Down feather
A down ( even Dune or " under-spring ", Latin pluma ) is a spring with a short keel and very soft and long, radially arranged spring branches unchecked. In birds, the spring branches are negatively charged by body movements and thus have the farthest distance possible from each other. This form in Dunenkleid air cushions that protect against cold or heat ( thermal insulation). Down form in most species the left under the contour feathers " petticoat "; in some groups of birds (eg, ratites ) they do not exist.
The nestling down, forming the plumage of many young birds are not real down, but modified contour feathers.
The word ' down ' comes from the Icelandic. The down feathers of the eider duck, whose name is also Icelandic origin, were introduced in the Middle Ages from the north to the Reich. Thus, Middle Low German, dun [e ] ' (14th century) a borrowing from Old Icelandic, dunn ' ( down feather ). In the 17th century Dune appears in Low German, ' the first time with high German phonetics, au '.
The first tradition for down feather bed as a filling for goods originated from the period 204-222 AD. Thus, had the Emperor Heliogabalus pillows, which had to be filled with rabbit fur or with the most delicate down of the wing undersides of the partridges.
Properties
Down have a high elasticity. If, for example, squeezes down in his hand and releases, they unfold quickly again, and find their way back to their original shape. Moreover Down is lighter than other spring types. Due to their three-dimensional structure down can include much more than air springs, which are characterized by rather flat spring banners with distinctive quill. This property of insulation is measured in the down- crunching economy by Bausch or fill power; the internationally used unit of measurement is called fill power.
The down weight depends on species and breed as well as the individual age of the birds, and therefore has significant differences. A kilogram contains goose down about 250000-400000 down. From the finest and also the lightest down of eider ducks, must be collected around 500,000 to one million down for one kilogram.
Down recovery
Basically, and "battle" (also called " Pusztarupf " ) in collection the down between " live plucking " - or " Totrupf " distinction, that is, down can be obtained both during the lifetime of a bird and only after the death or slaughter. A special role is an eiderdown. They were obtained from wild eiders (Somateria mollissima) and are collected from their nests, which are bolstered by the females in the breeding with their own belly down.
Springs and thus fall down on, especially in the countries in which is operated on a large scale poultry farming. About 90 % of the global volume of down and feathers is obtained by slaughtered animals. The animals are slaughtered and then mostly plucked by machine before the meat goes into further processing.
In the traditional " peasant " live plucking the animals by hand ( " Handrupf " ) several times taken down in the year. This is part of the hormonally controlled process of moulting birds, is repelled in the old and new plumage feathers grow back. The down are no longer firmly rooted. With careful handling of such a plucking of the animals can be largely painless.
When live-plucking in the commercial up to industrially operated aviculture, however - hardly made to individual Mauser progress of the birds of consideration, and usually low-paid piecework ( high time pressure) leads to highly non- elevated stress as well as to - among other things due to some enormous stock sizes of hundreds of thousands of animals animal-friendly Rupfvorgängen. The plucking - especially in geese in combination with mast attitude - leads, according to animal welfare organizations often cause the birds to suffer unnecessarily; Bone fractures and other injuries in this type of recovery down are not uncommon. Therefore, the live-plucking is repeatedly criticized by animal welfare organizations.
For consumers is due to non- existing company independent seal of approval to the down home not apparent whether as "from Totrupf " declared goods actually comes from corresponding companies, and whether " Handrupf - down " come from farms that adhere to the cycle of moulting and possible humanely deal with their poultry, or not.
In the European Union, new regulations for plucking live geese are being considered under EU Commissioner John Dalli. Several retailers and mail order companies have come out in Germany for a ban on the Lebendrupfes, including Tchibo, Bettenklick.de, Otto Group ( Otto Versand, BAUR, Heine, Schwab and Witt ), Kaufland, Norma, Lidl, Tegut, savings, AGM (C & C pick Wholesalers - Rewe International), Unito Shipping services GmbH (Universal, source, Otto Ackermann ), Reiter Betten & Blinds GmbH, Leopold Trünkel GmbH, Stritzinger Import -Export.
Use
Down is due to its ability to offer " heat almost no weight ", used for thermal insulation, among other things in bed mattresses, sleeping bags and jackets.
For the down- crunching economy relevant standards are:
- DIN EN 1885 Feather and down - terms and definitions
- DIN EN 12934 Feather and down - marking the composition of the finished feathers and down as the sole filling material
Organizations
As organizations with direct reference to down made in Germany the German Association of the down and feather industry ( VDFI ) and at European level, the European Down and Feather Association ( EDFA, Association of European Down and Feather Goods industry) - both based in Mainz.