As it grows out this sheath breaks down, or is preened or rubbed off by the budgie, allowing the feather to open out. You will most often see this around the face and head of your budgie. They look like little spikes, last for a few days and are called pin feathers. You may find your budgie wants lots of head rubs when they have pin feathers, I think they must be uncomfortable.Return from Budgie Feathers to Budgie Anatomy
|
1 - Axillaries
