how to stop bugs from eating my feathers

[Ardent]

I keep my feathers in a shoebox filled with cedar shavings, the kind you might put in a hamster cage. So far so good.

[Dakota Kid]

add citronella, lemon eucalyptus, and/or geranium to the list of oils that repel bugs. My wife makes a non-toxic bug spray with all those oil plus the cedar.  Works great if you don't mind re-applying a little more often than the deet stuff.

[freke]

I use piece of string impregnated with tar in my drawers, it keeps moth and other nasty creeps away, not sure if it works on bugs - smell also very nice    ... I think it keeps almost all insects away

[DC]

I use piece of string impregnated with tar in my drawers, it keeps moth and other nasty creeps away, not sure if it works on bugs - smell also very nice    ... I think it keeps almost all insects away

Yah but how do you protect your feathers

[mullet]

Beat me to it, DC. I imagine Tar gets a little sticky down there.

[freke]

I use piece of string impregnated with tar in my drawers, it keeps moth and other nasty creeps away, not sure if it works on bugs - smell also very nice    ... I think it keeps almost all insects away

Yah but how do you protect your feathers

I use to make a few knot on a thinny rope and it is not sticky and put it among my feathers - BUT NOT ON THEM, the recommendation was to put this in the boxes, quivers etc as it definitely keeps insects away not sure for your bugs - anyway It is good against moth.

[bjrogg]

I think they where mesin with you freke, cause you said you put it in your drawers. Just a little friendly joke. Not thinking I want a string with tar on it in my fruit of the looms 😊

[DC]

Sorry Freke I didn't realize you weren't North American. Over here "drawers" is not only a sliding shelf, it's also a synonym for underclothes.

[Pat B]

Sprinkling borax in with your feathers will help prevent bug damage with stored feathers.

[Dakota Kid]

Borax is great stuff with more uses than I can count, keeping bugs away being one of those.  Diatomaceous earth is another non toxic that is very effective at killing insects. BTW that's just a big fancy nerd-word for chalk dust. 

If you don't mind using a toxic chemical based product, I recommend "hot shot's no pest strip". It is one of the few things I've seen that will completely rid indoor plants of spider mites. It's great at keeping spiders out of stored/covered boats as well. Just don't leave them out in any living spaces. They are intended for places that don't see much human traffic. Constant exposure should be avoided.

[freke]

Sorry Freke I didn't realize you weren't North American. Over here "drawers" is not only a sliding shelf, it's also a synonym for underclothes.

You all got me there:)

[Buck67]

I just drop a couple of mothballs into a wooden box that contains my arrows.  That seems to take care of the bugs.  When my Turkey hunting buddies gift me with wings, I cut off the feathers drop them into a Ziploc bag with 5 or 6 mothballs and write the date on the bag.  After 3 months anything that lived in the feathers or hatched from eggs in the feathers is dead.  I don't know what borax does but mothballs are certainly easy to use.

[Ed Brooks]

Thanks for all of the ideas and comments.
I was kinda thinking about this again and was wondering if smoking the feathers (in a smoke house not a pipe..LOL) a bit may help them of just make a nice smokey meal for them bugs. Ed

[Dakota Kid]

I bet it would actually, especially if you used a wood that kept insects at bay normally. I'd probably use cedar. Just don't run jerky with your feathers, unless you want to get ill. If these are hunting arrows I would avoid smoke of any kind though.

[Eric Krewson]

I put a couple of tablespoons of borax in a gallon zip loc bag, insert the fletched end of three or four arrows in the bag, close the zipper up tight on the shafts and give the bag a good shake. I never have bugs, some of my arrows have been out in the shop for 20 years and still have no bugs. Untreated feathers left in my shop will be buggy in a few months.