feather collection

My oldest daughter (all our kids, but especially her) has a feather collection. What she loves to do with them is show them off and sometimes swap out some in her cowboy hat. Now, we are aware that most bird feathers are not legal to collect, but we know that with domestic birds...duck, chicken, guinea, etc., are just fine. We have collected feathers from our birds, and are now looking for feathers from other types of domestic birds. If you have any that you wouldn't mind sending, we are looking for various colors and patterns to make the collection interesting. If you can send one, that is great. If you can send more (all different of course), that would be even better. Please state what type of bird each is from.

Our thanks to all for considering doing this...

~ Laurie

I have a bunch of wing feathers off my Burbon Red Turkeys from last year. Ive also got silver laced Wyandottes that occasionally shed a feather or two, but they tend to be smaller.

Are you looking for the hard wing feathers or grisly saddle feathers or?

For the record, if it's not attached to a wild bird, I'll collect it. I know you're not supposed to, but it's honestly ridiculous. Apparently in Saskatchewan, Raven feathers are not legal, they require a permit and a $10 acquisition fee to pick up.

Tell that to the 4 year olds

Now, killing a snowy owl or hawk for feathers, to me, is unacceptable. However picking them up... most people wouldn't know what type of bird it was from anyway. In addition, even Shed hunting is illegal (walking the bush searching for antlers lost after the rut), as picking them up after finding them legally requires you to call a conservation officer, claim them where found, and pay said $10 acquisition fee. Little bogus, tell that to the farmers who pick them up off their land all the time so they don't burst their tires.

Now where do you live, Nigelfritz?

lol She says that anything is good. She is pretty crafty and wants to make some of them into things...earrings, put them into her hat, make some feather butterflies for our Christmas tree next Dec... or she said just to have them to take out and look at. Decorating a Christmas tree with all kinds of feathers...now I think that sounds very country-like, natural and beautiful. I love homemade decorations.

I know that she does like the saddle feathers, but the harder ones will make nice butterflies. She is looking for unique and varied coloring and patterning, and a variety of breeds. I think it is an interesting thing to collect, and shouldn't(?) take up too much space like some collections.

She collected all sorts of wild feathers from birds that hit our windows (and died) when she was younger, even a young oriole. She loved the one tiny orange feather that she kept from it. It was under an inch long and so perfect. I agree, the laws are too stringent, but they are there because of greedy people who didn't play nice at some point.

Swamp Hen, If you could save those for us and let us know when you think you have some good ones, let me know. Maybe we could arrange to meet in Brandon.

We live NW of Brandon.

I love kids like your kid! Most of my feathers were used yesterday but I will collect more. She should especially like the turkey and guinea feathers.

The neighbor children came over yesterday and we went into the field and collected cow bones. The three of them made primitive cow bone armour, drilled and tied with leather, painted and decorated with feathers. Cool and creepy. I will try to post a pic.

Yes, picture please! That sounds right up her alley too, not to mention our other kids. Hmmm...we have cow bones...

Talking about bones, when we butchered our own bison we put the heads in a box in the winter where there were ants the summer before. It turned out that the ants moved out, so the things rotted (YUCK). Anyway, after a while they stopped smelling, and the kids took out what was left. We ended up with a skull (dog chewed off some of it when it was left in the sun...grrr), and some huge teeth. The skull is still not too bad, considering and the horns are nice. I am not sure where to put it, but we will figure it all out. It is now 3 years old, so it should be fairly cleaned out by now. When she starts trapping this fall with her dad, we plan on keeping some skulls and processing them properly, most likely with special beetles. Then we will have a skull collection too...

We thought we were doing it right, but after reading, I guess not. We'll keep experimenting with our new information. Always learning...

I'll stock up on some Wyandotte feathers and let you know Nigglefriz, my husband works in Brandon, so shouldn't be too hard to get em to you

Sweetened wrote: In addition, even Shed hunting is illegal (walking the bush searching for antlers lost after the rut), as picking them up after finding them legally requires you to call a conservation officer, claim them where found, and pay said $10 acquisition fee. Little bogus, tell that to the farmers who pick them up off their land all the time so they don't burst their tires.

NOT true! It is only heads with antlers attached (racks) that need a permit (since you could have killed the deer to get them!)
Sheds on the other hand are naturally lost and are free for anyone to pick up, AND can bring you some handy cash in hand as there are lots of antler buyers out there.

mirycreek wrote:

Sweetened wrote: In addition, even Shed hunting is illegal (walking the bush searching for antlers lost after the rut), as picking them up after finding them legally requires you to call a conservation officer, claim them where found, and pay said $10 acquisition fee. Little bogus, tell that to the farmers who pick them up off their land all the time so they don't burst their tires.

NOT true! It is only heads with antlers attached (racks) that need a permit (since you could have killed the deer to get them!)
Sheds on the other hand are naturally lost and are free for anyone to pick up, AND can bring you some handy cash in hand as there are lots of antler buyers out there.

Hrrm.... I read this on one of the govenment regulatory websites. Must have remembered wrong

Hmph. Sorry!

mirycreek wrote:

Sweetened wrote: even Shed hunting is illegal (walking the bush searching for antlers lost after the rut)

NOT true! It is only heads with antlers attached (racks) that need a permit (since you could have killed the deer to get them!)
Sheds on the other hand are naturally lost and are free for anyone to pick up, AND can bring you some handy cash in hand as there are lots of antler buyers out there.

Here is the proof of collecting shed antlers being legal in MB:
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I had always heard similar to what Sweetened said, but it turns out that unless the skull plate is attached or you are collecting caribou antlers (yes, like I do that on a daily basis down here, ), it is perfectly legal to collect antler sheds...moose, elk, and deer. I will be watching for them from now on. Thanks for making me look that up! I just HAD to know for sure.

Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan may have different regulations on this. I believe it is a provincial responsibility not a federal one.

Schipperkesue wrote:Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan may have different regulations on this. I believe it is a provincial responsibility not a federal one.

There are some differences, but according to this if I am not reading it incorrectly, if they are shed naturally (even wild feathers sound like they are okay...in SK), a permit is not needed: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Here is the neighbor kid in his cow bone armour before the attachment of the feathers.

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The kids enjoyed the picture. Thanks.