Harvesting (Gathering) CDC?

[Capt. Matt C 0]

Hi All,

 

How many (Im not looking for an actual number) CDC feathers can be gathered from 1 duck. A handful, 2 handfulls a glad bags worth....?

 

In other words, how pleantiful are CDC feather around the ducks a**?

 

A female mallard was found dead at work the other day and shes in my freezer (should have seen the folks at the marina watch me as I walked away with it. I looked at one of them and said that the find made my day).

 

P.S I obtained permission from a ranger to take the duck.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

my advice would be skin it then dry it in borax and don't worry about plucking it

[Flytier 0]

Matt,

 

Expect to retrieve between 70 and 100 usable feathers from a mature bird.

 

Pls note that the feathers are found on and around the preen gland, found on top of the bird's back. Do not waste time looking for them at the location you referenced in your post

 

Cheers,

Hans W

 

[Capt. Matt C 0]

Matt,

 

Expect to retrieve between 70 and 100 usable feathers from a mature bird.

 

Pls note that the feathers are found on and around the preen gland, found on top of the bird's back. Do not waste time looking for them at the location you referenced in your post

 

Cheers,

Hans W

 

Thanks Hans.

 

I have always thought that the preen gland is just above the butt. Of course I have never hunted ducks or had a dead one to reference. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Capt. Matt C 0]

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/duck-float1.htm

 

I found this Diagram and thought I'd share in case anyone else is interested

[Al Beatty 0]

Hi Matt,

 

I've also harvested similar feathers (same part of the bird) from geese. The feathers are a bit bigger but can be used. Take care & ...

 

Tight Lines - Al Beatty

www.btsflyfishing.com

[JRG 0]

Hey Matt,

 

From my experience last year, it wasn't too many. Perhaps time of year etc... factors in though but we took a lot of birds in Nov/Dec and I would say about 5-10 quality usable feathers was a good count from ducks. There were more feathers but most were very small or poor quality.

 

I must give kudos to my brother though, he saved about 95% (whole skins) of the birds we harvested. He got pretty good with using a scalpel to really get a nice clean skin off.

[KevCompton 0]

Hi Matt,

 

One advantage of harvesting your own wild mallard CDC is that you will get all four types of CDC feathers, which can be used in various ways. For a description of these types & much else on tying with CDC, see

 

http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/hwcdc/

 

The majority of the Marc Petitjean CDC is Type #4 feathers (with the exception of his natural 'beige' feathers which are typically the #1 and #2 types). The Petitjean CDC is from pen or farm-raised ducks.

 

Most of Spirit River's 'Select CDC' is also type #4 feathers.

 

Is anyone aware of advantages, if any, of using wild duck CDC over domestic birds?

[Redwings1 0]

Is anyone aware of advantages, if any, of using wild duck CDC over domestic birds?

 

I have nothing 'scientific' to back this up but a four and five years ago I had a buddy save a mallard skin each year and it seemed that those feathers were more oily than store bought domestic feathers. Could be my imagination, but that was my experience

[Capt. Matt C 0]

Hi Matt,

 

One advantage of harvesting your own wild mallard CDC is that you will get all four types of CDC feathers, which can be used in various ways. For a description of these types & much else on tying with CDC, see

 

http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/hwcdc/

 

The majority of the Marc Petitjean CDC is Type #4 feathers (with the exception of his natural 'beige' feathers which are typically the #1 and #2 types). The Petitjean CDC is from pen or farm-raised ducks.

 

Most of Spirit River's 'Select CDC' is also type #4 feathers.

 

Is anyone aware of advantages, if any, of using wild duck CDC over domestic birds?

 

Thanks for the link Kev.

 

Pertaining to redwings "Oily feather" comment.... I may be wrong but I think that commercial feathers are cleaned with a light detergent of some type to clean the feathers. I think I remember hearing that, or reading it somewhwere. Could be wrong.

[DHise 0]

Anyone try the CDC gel from Siman (Czech Republic)? It seems to work well on CDC patterns.

[Guest]

How much CDC could a Wood Duck chuck if a Wood Duck could chuck CDC?

 

*ouch* Yes, it is one of those mornings. I need coffee.

[flytyinfreak 0]

CDC's ability to float has "NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OIL ON IT!" As was posted before the commercial operations wash the feathers. This is true. That is how they process and dye them. A CDC feathers ability to add floatation to a dry fly is not in the oil in the feather, rather it is in the feathers structure that give it the floatability! the tiny hairs on the CDC capture small air bubbles, in other words the air molecules cling to the feather, and are reluctant to break free of the bond to the feathers stucture. I am not sure if there is a electron bond ( vanderwahls or covalent bonds)to the gaseous molecules in our atmosphere or some other form of bond but I do know that it has nothing to do with the oil from the duck. The reason that the CDC is great at holding the oil from the preen gland of the duck is in it's surface area. The feather in general has huge amounts of surface area vs mass. that is what makes them great for flying. If you could literally "unfold" a feather and compute the amount of surface area to mass it would blow your mind. If you ever get the chance look at a CDC feather through a microscope. It's actually quite a remarkable thing to behold. The oil (duck butter)from the gland oozes out and attaches itself to the feathers near the gland. The structure allows large quantities of duck butter to be held in a relatively small area. then the duck "Preens" itself, distributing the fluid from the gland to other areas of it's anatomy. i hope this helps in the understanding of CDC and how it functions, and why it is so great for dry flies.

[Futzer 0]

Hey Capt. Matt, the best thing to do with that kind of audience is look to the most sqeamish one in the bunch and say "It's got plenty of good eatin on it" then make the Anthony Hopkins Liver with Fava beans noise, that will keep em off your back.

 

Happy Plucking, Futzer.

[CM_Stewart 0]

How much CDC could a Wood Duck chuck if a Wood Duck could chuck CDC?

 

*ouch* Yes, it is one of those mornings. I need coffee.

 

Fifteen feathers by actual count, and pretty small ones at that.

One of those days. Too much coffee.