I am doing my first turkey and am getting a heavy feather loss. They started coming out when I skinned it. The bird never did completly thaw. I skinned as soon a I could move wings and legs a little. Then after defatting the bird more feathers and washing they are still coming out. Have I done something wrong or was there something wrong already? Please help I have lost ALOT of feathers not what to do now.
thanks
Bill
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Loss of feathers usually mean a young bird with pin feathers. Or..any bird that took too much heat and or sunlight at any time during the process. A reasonable mount can still occur with care. The bird will just look a little "thin" mostly.
Just like a deer, the turkey can slip if the customer didn't properly take care of it.
Salt? so should I put salt on let it sit then tumble? I am afraid of more feather loss when I put it in the tumbler.
Thank you
Bill
loss of feathers is distasteful but not your fault (if you didn't wash in too warm of water) Try salting with borax and set in a freezer for 1/2 hour to cure some. (1.) Prep for mounting then freeze, a day or 2or 3 ( 2.) then thaw, blow dry , air only,thaw blow dry etc and finish mounting
Was it a fall bird? Some fall turkeys are still in a semi molt stage depending on your location. And you will drop a lot of feathers.
Was it a bird of the year? Yearling turkeys in the fall are better eaten than mounted.
Is the skin a total loss? Probably not. Stick with it. Try to down size the interstructure. Turkey feathers can be worked to cover damaged areas easily. If you have spare skins or feathers you can glue them in where needed. And you can pick up those dropped feathers and glue them back in. Wait until dry to do this.
Any skin can be in an unpredictable condition and fail. Doesn't happen often but it happens. That's nature.
It was a younger fall bird in oregon, though Im not sure of age, it had a 9" beard. I did keep the feathers that have dropped out. So I will give it some room to bunch up a little and then when dry glue back in featheres where needed. I will give it a try.
thank you very helpful I was about to go screaming off into the night over this.
Bill