A pheasant that have mounted in my living room is shedding some of the dark feathers on his neck. The rooster was mounted about 3 years ago and is kept in an environment with temps ranging from around 60 to 75 degrees during the winter and 70 to 85 degrees during the summer with humidity ranging between 30% to 60%. I don't see any insects. I was thinking of spraying the dark feathers with a clear krylon to hold them in place. Any other thoughts and/or ideas? Thanx in advance and I hope that all reading this have a great 2006. Cole
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I bet spraying those feathers with a gloss will make a real mess, I do have one that I will experiment on for you if you like. I could be wrong but I would hold out for proper advise if I was you. Good luck, I think I am going to try it just so I can see for myself. who knows.
I did it and I know the test results are rather quick, but here they are.
#1 you will lose the natural luster of the feathers causing them to darken.
#2 you will have a bird that looks as though he has been in a rain shower.
#3 you will have seperation of your feather tips.
#4 The feathers will stick together, but I would not recomend it.
This test was done useing krylon clear glaze with one lite coat, and one moderate coat.
yall don't laugh to hard I couldn't help myself and I have been looking for a reason to get a new phesant to try out.
If you are talking just about the small feathers above the ring, They actually don't look that bad and you would have to get real close to see a difference. It was the larger feathers of the breast and back the show bad results,...... But if I was you I would not do it. and if that bird really means something to you I would try to dust him off and try out a glass case so you would never have to touch him again. hope that helped you some but..... like I said I am no bird guy at all.
Thanks Joey. I was talking about the small feathers just above the ring. I was thinking of masking off everything else because the rest of the bird look perfect. I was thinking of spraying a very light coat. Just enough to hold the feathers in place. I'll wait to see if there are any other suggestions. But, once again Joey, I really appreciate your experiment.
Check the bird out for bugs. Look at the shafts and see if there cut. If they are then you have bugs in the mount and you may need to chack all your mounts in the house for bugs. If it's just the bird then you can bag it and then raid it, otherwise you may need a exterminater.
I would sure check for insects, but why don't you try hair spray? I have used it a few times on some bird mounts, just use a light coat.
canning the bird and getting a new one. I wouldn't want a nasty looking bird on my wall, unless you're talking about my first few mounts! LOL! You can buy a replacement bird for a small fee, and you can probably end up with a better looking bird to boot. I'd say that you have insects, and that means one of two things- poor fleshing, and/or not enough dry preservative.