Ive got 5 different ducks coming in to me from a friends hunt this morning. I am really excited about the drake wood duck most of all.
This is to find out how to skin it and keep all the feathers without plucking the birds in their entirtety. Any comments and know hows would be greatly appreciated.
Seege
The few times that I have been the lucky recipient of ducks from hunting friends, I have always found them (the ducks) to be excessively fatty/oily and very difficult to get all the flesh off the skin. I ended up plucking them, washing the feathers and sorting them by species/feather type. Just one man’s experience.
Jim Smith
fireman,
I suggest you cut off the wings at the shoulder joint and remove as much meat as you can. Put the stubs in Borax, leave outside for a couple of weeks then wash off and air dry. OR, just use wire cutters, cut the primary feathers off at the lower shaft and pair them up(left and right). Pluck all the lemon flank feathers and barred(black & white tipped). Wash, dry and bag these. You might also want to do the same with the breast feathers.
These skins are very delicate and can be ripped apart very easily. Plucking the feathers you’ll use is much easier.
Allan
What do you guys wash the feathers in or does it matter.
Seege
As was said before, skinning ducks is a fatty mess. Pluck the feathers you will use. Freeze them with mothballs for a couple weeks at least. Wash them with warm water and mild dish soap. Rinse well. Air dry. Enjoy your feathers!
From an new web page I’m working on.
Wash the feathers in a mild soap solution and rinse well. Then pat them with a paper or cloth towel. Put the feathers in a regular large paper grocery bag. Get a hair dryer and rap the bag opening around the barrel of the hair dryer, turn it on and shake the bad to suspend the feathers. They come out looking like new.
or
Mix up a warm sink-full of very sudsy dishwater using Dawn dish detergent or similar along with one cup of ammonia. Add feathers and stir them into the water. allow them to soak for a full hour or so, stirring and agitating the whole mix about every 10 minutes. Strain out all the feathers, then rinse two or three times to remove all soap and dirt. Now place them in a linen pillow case and hold the opening of the case tightly around the nozzle of a hair dryer. Turn on the dryer and dry the feathers, but keep a carefull eye so you don’t burn them (you don’t want the tips to start curling). Set the feathers out in a box or paper bag until they are thoroughly dry, then groom and steam any of the big feathers that are still not shaped properly. Same procedure works for any waterfowl feather.
As for washing them… use Woolite, a pair of Queen size nylons ( or waderlines; your call), a five gallon bucket w/ lid or not less than 1 gal. container (depending on how many feathers you’re working with). In the 5 gal bucket put in 1.5 gal of “Woolited water” that is lukewarm, dump in the feathers in the pantyhose w/top tied. Now, put on the lid and do the Martini shuffle for about 1 minute. Remove lid, pantyhose, dump the water down drain and go rinse the feathers…still in the pantyhose under … Lukewarm water , then under cold water.
Take the feathers in the pantyhose outside and shake off X-cess water DO NOT WRING OUT WATER!! , this will destroy the feathers and quills at this point. Now, lay out a large towel, place pantyhose w/ feathers in center, pick-up towel by each corner, bringing them all to the center, now twirl the whole bundle around your head – OK, now you look like a complete fool as you do this, but you’re on your way to the best feathers in the world – for about 2 minutes.
Dump the feathers OUT OF the panty hose, into the pillow case … uh, make sure this isn’t one of your families good ones… cause you’re better half may just decide to “de-feather you” if you don’t !! Tie the end of the pillow case and throw the whole group into the drier, put on Perm-Press ( as stated above) and let 'er rip! OH… BTW, put in a DOWNY FABRIC SOFTENER… it really assists in the fluffing of the feathers. So far I haven’t noticed any damage to them from it either; for one it’s on the outside of the pillow case.
Killing Bugs Prior to Storage
It’s a good practice to assume that any “raw” material you receive is infected with bugs such as flees lice or ticks. The only time you should assume you are safe is when you purchase the materials through reputable suppliers. Anything you pick up on the road, in the woods, or are given from trapper or hunters should be assumed to be infested.
The two main “de-infestation” methods use either a freezer or your microwave oven to kill both the adult bugs and the eggs.
