Turkeys, turkeys, turkeys

[cherokeemom06]

My cousin shot two big ole turkeys Sunday and, after he was done cleaning the meat and taking the tails and feet, handed them over to me to do what I pleased. Well I got a ton of pretty, dark plumes and four huge wings. They are drying as we speak. We split two of the wings into two smaller sections but left the other two whole and spread out for drying. We are gonna make them into fans for a little extra well needed cash.

First off, I know how to dry them and make a fan and everything but my questions is this: these things are HUGE and I have absolutely no clue now much to charge for them. Anybody have any ideas? There are pics attached. Since they are so large, my husband wants to include a custom cedar box with them.

If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know. We've never done wing fans before, just individual feathers. So if you have any suggestions, or heck, if you might be interested in one the fans later on, let me hear it!

[cherokeemom06]

Here's the other three pics.

[wyo_rose]

Wow, those ARE huge. I've never seen a turkey plume. Could you take a pic? Thanks!

[cherokeemom06]

Sure, they aren't quite dry and they are kinda scraggly so I'll have to put a couple of them together to make a nice full plume to wear. I'll take one tonight. They should be pretty dry by then. My adopted mama hates white plumes so I'm gonna make her a nice pretty one from this turkey.

I'm planning on making a bunch of hair pieces up (barrettes and sets of beaded plumes) and selling them cheap.

[Lyricsdad]

I am sure putting some borax on the meaty part will dry them up real quick.

[Tibiki Kinew]

Sure, they aren't quite dry and they are kinda scraggly so I'll have to put a couple of them together to make a nice full plume to wear. I'll take one tonight. They should be pretty dry by then. My adopted mama hates white plumes so I'm gonna make her a nice pretty one from this turkey.

I'm planning on making a bunch of hair pieces up (barrettes and sets of beaded plumes) and selling them cheap.

Please don't sell them too cheap, I get 40 each for barrettes done with tail feathers. I even add fur as trim to cover the actual work of the fastening of the feathers. Right this past week I picked up four that were hit by one rig. Talk about fresh kills one hit my windshield after the rig took its head off! Well the meat was good from 3 of them. The feathers I plucked and plucked,, talk about a few hours of work! Well the wings I spread with long needles on carboard box trays, then I cover the flesh of the wings with a good dose of yepper Borax, this takes all the moisture out and also repels the critters.
Last night I gave away 4 of the 8 wings and 2 complete tails.

The tails get a real special treatment, I cut the skin with the meat and fat complete with that part known as the parsons nose! I take borax and fill the hollow space inside and let it dry either in a folded state or spread out state. In this way it can be used for fancy fans after mounting or as smudging fans when floded as a dense cluster.

I do this with all birds, not just turkey!
If it flies, I have a fan! So many have crossed the continent now from my hands that I have lost the path of a few, many people come back to me to get another for a friend.

I used to use just deer legs as handles, now I include wolf legs as handles too!

peace & buffalo grease!!!

[powwowbum49]

You better check the laws in your state, in most it is illegal to sell parts from a wild taken bird. Some states allow for the sale to fur buyers. These are places/people that trappers take their hides to and they have special permits referred to as green hide permits. Once it has passed through their hands and veried that the bird was legally taken/tagged it is then legal for sale. I saw a guy here at a flea market get his whole booth ceased because he had the feathers from a bird his friend shot in his booth trying to sell them for his bud.

Good luck

[Tibiki Kinew]

You better check the laws in your state, in most it is illegal to sell parts from a wild taken bird. Some states allow for the sale to fur buyers. These are places/people that trappers take their hides to and they have special permits referred to as green hide permits. Once it has passed through their hands and veried that the bird was legally taken/tagged it is then legal for sale. I saw a guy here at a flea market get his whole booth ceased because he had the feathers from a bird his friend shot in his booth trying to sell them for his bud.

Good luck

No worries, I am over the borde up in Ontario Canada! I have been collecting road kills here now for over 8 years and passed a lot on to those that need it. Some parts sold but a lot was give-a-way for medicines! Glad that you were worried for me though, thanks Powwowbum! There is a long list of things that I have been passing on and the more I give away the more that mother nature gives me here. Today I got my very first Otter, a real sweet fur, the head was crushed though from a car. The rest intact and very sweet. The tail will make a nice hair extension!

[LeannB]

I'll be watching this thread! I made two fans from abeautiful huge turkeywing thatour neighbor gaveme (Don't mess with that lady. She's a good neighbor, and a dead on shot withthat bow of hers, LOL!). But I cleaned so much meat and tendons off of it that I had to use a brace on the back of it, because the feathers flopped.. I wanna see how you do it!