Thank you for replies, I took Brenton to the avian vet yesterday in Melbourne (west Brunswick vet clinic) and they are pin feathers, although some of them look to be quite painful. She said the abnormal (curly) feathers coming through needed to go and taught me how to pluck them. Seemed quite scary at first but they come out without resistance and Brenton seemed much more comfortable after they were out. The vet nurse gave her a head massage, and clipped her toe nails for her. So she was feeling quite pampered.
She said as she is an English show budgie that they run into these things quite often due to in-breeding to get the mutation of color and shape of the bird. And the fact that she is 8 years old too!
