Re GRHE

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...

"riverman" wrote in message
...
SNIP
. The feathers were all there, all
completely fine, but I had no idea how to harvest them from the rotting,
bug
infected meat. How do people do it?

--riverman



Feathers may be plucked, washed and dried, and then placed in appropriate
containers and labelled as required. Ensure there is no meat adhering to
the quills, if necessary, cut the base of the quills off. Often feathers
will be infested with feather mites, ( among other things). "nuking" ( 30
seconds, 600 watt, Microwave, and then freezing) after three days, thaw
out,
wash and allow to dry thoroughly, will get rid of such pests.


Very comprehensive, thanks Mike. What do feather mites look like, and if I
happened to have stuck a feather in my tying kit that has mites, will they
propagate onto the other stuff in there, or will they die off from lack of a
living host?

--riverman
(this may or may not be academic. I'll let you know....)