Originally Posted by
hap
A few winters back Tok Alaska had temps down as deep as -84F and sustained temps below -65 for several weeks.
They still have beetles and such in Tok...
Freezers are not the way to go, believe me! I have processed thousands of bird skins, mostly ducks for fly tying and sold them to several big fly shops for years. After skinning I wash in warm soapy water with just a capful of bleach... too much and you will "burn" the feathers.
After a couple thorough rinses I put them in a drum half filled with borax and dry sawdust 50:50 and rotate it slowly for a couple hours. The skins come out almost perfectly dry with all the feathers polished and looking really good. A 5-gallon bucket with a lid works well for the occasional bird...
The capful of bleach is plenty to kill all eggs, but I bag all birds after drying and toss a couple real moth balls in each bag and hold them for a week or so.
Every once in a while it is good to gently rewash your bird skins and I do the same tumbler trick with them.
art
Hey, I lived in Tok for two years in the mid 2000's... .Art is not talking about wind chill.
Paradichlorobenzene. Full Stop.
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