# Can I give my mice partridge feathers?



## AyJay658 (Jan 15, 2012)

I plucked a partridge a few weeks ago and didn't want to throw away the lovely soft downy feathers. Can I give these to my mice to nest in? Do I need to freeze them first to kill parasites? They've been in a bag on my windowsill for almost a month now.

Thanks!


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

There would be a risk of parasites/bacteria and I would personally not trust the freezing process to eliminate this. Freezing may kill off larger parasites but as far as bacteria and microbes, freezing only slows down their multiplication.


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## bellamousey (Dec 18, 2014)

Perhaps putting them in the oven for a while would sterilize them?


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## Honeyrobber72 (Dec 22, 2014)

Just knowledge of wild bird feathers no idea if they are safe other wise. To use down from wild game to stuff pillows for human use you are to leave the down in a loose weave cloth sack for 6 months. Scatter them out on a hot sunny day. Was taught this by my grandmother. Now the science behind it. The long storage kills larger parasites and the sunny has UV light to kill bacteria.

Commercial down is duck/goose down that is washed in mild bleach solution then dried in a dryer. I filled a pillow case with quail down washed it in washer with some bleach. Gave it an extra rinse then hung the bag out to dry as washer was out of balance. When it was just damp put it in dryer on medium heat. Worked great for my home made pillow.


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