The structure and properties of chicken feather barbs makes them unique fibers preferable for several applications. The presence of hollow honeycomb structures, their low density, high flexibility and possible structural interaction with other fibers when made into products such as textiles provides them unique properties unlike any other natural or synthetic fibers. In this study, we report the physical and morphological structure and the properties of chicken feather barbs. The morphological structure of chicken feather barbs is similar to that of the rach is but the physical structure of the protein crystals in chicken feather barbs is different than that reported for feather rachis keratin. The tensile properties of barbs in terms of their strength and modulus are similar but the elongation is lower than that of wool. Using the cheap and abundant feathers as protein fibers will conserve the energy, benefit the environment and also make the fiber industry more sustainable. Chicken feather fibers were characterized and then converted into products such as yarn and nonwoven fabrics for a study into the feasibility of their use as textile products. Yarn containing blends of nylon and up to thirty percent turkey feather fibers were spun by combining novel techniques with commercial yarn spinning machinery. These yarns were tested for determination of their mechanical properties. As the percentage of turkey feather fibers increased, the tenacity and elongation of the yarns decreased while the modulus increased. These yarns were knitted into fabrics to determine their insulating properties. As the percentage of chicken feather fibers increased the insulating capabilities of the fabrics also increased. Recent research has focused on producing non woven fabrics containing turkey feather fibers utilizing various production methods for use as erosion control fabrics.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT CHICKEN FEATHERS
Feathers are very special structures which distinguish birds from other animals and have important physiological functions. A chicken has about 5% to 7% of its body weight in feathers so chicken feathers are an important by-product in the poultry industry. Currently, increasing poultry consumption both in the United States and abroad has produced a great amount of "waste". Over four billion pounds of chicken feather "waste" is generated by the US poultry industry alone each year .

Presently, feathers might be considered as "waste" because their current uses are economically marginal and their disposal is difficult. In the previous time and
sometimes $ in present the feathers are cooked/ sterilized at elevated temperature and high pressure, then dried and ground to powder to be used as a feed supplement for livestock, mainly for ruminants. However, this is a fairly expensive process. The quality of the produced protein product is low, lacking some essential amino acids and having poor digestibility by animals. This marginal profit causes supply exceeding demand . Disposal methods such as burning or burying
are also occasionally used, but they are environmentally unfriendly. Burning feathers causes air pollution and in a landfill feathers decompose very slowly and would require a lot of land. The slender, parallel side branches arising from two sides of the shaft are barbs, and all the barbs considered collectively as one flat thing are known as the vane. Most of what we see in the Figure is the vane. If you examine a barb under the microscope you'll see that it bears minute hooked branches, kind of like VelcroTM hairs. These are barbules, and the barbules of adjacent barbs hook together to hold the barbs into a well organized vane
, especially toward the vane's base, you can see that some barbs have come
undone from their neighbors. The feather-type known as a semiplume.
Semiplumes have shafts like contour feathers, but their vanes are fluffy, not well 3 organized with the barbs "zipped together" as in the contour feather. The barbs of feather can be used
directly as fibers.

CHEMICAL STRUCTURE- KERATIN
Feathers consist of about 91% keratin, 1.3% fat, and 7.9% water . Keratin is a hard protein that is also found in hair, skin, hooves and nails. Birds and reptiles have their own keratins, very different from the a-keratins in mammals. Bird and reptile keratins are composites made up from both fibrous and matrix components. The fibrous feather keratin can stretch approximately 6% before breaking, unlike hair a-keratin that can 4 stretch to twice its length. Protein chemists think that the main secondary structure in bird and reptile keratin is the (J-keratin. The P-keratin does not lie flat but twists gradually

Constituents in CFF
o Serine.-16%
o Proline-12%
o Glycine-11%
o Valine -9%
o Cysteine-7%
Chicken feathers contain 91% protein (keratin), 1% lipids, and 8% water. It is • largely composed of glycine, cysteine, proline, and serine, and contains almost no histidine, lysine, or methionine. The amino acid sequence of a CFF is almost as contents of other feathers And the rest are numerous amino acids in small . percentages Chicken feather is treated as a waste product from the poultry sector, approximately ,,2*1013 kg of chicken feather generated in India every year. The cross section and the longitudinal features of the different region of the rachis and the Barbs. Hence, the ESEM micrographs of the barbs showed a

tertiary structure, i.e. the barbules that are attached to the barbs in a manner similar to the barbs being attached to the rachis. Thus, according to the ESEM micrographs, a feather is composed of four units, i.e. the calm's', the rachis the barbs and the barbules. Show the morphological features of the main units of the poultry feather shows the two principal units, namely the rachis and the barbs shows the secondary and the tertiary units, namely the barbs and the barbules. The barbules are attached to the barbs in a manner similar to the barbs
being attached to the rachis shows the primary, the secondary and the tertiary units.