Duck Lovers Unite! - *A Chat Thread*

[Don 27]

The ducks are swimming in our creek .having babies in the weeds.

 

[Duckie doodle]

GORGEOUS!!! I'm dying to get a Cayuga and a Sweedish! I'd love to hear your observations about these two breeds!! I adore my Pekin!

Do you have anything particular that you want to know about the Cayuga and pekin breed? I too have Cayuga and Pekin as well as Swedish Blue.

 

[Kiwibird]

Do you have anything particular that you want to know about the Cayuga and pekin breed? I too have Cayuga and Pekin as well as Swedish Blue.

I do! Which of these three breeds has the longest body feathers? I am learning to weave feathered cloaks.

 

[Claires Poultry]

I do! Which of these three breeds has the longest body feathers? I am learning to weave feathered cloaks.

I've never heard of feathered cloaks before. That's sounds cool. Do you have any pics of a feathered cloak so we can see what it is?

 

[Kiwibird]

This is just a baby-sized cloak with no pattern. I prefer the look when the feathers are set the other way around, but we start the way our tutor wants us to start, and we can do our own thing more later. This one has mainly chicken feathers and a few pheasant feathers. I want to use duck feathers because we can't have roosters in town. However, I can raise as many ducks here as I like. I have muscovies, and they have great feathers. I plucked a cayuga the other day and the only longish feathers were on the flanks. I am wondering whether any mallard derived ducks have longer feathers than cayugas. Wing and tail feathers have a thicker shaft, which is harder to work with. Feathers are grouped in threes or fours, and the shafts are bent into a hook shape to secure them in the weaving.

There are some beautiful cloaks online, such as those at https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/3633

Here is a video which explains a little more:

 

[Claires Poultry]

View attachment 1927651
This is just a baby-sized cloak with no pattern. I prefer the look when the feathers are set the other way around, but we start the way our tutor wants us to start, and we can do our own thing more later. This one has mainly chicken feathers and a few pheasant feathers. I want to use duck feathers because we can't have roosters in town. However, I can raise as many ducks here as I like. I have muscovies, and they have great feathers. I plucked a cayuga the other day and the only longish feathers were on the flanks. I am wondering whether any mallard derived ducks have longer feathers than cayugas. Wing and tail feathers have a thicker shaft, which is harder to work with. Feathers are grouped in threes or fours, and the shafts are bent into a hook shape to secure them in the weaving.

There are some beautiful cloaks online, such as those at https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/3633

Here is a video which explains a little more:

That is really neat. Thank you for sharing a picture of it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you pluck the birds while it’s alive or after death? Thanks for sharing that video it was interesting.

 

[Kiwibird]

I gather a lot of fallen feathers from my muscovies. I had never considered plucking a bird while alive. I expect that would hurt? The cayuga I plucked was dead.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I read that people use to pluck geese while they were living to make down comforters and pillows.

 

[Kiwibird]

If anyone really wants to learn, this is where you can learn to weave feathered cloaks online. I think you will have to learn taaniko as a prerequisite course, but you could get in touch and ask about the programme: https://www.hetetschoolofmaoriart.com/
I'm actually learning face-to-face in my local community, but I know that the people who run this course are lovely.