preserving saddles

[Invicta 0]

What is the best way to clean and preserve feathers from birds found dead on the road etc

[Al Beatty 0]

Hi Invicta,

 

First be sure the road kill is not protected; most song birds are off limits for an example. If the bird is freshly killed you can skin it and cure the skin with salt or borax (Boraxo soap works fairly wellP) or pull the desired feathers and place them in a zip-lock bag. On second thought, you might be safer to just leave the bird alone. The possible negative outcome from harvesting a dead bird may outweight the possitive, especially if the bird is not legal.

 

I remember finding a dead heron one time and debated whether to harvest the feathers or not. I elected not to and later checked with a game officer; I learned it is illegal to have the feathers in your pocession no matter how they were harvested. Take care & ...

 

Tight Lines - Al Beatty

www.btsflyfishing.com

[Guest]

Yup Al, been in same shoes. Only difference is I already knew about the heron, and was just drooling over the feathers. They were perfect for tying up flies. Nice, long, and full. Well matured bird. I opted to leave it be, and a coyote came along and snatched it up thankfully (got rid of any temptation to go back for it after my delivery lol).

 

I agree completely with Al. Unless it's a rare bird that is LEGAL to keep, I wouldn't bother with roadkill. The parasites and such that could be on the bird may infect all the feathers you have on site. I luckily learned about this before hand. So when I get any feathers from someone who hunts, I automatically soak in soapy water, air dry, then put into ziplocks. This way, if something is on there that wants to eat feathers, will only eat the ones in the ziplock.

[Invicta 0]

Thanks for the info fellas. I never thought about the legal aspect of collecting dead birds. Also the parasite issue could turn into a disaster. Perhaps i'm better off sticking to a reputable supplier. Thanks again.