Cleaning Feathers?

[Bird_Lover_17]

Hi! Obiously, it's molting season. My barred rock rooster has been loosing a lot of his sickle feathers (which are beautiful). I want to collect them, but the problem is that they are loaded LOADED with poop. Does anyone have any feather- cleaning advice? I don't want to mess up the barbules, but I don't want poop-y feathers!
Any tips will be appreciated!

 

[lbgreenfield]

Hi! Obiously, it's molting season. My barred rock rooster has been loosing a lot of his sickle feathers (which are beautiful). I want to collect them, but the problem is that they are loaded LOADED with poop. Does anyone have any feather- cleaning advice? I don't want to mess up the barbules, but I don't want poop-y feathers!
Any tips will be appreciated!

Interesting question! I don't have experience cleaning sickle feathers since I don't have any roosters, but have you tried a gentle baby soap? Like Dove or Johnson&Johnson? I'm not sure if soaking will ruin the barbules, but if you can soak to remove some of the poop, then let air dry that might help.

 

[My2butterflies]

I’d go out and collect some feathers you don’t mind getting wrecked and practice cleaning those.
I think the above suggestion is good. Baby soap or dawn. Dawn would be my first choice just because I know it’s used to clean dirty animals and it’s safe to use on them. So I’d dilute it in some water in a spray bottle. Spray the feathers down, let them soak. Then spray with plain water to rinse.

 

[archeryrob]

I used to save a lot of feather for archery. After cleaning for poop and dry. They can either go in a bag and dusted with borax, or in a bag and in the freezer for month(s). If not the are likely to have bugs and eat the feather slowly.