I have a Drake Mallard. It's mounted with the wings back,neck down.I wanted to hide the back area that had a bad bald spot. Thought it was a rip but while skinning I found out it wasn,t a hole. Anyway it,s well hidden. Then while mounting I saw it was missing quite a few secondarys, not to mention the main tetral. I just got a large bag of feathers from my buddy that saves them. Should I try to glue them in. I know it would be easier if it was still damp. I told the guy I didn't want to mount it because it had to many problems but he said do the best you can.Just wanted to know if you guys do a lot of replacing missing feathers. What is the best way to replace secondarys?
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Beware the customer that says "just do the best you can" most of them want a competition piece no matter what they bring you, Hold to your guns and if you dont feel confident that you can make it look like a million dollars then be honest and stand by what you feel. As for replacing missing feathers I do it occasionally but no mor than i have to it is easier to try to fix the skin or groom it a different way if possible. hope this helps
But I've replaced a few tailfeathers by hotglueing a pin to the feather, then poke the pin into the form where you want it.
If you read the regulations carefully, you're not allowed by law to sell migratory waterfowl, or "parts" thereof. If you are using feathers other than those brought to you by the customer, technically you're "selling" parts of another bird to your customer... If your customer is a Fed, then he will know you replaced feathers. Just something else to consider if you do "fix" the bird. Also, if there were "several" secondaries missing, you should have noticed them right when he brought the bird in and told the guy not to have the bird done in a flying pose.
I've only been learning Taxidermy for about a year and have only done one bird a pheasant to be exact the first mistake I made was getting a pen raised one. Don't get me wrong they are fine birds, but make sure they are not shot at point blank range, I didn't realize this until I got it thawed out. Since it was my first bird I decided to give it a try, after going through all the proper steps and getting to the final product it was missing alot of feathers from the shotgun blast. Anyway I had some feathers from another pheasant & I used some cut pieces from a clothes hanger, sharpened the tips and used spider wire to attach the hanger wire to the feathers and stuck them in and positioned them as needed this worked for the tail, the wing feathers I used some rubber glue (Very little) and the same for the back, (make sure whatever glue you use you keep under the other feathers). This worked for me and looks alot better than one a friend of mine bought for 175.00. But keep in mind I'm still learning and I'm not yet in business I could afford to experiment as I would only be out a bird not a customer. Hope maybe this helps!