Selling Duck Feathers, Legal... Right??

[dalmation1080]

I have an etsy shop any I made jewelry from my chickens & ducks feathers that have been shed. Over the past year I have gotten loads of emails saying it was illegal to sell wild mallard feathers. Well they arent wild... they are domestic, hatchery raised ducks that are not from the wild.
I have looked into it and as far as I can tell it is perfectly legal to sell them if the birds are domestic. But some people just have to argue...

Does anyone have any insight on this? Websites that can help?

 

[Amiga]

Wow. That is a good question. It seems reasonable that domestic mallard feathers must be fine. But how does one document that? There is a forum on BYC for legal questions. Have you tried there, perhaps searching that archive?

 

[dalmation1080]

No I hav'nt, I will go check it out!

 

[Kevin565]

I've sold several waterfowl feathers including Mallards and have never had it be a issue

.

 

[sarbee42]

It is perfectly legal here.. I did find a website a while ago about using wild bird feathers and how that wasn't legal.
You're probably getting emails from animal rights activists who live in the city and aren't aware of the fact that birds molt their feathers and those are the ones I use here for crafts.. lol

 

[Tivona]

I think it would depend on where you live and whether or not the state/locale laws cover more on the domestic mallard then what the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918 says.

Here law in Oregon it states:
635-200-130

Sale, Purchase or Exchange of Feathers
Any person may sell, purchase, or exchange lawfully obtained feathers of:
(1) Bird species other than those listed in Appendix 5 (Extant, Self-sustaining Oregon vertebrates by
Physiographic Provinces, Selected Community Types and Selected Habitat Components" of the Oregon Wildlife
Diversity Plan 1993-1998 (November 1993);
(2) Propagated and wild gallinaceous birds, except sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus), sage
grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), and spruce grouse (Dendragapus canadensis):
(3) Migratory waterfowl, for the making of fishing flies, bed pillows and mattresses, and similar commercial
use, provided that such feathers were obtained from birds killed by lawful hunting or seized and condemned by
federal or state game authorities.

And the The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 would also apply but here are exceptions for non-natives and exotics such as the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), Domestic Pigeon or Rock Dove (Columba livia), Monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus - the only parrot that doesn't nest in cavities), Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto), and Canada Goose (Branta canadensis - egg and nest removal without a permit, and hunting), and for some captive-bred birds like mallards.

Disclaimer...I don't know and am not a lawyer or in an way able to actually say one way or another nor am I advising you so please do your own checking.

 

[dalmation1080]

I actually went ahead and contacted the us fish & wildlife an they said that since they are domestic birds the laws dont cover them and its perfectly legal to sell the feathers.

 

[desertdarlene]

Thats great to hear! I was just talking to someone about collecting wild bird feathers and the law, too. If anyone questions you about them, you can show them where they came from. . You might want to make sure you have it in writing from Fish and Game, just in case.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Would it help if in your ad, it stated that they were naturally shed feathers from domestic birds? Maybe that would head off some of the attackers.