cdc feathers

[loomy]

Hello there, this might sound a bit of a daft question but what duck and where on that duck does the cdc feathers come from ? I intend to shoot a few mallard in the coming weeks so hopefully this will set me up with a wee stash for a while, I just paid £2.50 for a wee packets of Venairds cdc and it's rubbish so I'm going to shoot my own ducks and pick my own feathers.


loomy

[shpeil]

If my French serves (and it usually doesn't) Cul de Cunard translates as "bottom of the duck", so that's where I'd start looking...

Sorry, that's the limit of my avian knowledge. And my French, come to that.

[darwin]

so don't shoot them in the rear...

[seanie]

There is a gland on the back of the duck near his tail where the CDC feathers are. You just need to pluck the ones surrounding that.

[Former member 2]

Look up a recent Thread on it .... it was brilliantly explained by some one with a great link to a description of where to find it and how to grade it.... To knackered to search for you i am afraid but it was in the last month.

[andreb]

Originally Posted by seanie

There is a gland on the back of the duck near his tail where the CDC feathers are. You just need to pluck the ones surrounding that.

Yes, it's the feathers from around the "sear" gland. It is found on top of the ducks tail. The sear gland provides the duck with oil to insulate it's feathers. The duck rubs it's bill on the sear, and transfers the oil to the feathers on the rest of his body. All ducks have it, so it doesn't really matter what species of duck you want it from, but the normal white duck with the orange bill, are the best.

[Cookshill]

Cookshill - as someone who plucks a fair bit of CDC this is the way to find it.

Assume we are using Mallard which give the best CDC

First shoot your duck!

Put deceased duck in left hand ( assuming you are right handed) with its head ( if still attached) pointing at your body. With right hand stroke the feathers (from the tail end) against the way they lie. About 2-3 inches from the tail a tuft of feathers will lift revealing a patch of dark grey fluffy feathers beneath the outer feathers.
This is the CDC - you will know you have the right stuff because in the centre of the patch is the oil gland a structure like a small nipple!

Pluck the CDC away and put it somewhere to dry ( get rid of moisture) - do not put in a paper bag as it will strip it of the oil.

The oiler puffs are attached directly to the oil gland and are always caked in greasy oil - to make them usable you will need to remove some of this gunk either using a tissue or even washing.

Ducks shot early season are often poorly moulted through and do not yield as much CDC as those later in the season.

Have fun

Steve C

[loomy]

Excellent replies lads - Thanks to you all especially Steve C who gave a brilliant account of just what I needed.


All I need to know is where I can find the Bronze Mallard feathers ( i know they're on a Mallard but where ? )





loomy