How To Remove Feathers From A Dead Bird

A rich source for feathers

Richard Katzman

This article will teach you how to preserve and get feathers from duck skins, which are ofttimes thrown away and therefore often available for costless. The feathers brand great fly tying materials.

Skinning

Skinning the ducks: this procedure is very time consuming. Carefully separate the pare of the ducks from the trunk using a very sharp knife. Some ducks have a very thick layer of greasy fat under the peel layer.
This fat MUST exist scraped off. You will need to scrape and cutting this as much as you can in order to go downwardly to the skin layer. The more fat you get out on, the more smell the skin will emit.
Once you have gotten the fat layer off every bit much as y'all can, slice the remaining fatty with the knife in shut cross cuts.

Preserving

You lot volition need to purchase boric acid (AKA hydrogen borate, boracic acid and usually sold as a powder, which is what you want), blistering soda, white vinegar, kitty litter and plastic Tupperware containers and covers big enough for the skins to lay flat.

Pour boric acrid and baking soda over the remaining fat and into the slices. Let this represent a couple of weeks. Remove the Boric acid and Baking Soda and bath the peel in Dawn dish soap and white vinegar, repeat the process 4 times.
Place feathers in a large paper envelope or paper bag, and sprinkle plenty Boric Acid inside the envelope or handbag to surround all the feathers when laid flat.
Hold the envelope or bag and shake for thirty seconds. Lay envelope or bag horizontally on a shelf for 3 days.
Remove feathers from the envelope or handbag and gently shake feathers to remove Boric Acrid. Handle each plume and remove Boric Acrid with your fingers or a soft paint brush.
Preen the feathers with your fingers past grasping the base of the feathers with your left hand and rubbing the feathers with your right thumb and index fingers. Once the Boric Acrid has been removed, stroke the feathers betwixt you lot thumb and index fingers to gently get the fibers to rejoin the feathers.

Skins underway

Richard Katzman

Preservation factory - Stacks of plastic boxes with skins during the preservation process

Watching skins dry

Richard Katzman

Washing

Wash the feathers with Dawn dish lather, white vinegar and warm h2o. Soaking the feathers for xxx minutes in the dawn dish soap, white vinegar and warm water volition help to remove the oil from the feathers. This will be the first bath. You volition repeat this bathroom a few more than times allowing the feathers to dry in between the baths.

Drying

One time the baths have been completed, you lot will need to pour a layer of Boris Acrid, Baking Soda and kitty litter on the bottom of the plastic container. Now lay the feather peel on top of the mixture. Apply the aforementioned mixture on top of the feathers and cover fully. Attach the plastic comprehend and let everything to sit down on a shelf for ii weeks.
After ii weeks echo the baths and the drying routine. Store in Tupperware with lid

Acquiring feathers

Where practice y'all get the feathers? I contacted the Duck Hunter's Association in my country. I was fortunate that one of the Association officers lived virtually thirty miles away, so it was easy to go and pick upward the carcasses. The hunter was happy to run into the feathers being used for a expert purpose. It'south a win-win situation. The feathers would accept merely been discarded in the trash. Information technology helped the hunter to get rid of the carcasses and it gave me a tremendous amount of beautiful feathers that I volition go a lot of flies out of for years to come. In fact I gave one skin to my grandson, who I taught how to tie flies. He now has enough feathers to last him many years. The expense of ownership these feathers is very high these days and yous never get actually good feathers. Plus y'all never become the whole pare. You only become a small cape.

Set to use

Richard Katzman