Any use for feathers?

[nbenevento]

I added 6 hens to my flock today and after a short time, it occurred to me that I could start collecting and saving a lot of feathers. The question is, if I do that, what can I do with the feathers? Some quick ideas I had but am not sure if they would work is: make pillows or mattresses for camping and so forth. Any other uses? I'm not really a "crafty" person so that's probably out. Let me know your thoughts.

 

[chickenstricken]

my chickens eat almost all the feathers that come out in the coop or pen.

 

[nbenevento]

I guess you won't be making anything out of feathers then. Lol

 

[Shanty]

Of course! Become a "chicken feather" artist! There is one artist in England who is a "pigeon feather" artist:

http://twistedsifter.com/2010/03/feather-art-by-kate-mccgwire/:

Have fun.

Shannon

 

[nbenevento]

Wow, those are very cool. Definitely a talented a talented artist. Not exactly what I had in mind, but very cool nonetheless.

 

[Shanty]

OK, then you can make feather dusters.

http://traditions.cultural-china.com/en/16Traditions4659.html

Or not!

 

[nbenevento]

A feather duster is definitely more along the lines of what I would be looking for.

 

[chickenfreak101]

Make a dream catcher! Kind of hard, though. Hmm... My friend made a wreath out of peacock feathers.

 

[techpeak]

I read in my Encyclopedia of Country Living that chicken feathers have an off smell if you try to use them in pillows and such - because that was sure my original idea for them! Then I read that they make pretty good fertilizer. So we bag up the mix of chicken manure, feathers and straw that comes out of the coop, throw it in old chicken feed bags and sell it to the neighbors as a natural fertilizer.

 

[chickenfreak101]

They might give off a smell. Mabey you could wash them in somthing???