Making Feathers into Bedding for Humans

[kefiren]

I thought everyone here would delight in this amazing page that describes how sorting and processing feathers was a social event in old Poland.

Also, it discusses a bit out HOW to process feathers for use (you strip them, sort them) and what they were made into. (the best feathers into blankets and pillows, the chicken feathers and lesser quality into mattress pads).

Enjoy!

https://www.sophieknab.com/blog/stripping-feathers-in-old-poland

 

[kefiren]

a quote: "The feathers from ducks and geese and the better feathers from chickens are stored in white bags in the attic. We've brought them down to the room designated for stripping and so as not to mix the different types of feathers, the contents of each bag is placed on separate tables. The best down is obtained from geese and these are later made into pillows. The kołdry and pierzyny (feather quilts) are made from mixed down. The feathers that aren't stripped that is, the worst ones mixed with chicken feathers are cut with scissors instead and made into spodków----or as some call it, a feather bed, which is placed on the mattress to make it soft and warm."

 

[kefiren]

I've been looking for this type of information for a while, because my mother-in-law has told me that she would watch her older polish relatives *make chicken feathers into peshinas". I never have found anyone else who knew what a "peshina" was, I suppose it is a anglicized version of the pierzyny mentioned above.

I've seen several people here, on various threads, say that you can't use chicken feathers to stuff things, and it always disagreed with what my MIL told me. I guess the answer is that you STRIP the chicken feathers off the quill and they are then they are used in combination with goose down or in a mattress pad.

I would love to hear from anyone who has tried such a thing.

The old-country social aspect sounds so wonderful.

 

[saysfaa]

More info on using chicken feathers

I found this in a book published in 1873.

Lewis Wright, The Illustrated book of poultry, London 1873. Online freely here
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012288930

Sigh. I was going to quote it but I lost access when I left the site to come here.

Basically, if I remember correctly, it said to strip the quills of larger feathers and leave quills in the smaller feathers.

Gather them into paper bags and allow to dry for a few days. Then bake them in a low oven four times. Each time for a half hour, with a few days between each time.

And that the authors think most mattresses in England were made of chicken feathers.

I'll correct if I regain access and find I remembered incorrectly.

 

[Sally PB]

it said to strip the quills of larger feathers and leave quills in the smaller feathers.

Gather them into paper bags and allow to dry for a few days. Then bake them in a low oven four times. Each time for a half hour, with a few days between each time.

Is it the baking that dries them out so that you can strip the quills...?

I wonder how much that smells?

 

[saysfaa]

I didn't notice that it said. My best guess is it allows time for any mite or lice eggs to hatch so they can be killed in the next round of heating. Maybe high enough heat to kill the eggs risks scorching the feathers or setting them on fire. I'm guessing there were not many chemical/medical ways to disinfect chicken coops in the era so they dealt with such things more than we do. But I don't know that either

 

[saysfaa]

I wonder how much that smells?

I tried a paper bag full of feathers in the oven at 170F for an hour or so, maybe two or three hours. Some were damp, some were soaked and had been that wet for over 2 days. I couldn't smell it at all. I didn't turn it off until after dh came home and he didn't smell anything either.

Neither of us have a normal sense of smell. Me from a misunderstanding in a chemistry lab in college and he since he had covid. So I can't be sure there is no scent at all but we have enough sensitivity to know it doesn't stink.

My chickens are well kept, with clean, dry, well ventilated housing and lots of access to places for dust baths. I'm sure your are too but other people may come across this sometime and that might matter.