Well, I bought some. 3 Bettles in with a variety pack from whiting farms. Anyone else ever buy and infestation?
Eeeewwww! If you live close to the retailer you got them from, I’d be taking them back, and telling him what I thought of his material!! Keep them away from all the rest of your tying materials. Treat your already materials with a preventative.
Flyrodde,
That’s really unfortunate to have bugs in a new pack of material. What is fortunate is that you saw the little beasties and didn’t put them into your material collection. Please tell us a little more about how you acquired that pack of hackle and bugs. Did you buy it directly from Whiting or did you have a middleman who sold it? Either way, I’m sure that Whiting will make it right. I’ve honestly never heard of anybody getting buggy material from Whiting. Please give us a little more detail on the source of this Trojan Hackle. 8T 
I bought the pack from Gander Mountain. I have e-mailed whiting and am waiting for a response. I would have returned the pack to gander mountain, but I live 2 hours away and didn’t notice until later that evening. It was a day trip with the wife and I had a gift card to use up. It was a Variety pack of extra and nonspecific feather cuts for streamers, bass bugs ect. I usually don’t buy packs like that, but it actually had the 4 colors I was going to buy separately with extras for the same price. The beetles are since deceased, but am afraid of what they may have left. For now the pack is in quarentine.
What puzzled me is the ziplock bag was also heat closed at the top. With close inspection, there are no hole eaten through the bag. This looks to be an inside job. Maybe to boost feather sales in this slowing economy?
I will keep you posted on whitings response.
Inside job?
I TOTALLY understand being upset but please realize you are buying natural products.
I used to sell a natural product and no matter how careful, infestation can occur…period.
Ever notice moths in the flour aisle at the store?..they just hatched.
That said, be persistant, get a refund or replacement but seriously understand that even if they were washed and treated there are infinite number of critters that hatch under infinite number of circumstances…in other words even when you dod everything right…it can go wrong if conditions are just right some where along the way.
I guess my attempt at humor was too subtle for this medium.
In college I ran the museum for several years and it included a specimen prep dermestid beetle collection. Killing them at each and every stage is critical to keeping the bugs down.
I never put new tying acquisitions into the old until I am very certain there are no hitch-hikers. I usually drop the new materials in a zip-lock with some proper moth balls.
I have gotten bugs in more than one brand of hackle…
art
NO worries…glad you get it.
from whiting??
or
the retailer??
Well I am glad to report that whiting told me to toss the bag I bought and a replacement will be in the mail. He also told me that if I wanted, putting the contaminated feathers in the freezer for 3 weeks would kill the bugs.
Today while thinking about this problem, I realized something. I have used a kind of insect killer that you spray along your baseboards and cabinets and such. It is poison when it is wet, but when it dries it is not supposed to have any affect on pets or humans but still deadly to insects. Safe to use near food and in the kitchen. Well has anyone tried this in their material cabinets/rubbermades? Seems like it may be a better choice for me as I was worried about the pest strips toxicity. I remember I bought a gallon pump spray jug for about $8 at the garden center a couple years ago, even if I have to spray my containers once a year, it would give me reason to check everything out and cull unwanted materials. Any thoughts?
Yes I bought some inexpensive capes and saddles and the bag of capes had heaps of live bugs in them, I immediately threw them into the freezer for just over a week, went through the rest of my feather collection and loaded the feather container with mothballs. after I took them out of the freezer I kept them out of the feather container for a couple of weeks and the bugs fell out - heaps of them all dead! this is not the 1st time I have had buggy hackle capes - but the 1st one the shop is going to replace it when I can get there - none of the shops I use are close, as I have to go where I can afford.
I seem to be a ‘bug’ attractor when it comes to some things I buy. This last lot the online shop guy has ceased buying from the last supplier and is looking for another better supplier with better quality saddles and capes. The feathers I treated are fine now and have recently used them. 
Jeanne
I have seen more than one fly shop with infested flies in their cases. With all of the flies coming in from overseas I wonder if this is part of the problem. It wouldn’t be hard for the bugs to get from the flies to the materials on the rack especially since the days of fly shops storing their materials in moth crystals is long gone.