# Silkies Feathers



## Jeremysbrinkman (Jul 12, 2012)

I know I may get some haters from this but I got to ask. When you butcher extra roosters specifically silkie could the feathers be saved to make pillows? And what would you need to do to prepare the feathers to go into a pillow? 


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

No. What you need for feather pillows is down. The amount of down you would get out of Silkie wouldn't be enough to do anything with. 

If you've ever noticed a quill poking through the fabric of a feather pillow just imagine what it would be like if the whole pillow was stuffed with those quills.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Usually when they get down, they get it from a goose, and it takes dozens and dozens of geese to get enough down for a pillow. Silkies don't have the same feathers as a goose, they have feathers like an ostrich, so there is not really the down available from a silkie for use with pillows, in the sense you are thinking of. While the feathers on a silkie are soft to the touch, they aren't "downy" and don't function the same way down does.


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## Jeremysbrinkman (Jul 12, 2012)

Interesting they sure feel downy 


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## nj2wv (Aug 27, 2013)

My grandmother made pillows during WWII. She washed the down the let them air dry then stuffed the pillows. But this was during war in Europe so not sure if that was the right way. They had to make due in those days.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I'd assume she didn't use silkie feathers?

A silkie might feel downy, and look quite fluffy when the feathers are on the bird, but if you were to remove hem and put them in a babe they would have no substance. They'd just squish. It's a totally different composite than the down you'd find in a pillow. 
Bonus the fact that you'd need probably 200 silkies to make one pillow, and it's really not that lucrative. Better raising them for meat and selling them to oriental folk, who consider them a delicacy due to their black carcass. Or eat them yourself. 
There's also no lack of people who want a little fluffy cute pet, if they were tame and well mannered. It takes no time at all for silkie roosters to find homes here, and usually people will pay 5-10$ for the crappy quality ones. Many, many better uses for them than pillows, imho.


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