Freezer first. The stuff most at risk is feathers on the skin, ie capes, wings, and tails. I cycle this stuff through my deepfreeze, always in zip locks, in a 2-stage process. When you aquire it, put it in the deepfreeze for about a week. This kills most active insect stages. Bring it out for about 48h. If resistant stages are present, usually they will become active in response to the return to normal temperatures. Then, whammo! Hit 'em again with another week in the deepfreeze.
The first thing I do with any hide or skin is freeze it for 2 months! This will kill all the bugs in the hair/feathers of the hide. You don’t want to keep any thing that you get from the woods or roadside with any thing you buy! You don’t want bugs in a $40 neck! Just keep them separate. You can freeze just the hide/skin after you have skinned it out
It still a work in progress…
-ST
[url=http://www.flyfishingwis.com:82b4f]www.flyfishingwis.com[/url:82b4f]
Fireman,
Just a few words of caution about using a paper bag and a hairdryer:
Oh, as far as washing. Just some mild detergent and warm water. I also add a capful of bleach for 2 gallons of water. I think that’ll kill most bugs, help take out any smell and not hurt the feathers.
Allan
Look here on FAOL under “fly tying” then go to “Atlantic Tying”. Once you get in there, look at “skinning birds”. If that doesn’t help enough, eamil Ronn Lucas and ask him specific questions. He is a wealth of information and a gentleman.
Happy Trails,
Dean
Be very careful using any bleach on feathers. Bleach will burn the barbules off the barbs and the barbs will not marry. This is good when you want to burn a feather for a spey application but is not good in any other application.
Also, There is a really nice short book called “From Field To Fly” by Scott Seymour published by one of the sponsers here F. Amato books.
Plus Ronn Lucas has an excellent write up on skinning birds on this site.
[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/atlantic/skinning.html:7eea3]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/atlantic/skinning.html[/url:7eea3]
I got some feathers from a friend who has an aquaintance with an exotic pet bird. I don’t know what kind it is but the feathers are blue and yellow. I’ve got primary wings, flanks and tails the size of pheasant tails. Should I assume these need the full disinfectant procedure as outlined above, or are indoor birds, “safe”? I’ll probabaly err oin the side of safety, Ive been keeping them seperately bagged for now …
Freezing will not necessarily kill all bugs if present. Don’t forget, Ducks spend a fair amount of time in freezing weather so the bug hitchhikers need to be pretty hearty to survive.
Micro waving will NOT kill tiny bugs and/or eggs UNLESS there is sufficient moisture in the feathers/skin to create enough steam to cook bugs that are close enough to the hot steam. Of course, by the time you generate the steam, you’ve also cooked the skin and possibly damaged the feathers.
DON’T go near feathers with bleach!!! You will “burn” the feathers/barbules to some degree with any contact with bleach. Bleach will dissolve protein (feathers and hair).
I rely on chemicals to keep bugs at bay. Insect spray, moth balls & crystals are my first line of defense. I also quarantine new feathers & fur in a large Rubbermaid container with extra chemicals. This could be weeks or months.
Happy Trails!
Ronn
Bugs can survive on birds in freezing weather because of a) the bird’s body heat and b) the insulation of the feathers. Adult bugs adapted to living on birds can’t survive subzero temps on their own. How many mosquitoes do you seen in January in Alaska? Zero. Because they’re dead. Adult insects can’t survive a deep freeze, only the eggs can. The freeze/thaw/freeze method will absolutely kill the bugs, plus if the feathers are plucked their main food source (the duck’s blood and skin) are gone. Best part about freezing is it won’t cause you to be exposed to toxic chemicals. The stuff in moth balls is very toxic, you can look it up for youself in the material’s MSDS.
Best,
-John
[This message has been edited by ktokj (edited 30 October 2005).]
Don’t forget to pluck the CDC from the preaning gland.
The duck is skinned and it turned out nice!! Thanks to Ronn Lucas and Denny at Conranch for the tips very helpful. Cant wait to see how it turns out after the drying.
How long should it dry and will the feathers look the same as before the skinning?
Seege