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Shed feather as a… sounding, rod?

frogulus

frogulus

Tourist
I don’t usually care for sounding, but for some reason I’ve always wanted to stick one of my birds’ (naturally shed) feathers down there: preferably one of their cool ass tail feathers that look like fantasy swords. It may not be a great idea: diseases and such, but I also don’t really know if a bird’s shed feather would actually carry anything worth worrying about(my birds, budgies, are in good health, no diseases whatsoever to my knowledge). If you know anything that would help I’d be really thankful, after all there almost nothing I can do with my budgies that is both ethical and safe.

Note: mods please spare me: I’m talking about sounding myself with a naturally shed animal product, NOT sounding an animal or sounding myself with an animal(living or otherwise)
I also have no sexual interactions with my budgies other than occasionally, and gently, rubbing their cute little bird bits

Picture of one of my budgies(name is Mustard) included! I sadly don’t have any photos of his lady Newbard
 

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I would be careful. Birds can carry bacteria causing illness in humans, and their feathers are very much a vector. You should read this page before doing anything further:

www.health.nsw.gov.au

Fact sheets - Psittacosis (Ornithosis) fact sheet

Psittacosis (also known as ornithosis) is a disease caused by the bacterium Chlamydia psittaci, carried by birds. Humans most commonly catch the disease by inhaling dust containing feathers, secretions and droppings from infected birds.
www.health.nsw.gov.au www.health.nsw.gov.au

It applies to pet birds as well. If you really want to go through with it, make sure to carefully sterilize that feather before inserting it anywhere. That includes the hollow inside.

Even with that, you probably are at a high risk of scratching yourself, which probably does not feel so good and would open you up to other types of infection.

My recommendation would be to find something else to use that pretty feather for :gsd_happysmile:
 
After reading a few paragraphs, I’m pretty sure I’ve caught that before just from handling my birds, and with the amount of feather dust in my room, which I share with my birds, probably has me at maximum risk for ornithosis anyway. I’ll do more research into other diseases they may carry and read more of that article before following through with anything, thanks for the source!

Also, I’m not really worried about scratches, I’ve sounded myself with sharper objects(in experimentation) than the end of a feather without any issues. Also, I didn’t even think of steralizing it, very glad you said that!

On your last note: I actually have made some stuff with their feathers before, and I’m planning on trying out making jewelry with some soon!
 
I do not know if you can boil a feather to sterilize it and have it survive the process, but the possibility of hurting yourself in some way is probably quite high.
 
I am coincidentally in need for a large feather for other nonsexual experiments. So I tried boiling a long pigeon tail feather and it seems to be ok.
Whether that is enough for sterilization is another question. I would recommend soaking it in alcohol for a while at least.
 
Boiling it will definitely get rid of any non-viral issues, as for viral infections, the only one that would be an issue is Avian Influenza, which I have already taken precautions against on my birds’ end.
As for the alcohol: that would be redundant after boiling, as boiling already will have killed anything the alcohol would.
Also, thank you for the concern. Even though I don’t do it much anymore, I assure you have experience sounding, so I am confident in terms of non-diseasous dangers.
I think boiling it will be more than enough to get rid of any issues. I’ll do a little bit more research on viral infections on my own time, but I am very thankful for the suggestions.
 
frogulus said:
Boiling it will definitely get rid of any non-viral issues, as for viral infections, the only one that would be an issue is Avian Influenza, which I have already taken precautions against on my birds’ end.
As for the alcohol: that would be redundant after boiling, as boiling already will have killed anything the alcohol would.
Also, thank you for the concern. Even though I don’t do it much anymore, I assure you have experience sounding, so I am confident in terms of non-diseasous dangers.
I think boiling it will be more than enough to get rid of any issues. I’ll do a little bit more research on viral infections on my own time, but I am very thankful for the suggestions.
Click to expand...
I am a fan of odd stuff like this myself. :D So I will follow this. :D
This is a replica, not an actual animal part and even if it was, it would have been a stone for a long time by now. :D
 
JustAGSDEnjoyer said:
I'd love to see it when you do!
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I felt obligated to make something sooner rather than later now that I had told someone about it.
I wove a feather from each of my birds into a ring I made a while ago by weaving a reed into itself; it’s simple and the feathers are out of shape, but now I have a piece of my birds with me on a ring I already wear a lot. It wouldn’t be for a while, but if I ever do make more I’ll definitely post it.

The glue on it isn’t permanent, I put it on to stop the reeds from unraveling while I wove more into them, and I forgot to remove it before taking pictures.
 

