[GraciesDad]

Um...a close friend asked me this evening if I'd like some peacock..."Sure," I said innocently...he then proceeds to lead me to his garage, opens his freezer and pulls out a bag with a rock-hard, frozen peacock in it..."But I don't have the room for this in my freezer," I complained..."Neither do I," he replied...as I'll not have the time to pluck this bird until after the Thanksgiving break, I had to find a home for the ex-peacock...Long story short, my next-door-neighbor has the frozen bird...

There are certainly a lot of beautiful feathers on that bird...is there anything that I should be particularly careful of (parasites, etc.)?...any feathers more important or useful than others?...the tail feathers are gone, but the body is in tact...I've been tying for 20 years, but no one has ever handed me an entire peacock and said, "Here, you deal with it."

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

[Norwegian]

This is not excactly my business (despite I have a degree in ecology back in the 80's) - but I guess the freezer takes care of most parasites. When you take it out to deal with it - you should preferably take off the full skin with feathers on, and then prepare the skin with something and dry it for storage later. Youo dont have one of those taxidermists nearby - those guys that make animals for walls you know.

What type of peacock is it? Some have many nice body feathers very nice for spey flies - for instance the dark red and yellow body feathers on a golden pheasant cock. If its a wild - normal brownish type, there are many fine body feathers for making for instance salmon or steelhead versions of a common March brown - try to make a fluffy, speylike version with lots of long body hackles.

Good luck (glad its not me...)

 

[andre]

Should be nothing to worry about. I had a friend who used to pick up just about every road kill he could find and throw it in a freezer. All with no issue other than from his wife.

andre

 

[flytyer]

GraciesDad,

The secondary wing feathers, they are a mottled, striped brown color, are very sought after by tyers of Atlantic Salmon feather wings. The other wing feathers are pretty much worthless for fly tying because the fibers are just too thick and they split. the neck feathers, escpecially if they are blue in color, are used for some Atlantic Salmon feather wings and make a very nice coho and steelhead fly that Don Kass of Port Angeles, WA originated about 12 years ago.

It is tied with a silver oval tinsel tip, purple braided mylar tinsel body, sivler oval rib, blue peacock neck feather hackle, and a very light blue (powder blue or very light sky blue) calf tail wing. Don's, and mine as well, favorite size is a #4

 

[wildgene]

Skinned, not plucked...

Hi GD,
I would skin the bird, tack it to a board (or piece of cardboard), scrape it to remove any excess fat, & treat it w/ Borax (real borax, not detergent) to dry it. Rinse, borax again & store in a drycleaners bag. It's alot easier to choose the feathers you need off a whole skin & the borax seems to cure any pests.
Good drifts,
Gene