I have never used fabric softener on birds before, but I heard Joe Ferebee talk about it in a seminar. Does anyone else use it? If so, do you use it in the final rinse or do you rinse the fabric softener completely out of the feathers?
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I use it on all my birds and it works well. It is done as a final step to remove any soap that is left in the bird and on the feathers. The sheene (sp) on the feathers is that much nicer. Nothing replaces washing your bird correctly, but this just helps more.
Once I have rinsed the heck out of the bird I get a clean tub of water and mix in about a half cup of fabric softener. Let the bird set for a few minutes and then rinse and you are ready to go.
If you then rinse in Coleman fuel, White Gas, or any of the other myriad of water displacement solutions, would that negate the benefits of washing in the fabric softener?
That's a good question also Robbie. I would think it would be just the same, but maybe some of the pro's will give their opinions on that. I use fabric softner just as Skip describes and like the results, but I don't use fuel products. Tumble and blow dry or just blow dry depending on the species. James, I learned about it in the archives. Give it a try.
In my tan, , rinse the skins in cold water then soak in unleaded gas.Tumble and blow. The feathers seem to take a bit of extra work to dry, but l get a nice sheen on dark feathers.