i have a Goldeneye drake to do it had a lot of blood on it so i looked in archives and wound up using rust remover by winks
but as soon as i put it on it took the color from red to brown but didn't take all the blood off the duck had been in the freezer almost a year before i got it with the blood on that long would that make it harder to get off any info is appriciated
thanks
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Blood is protein and only soap removes protein. Winks is a rust remover. Oxidized iron is not protein and that product, as Jon pointed out, can cause as many problems as it cures. If soap does not remove the blood (i.e., it has penetrated the feather bracts themselves) then peroxide is your only choice.
use a little white paint with airbrush fog in
thanks for responding i'll try soap&water and then peroxide and if that dont get it done i guess i'll have to paint it
thanks for your time
Bill,
I am not a taxidermist and just accidentally stumbled on this website in trying to find out how to preserve antique feathers. However, as a mother who has done mountains of laundry over the years, the best way I know to take blood stains out of clothing (and it works pretty well) is soap and water followed by hydrogen peroxide, which a previous respondent, George, also suggested.
However, and it is a pretty big however, it is a little more complicated than that. First of all don't be in a rush, and try this on something that you are willing to sacrifice -- like chicken feathers. I have found that liquid hand soap (preferably industrial sized generic hand soap that comes in a gallon sized plastic bottle from CostCo, Sam's Club, etc.) seems to work better than name brand liquid soap like Dial, I don't know why, perhaps a higher percentage of lye or something? Use a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide which can be found in any grocery or drug store. It is cheap, under $1 a bottle or so, don't be afraid to use lots of it.
Anyway, (1) soak the item that has the dried blood in water, (2) rinse, (3) while it is wet, put the liquid hand soap on it and let it soak. The older the blood, the longer you should let it soak. If the blood is fresh, a few minutes should do, but overnight is better. Your bird has been frozen for over a year, so don't look for a quick fix. (4) Rinse again. If you are getting a lot of blood out, you might soak it again with more soap. When you can't rinse any more blood out, but you still have a stain (the middle of the stain should be lighter and the outside edge should be a darker outline), then (5) pour 3% hydrogen peroxide over the blood stain. DO NOT ! use the stronger peroxide (30%, I believe) that is sold in beauty supply stores for bleaching human hair. Watch the peroxide as it works, it should start to bubble and "eat" the blood. When it stops bubbling, rinse with water and pour more peroxide over it. Continue to do this as long as you have the patience. You will be amazed how much blood you can remove this way. Don't make the mistake of trying the peroxide first before the soap. It doesn't do as well, and sometimes seems to set in the stain. You'll get the center of the spot out but not the outline. Continue to pour peroxide over it and you'll find little peroxide bubbles long after the eye stops seeing the stain. But don't try to soak the feathers in the peroxide overnight. Even though it is a weak solution and may not bleach the feathers, it may still do some damage unsupervised because they are organic and the peroxide works on organic matter. Perhaps someone else can explain the why of that better.
After you get all of the blood out, you should probably use something to treat the feathers to replenish the oils that have been stripped away by the soap. I have no idea what -- which brings me to why I got onto this website originally -- to find out how to treat and preserve feathers. I'm just starting to research that. The only information I've found so far is from a 100 year old Good Housekeeping book on Etiquette and Household Management which suggests that you melt butter on the stove at a low heat until it bubbles and wave the feathers over it and then slide your fingers gently over the feathers to evenly distribute the splatters of butter through the feathers. Surely, there must be a more up-to-date method than that. Maybe someone will suggest something?
Good luck.
thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed response my wife suggested something similar two weeks ago and i disregarded it i should have listened to her