Powder: Our Feather Duster Budgie
Powder was born on 24 September 2019 from a clutch of 7 eggs. Only 2 of the 7 eggs hatched, giving us first, Peepers, and then two days later, Powder. It was easy to see that Peepers was a spitting image of his father, dark blue and greens. But we could not find any color variation on Powder. He was completely white. (Look inside with the Nest Box Cam). Initially, we thought Powder might be Albino, but when his eyes opened they were black, not reddish or pink.
Powder: First Month of Life
Mom took really good care of her babies, always making sure their crops were filled. (Watch a feeding with the Nest Box Cam) Dad came in regularly to feed mom, and sometimes even helped feed the babies! As they both grew, it became very apparent that although Powder was younger and still much clumsier than his sibling, he was also much stronger. He soon began to outgrow his sibling, both in stature and fullness of feathers. We couldn't believe how wildly his feathers were growing!
After around 20 days of age, the babies started peeking out of their nest box. One day, we found Powder out of the nest sitting on the bottom of the cage, and not long after that Peepers came out (or fell out!) as well. The babies clumsily tried to climb back into their nest box. Peepers was successful but Powder had a difficult time climbing. The interesting thing was that when Powder was finally able to get up to the nest box opening, their dad would peck at him and force him back down! Peepers was allowed to go back in, Powder was not. Feeling sorry for him, we manually put him back into the nest. Mom continued to feed both of the young birds, but each time Powder came back to the opening of the nest box, dad would try to pull him out.
When both young birds were finally able to get out together, and started eating seed together at the bottom of the cage, we sighed with relief! Well, kind of. Peepers was getting preened by his parents; Powder was not. Peepers climbed up and began perching; Powder did not. Then when we noticed dad treating them both aggressively, we decided to remove them to their own cage.
Safe in their own home, Powder and Peepers snuggled, preened, and played with each other, mostly on the bottom of the cage. When Peepers did leave Powder to perch up higher, Powder would try to follow him by climbing up (he was not successful), or by pulling on his tail feathers to try to get him to come back down. (See video.) Peepers became more and more impatient with Powder and when we noticed him being more aggressive toward Powder, we decided to separate them. Powder would stay on his own, Peepers would join the community of budgies in the flight cage. (He loves it!)
As the days passed, Powder got fluffier and fluffier. He no longer looked remotely like a budgie and we were bewildered. As we began to research the term, "Over-abundance of feathers", we came across a picture of another budgie who looked just like Powder! Several articles later, we had the information we needed. Our budgie had a rare genetic disorder. Not only does Powder suffer from having overly long feathers, these feathers do not stop growing. And even though he is a big mop of fluffy feathers, they do not keep him warm because these type of feathers lack the barbs needed for them to interlock and keep in heat.
Powder: Today
Today, Powder continues to get fluffier and fluffier. His feather-growth is relentless. We started to trim some of his longer feathers underneath him so he wouldn't step on them and trip. We also began to trim some of his feathers around his eyes. (He allows it!) You couldn't even SEE his eyes under the mop of feathers! Boy, what a difference that's made. The first time we did the trimmings he was so giddy! He jumped around and just had all this extra energy. We're sure he's thankful he can see the world better now!