moths

[Buckeye Guy]

When I came home from the visit with the Grankids I went in the shop and it looked like the mayflies had hatched down on the river!
tried to get in there and sort thru the feathers but the bugs were to thick
set off some bug bombs and stayed out a couple of days
threw out one garbage bag full so far got a few more tubs to go thru
I guess the tubs are not sealed up good enough so will have to get something better
live and learn they say
but this is not the first time I have lost feathers to them critters,  last time was fishing flies
Have fun

[Don Case]

Throw a mothball in the tub this time. But be prepared for your shop to smell like your grandmothers house.

[osage outlaw]

Guy, I freeze my feathers to kill any mites and then I store them in a tub lined with borax powdered soap.  I heard that keeps the bugs out.  I keep all my critter parts in that tub and I haven't had any problems.

[Don Case]

Borax would sure smell nicer than mothballs.

[stickbender]

     Also try cedar oil.   It is also good at keeping mosquitoes away, and ticks.



                                                                               Wayne

[chamookman]

A couple of Drier sheets work too ! Bob

[Pappy]

I keep mine in big ammo boxes,I fog it good with permanon then seal it quickly  as i layer them in. Has worked for me. Freezing them will kill what is there and I normanaly do that also first but it won't stop them from coming back,with permanon their is no smell to deal with.
  Pappy

[nclonghunter]

Keep them frozen until ready to cut the quills at the base. I use pruning shears to cut along the base and remove the feathers from the meat. I then put them in 2 gallon ziplock bags and mark them left or right. I saw Pappy in a picture cutting the bases with a band saw which works faster I am sure. Throw the meaty wing base away unless you plan on making wing bone calls.

[Pappy]

Ya I love the band saw for that, I process so many it gets really tiring snipping them off one at a time with cutters. Keeping them froze will truly work,if you only have a few and the space to keep them,my freezers stay full of hides/snakes and who know what other kind of critter so I can't do that. That reminds me, I do have a couple or 3 wing sets in the freezer now that came in late I need to care for. Most anything is better than doing nothing and I have found if you do nothing the bug will get to them over time,I really like my feathers to season for a year or 2 anyway and if you don't care for them they won't last that long.
Guy that sucks,as hard as they are to come by sometimes I really would hate to loose any like that.
   Pappy

[Buckeye Guy]

Most of the feathers that I lost were in the freezer till we got rid of it then bagged in plastic bags but not zip-locks then put in plastic totes
Actually it looks like the fresher patch that was just in card board boxes is the ones they did not totally destroy
So were these critters in the feathers the whole time and just now hatched or what ?
Will the newer batch be to badly infested with eggs to keep ? Or how does this work?

[JEB]

What I do is freeze the feathers for a couple of weeks, take them out for a few days and then freeze them again for a week, take them out fore a few days and then back in the freezer.  From what I was told this kills the mites.  The in and out of the freezer time allows the mite eggs to hatch and the freezing kills them.  Now if this is the case, I don't know, but it works for me(but not my wife, LOL)

My dad always tossed a few moth balls in the box with his feathers but they stink like moth balls. Dad has been gone for 3 years now and his feathers still smell like moth balls.

[Pappy]

Ya that was my problem also JEB with moth balls, doing like you do with the freezer should work,like I said if you have freezer room to do that.I do think they have to be kept in an air tight container and fogging them with some good bug spray will keep them,I have kept them for years with no problem,I use Perminon because of the no smell,and I plan on hunting with mine so that is important to me. 
 Pappy

[Buckeye Guy]

Wish I had knowen about the freeze and thaw thing
With no freezer space now I guess I will be looking for some Permanone
Thanks for the help
2 garbage bags gone and only a couple more boxes to go thru  hope the bug spray saves a few
Guy