I highly recommend...

[nfrechet]

...a periodic inspection of your fly tying feathers for BUGS!

I recently went to use a whiting farms red hen cape and found it was infested with larvae of some kind. They were about 1/4 inch long and wiggling

After inspecting all of my whiting farms hen capes, 4 of them were infected with bugs.

Bugs were even crawling in the bottom of the storage bin i keep them in

Seal up the zip lock bag and do not leave them unsealed

40+ years of tying and never had bugs until now

Expensive morning

 

[EchoRidgeElder]

Do you happen to put something into your bin(s) to deter bugs? I am a fan of moth balls, but I am sure that there may be something better to utilize.

 

[Tigereye]

Not so much a problem with feathers. Deer hair and other furs are another issue. Found a pile of deer hair or squirrel tail dust a few times over the years. Used to use cedar disks but they didn't seem all that effective and they would loose potency over time.

I use mothballs now and place them in an old sock and put that in with materials in plastic boxes. Problems are now far and few. I check my boxes when I am done tying for the year. Usually around this time ie July 4th or so, I place a few new ones in each box.

 

[tomgamber]

Oy had it happen once. Turkey feathers. Never fur.

I will add...that initial feeling good panic and terror until you've gone through every bag...😳

 

[Bamboozle]

I've been using LOTS of moth crystals (Paradichlorobenzene) in sealed containers for all of my natural materials for decades and never had a single bug problem.

Everything new also gets put in an isolation container with a LOT of Paradichlorobenzene before it gets placed in the container with similar stuff.

 

[RLeep2]

In 50-plus years of tying, I've never had a bug issue with my stuff, knock on wood. I use a low density treatment of mothballs, a few here and there. Not related to bugs, but the last few years I've also been using Chinese cat litter (silica gel crystals) loosely taped up in cheap disposable coffee filters as a dessicant. Seems to work OK and it passes the time...

We get a few basement snowbird mice every winter and they've occasionally been an issue. This past winter, I left a new starling skin out on the tying table when I was done for the day and the mice destroyed it. What made it worse was that they only took the 14's and smaller. Evidently, they also tie and know there aren't that many really small feathers on a skin. So, I guess I can't blame them. I'd probably do the same if I were a mouse...