I agree, I generally like to pick feathers off of a skin, but for ducks, skinning and de-greasing is not worth the trouble for me. I concede that there are lot of great feathers on a ducks that are not getting used by tyers, no doubt because skins are generally not available. For instance I really like those cream colored feathers under the tail of drake green wing teal. They are the perfect size and color for wings on PMD's. I'm sure we'd see a lot more patterns w/ duck feathers if duck skins were commercially available. It's great that you take the time to do it, but not many people would.