Bird Bath Tutorial - How to cleaning a bird skin

[letumgo]

Earlier today I sat down to tye with a new starling skin purchased earlier this year. Unfortunately, when I pulled it out of the package, I noticed that the feathers were dirty and kind of oily. I had purchased this starling skin, without pulling the skin out of the package (lesson learned - examin new skins more carefully).

After looking over the skin, I decided to clean the skin and dry it before using it for fly tying. I figured I'd photograph the process, to be able to share it here, for discussion.

Here is the skin, as it came out of the package.




I filled a small plastic container with an inch of warm water, then dunked the skin to get the feathers wet. Once it was soaked, I then drizzled roughly a tablespoon of Woolite into the back of the skin and gently rubbed it into the feathers. I then layed the skin back in the water and agitated the feathers to help remove the dirt and oil. As I cleaned the skin, I could see the water getting dirty from the material coming off the skin/feathers.

I repeated this process several times, replacing the water several times and then finally rincing out the skin with clean water until it was nice and clean.

Here is what the water looked like after the first bath.

Anyone care for a bowl of starling skin soup? Ewe...

Now it was time to dry out the skin. First step, gently squeeze out the excess water, and lay the skin out on a few layers of clean paper towels.

Open the skin and stretch it out so you can get to both sides with a hair drier.



Using a hair drier, blow dry the feathers and skin, to remove water retained by the feathers. As the feathers dry, they will fluff apart from each other. Be sure to dry both sides of the hide (feather side and skin side).


I notices as the feathers dried, they began to look shiny, with a nice glossy irridescent shine. Just what I was hoping to see.



The feathers up near the neck of this bird had a lot of very fine feathers (i.e. - short fibers), with nice creamy brown tips (nice jungle cock sub).



The lower back (rump) area of the bird has significantly larger hackles. In this case, the rump feathers had a large spade shape feather, with longer fibers. I really like using the rump feathers for soft hackles. I feel the longer fiber length adds more movement to the finished fly and it looks more "buggy" to my eye.



I will leave the skin out over night to be absolutely certain it is fully dried, before putting it back into it's plastic bag.

Overall, I am very pleased with the results and figured I'd share the process, to show how easy it is to clean bird skins. Give it a try.

[daringduffer]

Well done Ray. I do the same, using diy soap flakes. During the drying process I use the comb I showed a couple of weeks ago (Best new tool). I don't know if it makes a difference but I like to think it does, at least to me. It feels good to handle the goods.
Just imagine all fly tiers licking their fingers during tying with lots of dirty materiels.

dd

[letumgo]

Stefan,

I've use a comb when cleaning hides/pelts, but have not tried it when cleaning bird skins. Interesting tip, which I will need to try.

I've never been one to lick my fingers when tying. When I need to moisten my fingers, I use a small dish with a sponge in it. The thing is normally used for wetting postage stamps, but comes in handy for fly tying. I found it especially handy when tying zonkers/matuku patterns where a little moisture helps control the stray fibers when wrapping the rib forward.

[Mataura mayfly]

Nice work Ray, handy tutorial.
On the final drying, I wonder if anything might be gained by using a method like the "cell phone dunked in water saver" type. Use the same or slightly larger dish, put a layer of dry rice in the bottom, place the skin in laying flat and cover with some more rice.
Or maybe borax could be tried, or some kind of damp rid product.

Just to be sure the skin was as dry as possible before storing in a plastic bag to help keep it moth/vermin proofed.

[William Anderson]

Ray, great tutorial. Thanks for sharing the steps and the experience. I know this is helpful and necessary sometimes. I'll confess to shying away from this kind of thing. I have cleaned a couple skins, gifted from generous hunters but somehow that part of the flytying world where you skin and clean your own materials eludes me. I get it, but for some reason I'll go to some trouble to avoid having to deal with messes. That being said, let me express an enormous thank you to those of you who do. It's a noble and rewarding pursuit and if not for you, I'd be stuck with synthetics.

You really do have to check materials even from venders that would be distributing ready to use materials. WooHoo, it's show season.

That skin turned out really nice, btw.

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

This thread would go nicely in the Reference section, as I just received one of the 2
Starling skins that I ordered yesterday. Thought I'd give it a wash and hang it on the line
as I've no use for a hair drier. Nice breezes today.

hank

[swellcat]

That could enable some folks.

I'd say a raw-skin process would be little different, save pressing salt/borax into the hide side.

Nice-looking starling with lots of green and "eyes". Starlings (along with cedar waxwings) are coming daily to dine on hackberries (which have sugar, fat, and protein, and can be folks food, too). I'm seeing mostly what appear to be shiny, solid, all-black-looking ones . . . at least from 50 feet below.

When I read the birdhouse-building US sites, the native-bird conservationists tend to be adamant that we kill the Euro invader starlings and sparrows. (If we need an excuse to be murderous, there you go.)
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[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

Thanks bud!
That ought to save me a hour of searching next time.

hank