Feathers for Your Nest

I’ve been watching the backyard-chicken craze play out in my neighborhood for years. I aspire to raise my own hens someday, but in the meantime I’m content chicken sitting for numerous friends, reaping the rewards without the dirty work. While I devour the delicious eggs I get as payment, it’s the hens’ discarded feathers that I covet most, for their longer-lived design benefits. Autumn is a particularly good time for bringing this natural beauty indoors and using feathers to add a cozy layer to your nest.

For the past five or so years, I’ve enjoyed caring for 20-plus hens of friends, and they've graciously donated many feathers to me.

Why chicken feathers? I admire feathers from all birds, but I'm always leery of feathers I see on the market, because I have no idea where they came from or how humanely they were retrieved. That no backyard pet was hurt or killed for the feathery gifts I receive is essential to me. Plus, I love the variety, not to mention the unbeatable cost (free), of collecting what would otherwise be raked up and tossed.

Of course, if you don't have backyard chickens or prefer to use a different feather type for your project, you can always visit a local or online craft store.


I keep my prized collection in a yogurt pot from Paul, a patisserie chain in France. The petiteness of the black clay container is ideal for feathers of this size, which have been supplemented by plumage my family and I have fortuitously stumbled upon during our walks. These additional feathers include a couple from our neighborhood barn owls and crows as well as a turkey vulture feather we found along a horse trail. These few tall ones add just the right dimension to what is mostly a chicken-centric display.

Each feather in our collection has a happy memory, as does the pot that brings me back to the Toulouse train station where I bought that yogurt. Thus, the decoration is a particularly noteworthy and comforting one in our household.

Sometimes the hope of finding more feathers is enough to motivate my family to bundle up for a crisp autumn evening walk.


Chicken feathers come in a variety of shapes, sizes and, depending on the varieties of chickens you tend to, colors. The longer feathers come from the tail and wings, while the smaller, fluffier ones come from other parts of the body. Each feather provides different opportunities for home decor.


Let’s talk about cleanliness. Yes, backyard chickens are messy creatures — although, depending on the time of year, it can feel like they molt faster than they can poop. Take advantage by choosing the cleanest dropped feathers you can find.

I asked earring artisan Dianne Tanner her preferred method of cleaning her found feathers before she crafts them into jewelry. “Making sure the feathers I sell are clean and safe is of utmost importance to me,” she says. “First off I freeze the feathers. Sounds odd, but after extensive research, I've discovered that freezing them for at least 24 hours ensures anything that might reside on them is taken care of, without compromising the feathers' structural integrity.”

Tanner puts her feathers in sealed plastic baggies for close to a week to make sure any pests and bacteria are dead. After that she wipes the feathers down with tea tree oil on baby wipes (just a drop of oil at a time) to make sure the feathers are disinfected. “Tea tree is a natural antiseptic, and is much nicer on the feathers than using anything chemical such as alcohol, which will ruin the natural oils in the feathers and cause them to loose shape and prettiness,” she says.

Once they're smoothed back into place, the feathers are ready to use in many sorts of ways.


Feathers for Decor

Frame them. This kitchen is decorated with multiple kinds of tail and wing feathers in a shadow box.


Bubble it up. Show off a favorite feather inside a clear glass ornament. The shorter, fluffier body feathers work best for spheres because of their curved shape, while a stiff tail or wing feather would work best in a tall, slender ornament.

Add the ornaments to the Christmas tree or keep them up all year round over the kitchen table, as this homeowner has done.


Magic Magnetic Feathers - GBP 25.50 Magnetize them. This collection of feathers is backed with pairs of magnets so they can be stuck on a metal surface. You could do the same for your own assemblage with magnets and a dab of hot glue.


Feather & Poetry - EUR 26 Stand them up. This feather holder allows you to display your collection upright. You can keep other prizes that might come along with the search, like shells, stones or other small objects, in the drawer.



Bunch them. This homeowner tied an arrangement of three similar feathers together with a ribbon and added it to a side table along with other organic details. To create a similar look, group the longest tail feathers you can find. If you have a rooster, add his tail feathers to such an arrangement for a dazzling look.

Tell us: Do you decorate your nest with found feathers?

More: Browse feathery decor in the Products section

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