So first let me say that the amount of down harvested off one winter goose shocked me, I don’t know why but I expected less, I got a my biggest steal bowl full, I did split it, there is pure down only and then there is very fine feathers and down mixed.
The best down came from under the wings, which brings me to a subject that is considered very touchy, harvesting down from under the wings on live birds, I have read horror Stories about the live harvesting and that its painful and stressing on the birds, and I have read that like many things that applies more to large scale then small scale homesteaders, that in the big push, they are large flocks of untame geese, grabbed, plucked in a hard way and released.. But I have also read that small homesteaders with treats, pats and training can teach their geese to have their down collected with no real fuss or muss.
The truth I expect is somewhere in the middle, it often is when you start your learning on google or in a book.. but I am game to find out.. I mean my geese are going to shed that down regardless, I can either teach them to let me pluck it, or they will pull it out and it will be floating all over my yard like last year,
I certainly don’t want big bald spots on them, I do not intend to harvest down from their breasts or underbellies, only from under the wings on live birds, this will give me good quality down but will not create anywhere that they don’t have covered with feathers, full details after I get them trained and do it, at least once or twice with results. If it turns out that this in fact does appear to bother the geese, I will report that and stop even trying to see if it will work.
Now that does not apply to harvested geese, clearly I will be collecting down from them as much as possible. I am challenging my sewing skills and that is being kind, but I indeed to make a homemade feather quilt and or sleeping bag
I want to make a small but good quality feather pad for taking camping at some point for when we are going to do overnight campouts with the horses, I figure between the warmth and the padding, it will be a very good thing indeed.
Has anyone ever harvested their own down? if so, only on butchered birds? or have you tried live down collecting? if so, did it work? did it hurt the birds? or was it more like grooming? Anyone worked with making their own feather pillows, quilts or ? If so, what weave of cloth did you use?
Just another Day on the Farm 
This fellow’s really got the “how to” down pat – you may think it a little obsessive (or not; )
He’s also linked up to his actual sleeping bag construction on here as well.
http://www.backcountry.net/arch/pct/0302/msg00714.html
Re thread count for sewing down articles… The absolute HIGHEST you can find.
For the construction: use individual baffles. Absolutely.
Totally worth it in the long run (but have fun with that; )
Liked this one better to be honest, but I can be a tad obsessive myself.. LOL
LOL2… Well, that would’ve been the “or not” part; )
Here’s one right up your alley… She documented the whole process, start to finish – and also says “Never again!” LOL!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzee85NJjrtbMXI5UGZCTGxBc0k/preview?pli=1
It was a really well done write up, but she sure sucks at plucking, it took me ten min to twenty min to do the whole goose, and it took her an hour to do a duck! and I got about four times as much down from the goose then she did.. I had already figured out how to keep the baffle open, PC pipe to make it stiff, and you can just flip up and stuff, no moving a plastic bag up and down, that is so time wasting, push in and pull out, done.. but the one that made me the most huh, was, why would you a) butcher at the wrong time for the molting, talk about making work for yourself, and b) why would you not put the birds up on clean bedding for a day or two with just drinking head only water so you have nice clean and dry feathers.. you don’t go let them bath first..
Live and learn, I guess then, hey?
(And sometimes logic is a scarce commodity…):
I’ve been wanting to do this for quite a while. No so much for a blanket, moose hides are more than warm enough and next fall I’ll be getting plenty more of them, but for a mattress. My goats ruined my last one when they broke in to the house and I’ve been using folded blankets to sleep on since.
I tried using chicken down before to make a small pillow to test it out, but I used too many little feathers mixed with the down and made the stupid mistake of knitting the pillow. I’d also tried cattail down, which worked great except it would compress after sleeping on it all night and not fluff up right again. Maybe you could try mixing it with down feathers for better loft? Because it is very warm and much easier to gather in huge amounts than feather down is. Could really make a little feathers go a long way.
I definitely mean to felt the fabric I knit next time first too. It’s just then it has to be so much bigger and I’m unwilling to get caught up in such a long project with all the other projects I have floating around right now.
Good luck on all your projects!
thanks for the impute, will think about it and will post what I get down and how it does or does not work