I have a friend which recently gave me the skin and feathers of a recently shot pheasent. The question is how do you preseve the feathers without plucking each and everyone?
Someone suggested I salt it and dry it like a mammal skin. I have also heard about using Borax.
Any other ideas?
No help as to your question. Just the suggestion to keep it WELL AWAY from your regular tying materials. Usually insect infestation is created in “roadkill” materials. Bug infestation is quite difficult to eliminate once aquired, though not impossible. Some people keep such “finds” in the freezer…tho that can be detrimental too without the bride’s permission. 
Airtight storage boxes?
…lee s.
Do a search on this site - I know this subject has come up fairly often in the past. There’s a veritable fount of information here - just dig a little!
I did up a pheasant skin myself recently. First I stuck it in the freezer because I had no idea what to do with it, and I knew I’d heard about the freezer being a good place to start for bug control. After a week in the freezer (for the hide, not me) and some research, I thawed it out, scraped all the fat/meat/gunk off the inner hide, and washed it in a large basin of soapy water. I shook out as much water as possible and then blotted off more with paper towels. I then coated the hide portion with borax. I laid it out to dry, and every few days I’d shake/scrape off most of the borax and add some new borax (this was probably unnecessary, but it made me feel like I was doing something pro-active). After a week or so it was all dry. If I had to do it over again, I would have tried to shape the skin a little better than I did. Next time I think I’ll pin the hide out on a board and maybe try to stuff the head with paper towels or something instead of just leaving it to wrinkle however it pleased.
It was an interesting thing to attempt!
I remove any flesh, stretch it out on cardboad,feathers down and cover with 20 mule team borax till dry. I then store them with “Enox Moth Crystals” It will kill everything.
Bill
What he said!
Thanks.
Borax it is and then moth balls.
Thanks for the tip about separation. good idea.
Oh I have already gotten into the bride issue. She is better this time. Back in the fall she found three buck tails. What a scream!
I had this pheasent in the office yesterday and a co-worker found it in the freezer. She screamed so loud half the staff thought someone had died. Then I was asked if it was my dead bird in the freezer.
The the joys of Fly tying.
Got to love it.
I like the Moth Ice Crystals instead of the moth balls. Both usually sold at the same place in a store. It exposes more to the air. I take a piece of my wifes old nylons add the crystal and tie a knot. Add it to my tight storage container and after a few day air it out and seal in a large zip lock bag. It contains Paradichlorobenzene that kills moths, beetles their eggs and lavae.
Bill
A couple of years ago I was given a pheasant skin that was well scraped and dry, but did not shine. I washed it in mild soap and man, was the water dirty! Hanging it up to dry stretched the skin. It turns out that there are few feathers and extra stretch between each distinct part of the bird (neck, back, flank, shoulders, etc.) so cutting it up along those spaces resulted in different zip-locks for each kind of feather (still on the skin). I found this very handy.