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pes said:
I am coincidentally in need for a large feather for other nonsexual experiments. So I tried boiling a long pigeon tail feather and it seems to be ok.
Whether that is enough for sterilization is another question. I would recommend soaking it in alcohol for a while at least.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I would have assumed that boiling it would ruin the feather.

I have some small pets that I sometimes forage natural woods and the like for. The general guideline there to make it safe for them is to heat it to at least 75C for at least 15 minutes. That should kill all bacteria and some viruses. So boiling would be very effective here.

Keep in mind that for complete virus eradication, the recommended temperature is 121C, but that is generally less of an issue in feathers from pet birds.
 
JustAGSDEnjoyer said:
Interesting, I would have assumed that boiling it would ruin the feather.

I have some small pets that I sometimes forage natural woods and the like for. The general guideline there to make it safe for them is to heat it to at least 75C for at least 15 minutes. That should kill all bacteria and some viruses. So boiling would be very effective here.

Keep in mind that for complete virus eradication, the recommended temperature is 121C, but that is generally less of an issue in feathers from pet birds.
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Thanks for the measurements!
If it takes 15 minutes I should probably cook some noodles with it to make the most of the hot water XD (Of course not actually)
 
Finally sterilizing the feathers! Boiled them at about 90c for just under 20 minutes, they should be good to go
I’ll share how they feel, but I won’t be putting up videos/images publicly
 
After a very, very, very shallow attempt, the feather already feels better than previous toys I’ve used so far!
It’s thinness makes it really easy to slide in, and because there isn’t as much pressure against the walls of the urethra, if offers a different feeling than regular sounding. I suppose it can be described as feeling like an intimate petting rather than a massage! I haven’t even inserted it past the first bristles and it already feels great!
 
So. What is the diameter of the rod?

Been checking a few in detail this days.
Small ones look like the tip is quite pointy and could scratch.
When you look at bigger ones, they are thicker but the tip is quite rounded.
This saturday I need to get a look at goose ones out of curiosity
 
I’m using a budgie tail feather, it is incredibly thin, not even two millimeters at the widest point, and the tip is less than a millimeter wide; I’ve had to be incredibly careful and slow as to not stab myself with it.
I have a feather from a canadian goose that is about two millimeters along the whole shaft, and it has a far rounder tip. I am unsure what type of feather it is, other than it being from a Canadian goose(I saw it drop while it was preening itself). I am almost certain geese have thicker feathers on their bodies than the one I have though.

I would recommend sounding with a purpose built tool before doing something like this, as that is the best for gaining experience.
If you really want to be careful about not stabbing yourself, then I guess looking around to find a rounder tipped feather is probably the best thing you can do.
 
That is what I thought.

Time ago I played a bit urethal, tube, catheter, odd things... some quite worse than a feather, like playing as a flower vase 🤫

But felt it was too much a rough play for me and stopped before I got hurt.
But feather, yep. Interesting.
Except for the pointy thing it looks faesible.
 
I don’t know if this helps you but here are the two feathers I was referring to(budgie top, goose bottom)
The image is blurry but you can tell the goose feather is a lot rounder
I’m pretty sure that generally larger birds have rounder feather tips, I am not certain though.
 

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frogulus said:
I don’t know if this helps you but here are the two feathers I was referring to(budgie top, goose bottom)
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Interesting that the goose one is so narrow, given the size of the bird.

I'm not interested in sounding, but I find the overall topic here a bit interesting :gsd_happysmile:
I checked an old falcon feather that I found a couple of years ago, it's 3mm for most of the length. The bottom part is slightly oval, and is 2x3mm on its dimensions.
 
pes said:
I do not know if you can boil a feather to sterilize it and have it survive the process, but the possibility of hurting yourself in some way is probably quite high.
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Steaming is better....just do it for a few minutes to see the effect. On larger Feathers, be careful what you choose....Birds of Prey are usually protected.
 
JustAGSDEnjoyer said:
Interesting that the goose one is so narrow, given the size of the bird.

I'm not interested in sounding, but I find the overall topic here a bit interesting :gsd_happysmile:
I checked an old falcon feather that I found a couple of years ago, it's 3mm for most of the length. The bottom part is slightly oval, and is 2x3mm on its dimensions.
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It’s a smaller feather for the species, I doubt it’s even a flight feather, but I can’t pin what it is exactly
 
frogulus said:
How are they protected?
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Its illegal to possess those feathers in the States, and probably Canada. Most of the Hunters are typically rare in the environment, and easily tipped into the Endangered category. There are other off-limits Birds.

Check with your local wildlife people as to legality of possession for Feathers, or go buy them at a fly shop like Orvis.

Found Feathers are not excused from the rules of possession.
 
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