SOS - plucking feathers

[LedHed]

Complete novice on duck feather collecting – HELP! I know ducks like spelling Chinese. Have some generous amigos that love to wack qwacks (sorry) and they saved me some.

Got some frozen duck carcass (~20) and need to know what feathers get plucked? ASAP!!!!!

Have a bunch more coming. Need to know what type of duck is best and which feathers are best. What area(s) on the duck to focus on. Do you wash (with what) the feathers?

Any plucking advice is appreciated.

 

[Pup]

LedHed,

Great link for feather ID from bird wing or body (where to pluck): http://flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?25330-Feathers!

I use mallard flank to tie float-n-fly jigs for smallmouth bass. Have read that gadwall flank feathers are also good for them.

Sorry that I can't help with disinfection or other feather prep. No experience there.

 

[hhawkins]

Are the ducks dirty? You can wash the hot soapy water and let air dry or get a pot of water boiling and hold the feathers of your choice in the steam of the boiling water and this will clean them up too. Just let them air dry. I've always worked with feathers from work on dream catchers to decoration on leather (1/2 indian) Heather

 

[Ron Don]

I like mallard the most. Then gadwalls or greys would probly be next. I go for the flanks and longer belly feathers. I generally dye mine so I like the drakes. Are you dying the feathers? As you probly know duck feathers are oily so you will need to "degrease" them if you want the dye to work well. A good product for that is Synthrapol... You can just add it to the dye bath. We have an electric plucker that sucks the feathers in a bag but it gets the down also so your best bet is just to pull 'em!