Material science

 

As far as we know, ducks are not live-harvested, but only those geese, which are kept for the purpose of laying eggs and breeding. Throughout every year, these animals undergo several moulting seasons, the hormonally induced process of shedding their old plumage. Harvesting the feathers and down from the live animal at the moment of moulting is a technique which has in former times been also applied for the purpose of landscape conservation. In order to avoid that a flock of, say, 100 mother geese shed their old feathers and down and that these fly around the landscape and entangle themselves in bushes, trees, buildings etc., the farmers were requested to contribute to the landscape conservation by collecting the loosely attached material. The animals are an important resource for the farmers. To treat this resource properly means to secure their income in the future. Cruelty to animals does not mean a secure income in the long run.

 

The above-mentioned description shows that down is a filling material for bedding products which leads the way and is a measure for other materials.

Obviously, down fillings offer such an excellent sleeping comfort so that it is time and again tried to model the characteristic properties of down. The term “similar” implies that the product “is close” to the natural product down. The term “similar to wood” does not signify that it is real wood. And a reproduction of wood is no real wood either.

 

The manufacturer still must prove that his products really have properties which are comparable to down. Following the information obtained from the association of manufacturers of down-and-feather-filled bedding products, nobody has been able to prove it so far.

Further information at DownCheck:

Down and feathers offer excellent insulating properties due to their capacity to “fluff up”. This property is also referred to as “fill power“ that is to say the capacity to unfold the largest possible volume again and again at the same time imbedding millions of insulating air pockets.
 

Goose and duck feathers have a curved elastic shaft, the so-called quill.
 

Chicken feathers, however, have a flat shape. The main part of the quill is flat, i.e. the firm shaft in the middle. They are not resilient enough to “fluff up“ again, for instance after having been compressed by the human body. Therefore, they are less suitable as filling material for pillows and duvets than the plumage of waterfowl.

 

Further information at :

There is no difference on the level of technical terminology. The harvesting of feathers and down from the live animal at the moment of moulting, which should more accurately be called “gathering” or “collecting” feathers and down, is usually carried out according to certain rules at the moment of the change of feathers, the moulting season, when a new generation of feathers has matured and the old feathers will therefore be shed.

 

The moulting in birds is the system provided by nature to shed an old feather coat. The quill point is sticking very loosely in the feather follicle, because the nutrient supply of the feather has been interrupted due to hormonal reasons. This makes it possible to harvest the feathers from the live animal without inflicting any harm or hurting the goose or its skin. The technical literature on this topic has emphasized time and again that in general the sensitivity of poultry skin is much lower than the sensitivity of the skin of mammals.