DOWN is a symbol of softness. It refers to the feathers taken from the breast of birds, and particularly the insulating, soft feathers under the outer contour feathers. Such feathers are both soft and excellent at trapping heat; so they are used in bedding, especially in pillows and in the duvets which have replaced the blanket. They are also used as filling for winter clothing, such as quilted coats.

The downy feathers are different from the contour feathers of the bird’s shell-suit in that they are smaller and have no solid stem. They also lack small hooklets (barbicels) to hold the feather together. It is this structure (or lack of it) that gives down its great ‘loft’ the ability to expand from a compressed, stored state and to trap large amounts of insulating air.

Down is collected mainly from waterfowl such as geese and ducks, the most valued kind being from the Eider duck. The sea ducks, including Scoters, Goldeneyes and Mergansers, spend much of their lives in very exposed places yet thrive in conditions which defeat modern hi-tech human clothes. The bird’s outer shell-suit overlies ¼ - ½ inch of down, which mainly covers the thorax and abdomen and also extends, in a thinner layer, over the rest of the body.

Eiderdown is harvested under licence in Iceland from sustainable nesting areas of this wild sea duck. The nest is built close to the sea and is lined with down plucked from the female's breast. This exquisitely soft and warm lining has traditionally been harvested for filling pillows and quilts. Harvesting continues and is sustainable because it can be done after the ducklings leave the nest with no harm to the birds. This type of down will of course need a good wash!

Goose feathers and down used to be much prized for bedding in the past. Before the days of damp-coursing and double glazing, who can blame people for wanting a warm night’s sleep? Feathers were used for stuffing mattresses and, according to Harrison Weir, must have been used for that purpose even in King Henry’s time: ‘It appears by a statute passed in the reign of Henry VII that feather beds were then commonly in use in England for certain precautions were therein ordered to be taken as to the feathers selected; for instance, no feather beds were to be sold if any scalded feathers were mixed with the dry (pulled) feathers; no down beds if fen down were mixed with clean down . . . The reasons assigned to these prohibitions were that scalded feathers and fen down (down obtained from the geese reared in the fens of Lincolnshire) and animal hair were prejudicial to the health of his Majesty’s subjects.’ Feather beds are now thankfully a relic of the past. After trying out Granny’s feather mattress at the old farmhouse near Macclesfield around 1950, I still preferred my own internally-sprung divan. However, whilst the sprung mattress has replaced the feather bed, the best duvets and pillows are not polyester - they are still made from eider or goose down.

Commercial duvet down

Goose down is now mainly a by-product of the goose rearing industry in Eastern Europe and China. Some unfortunate geese may be ‘live plucked’ several times a year, as well as when killed, to maximise the amount of best feather and down that can be produced. Live plucking was still practised as much as three times per year in Poland in the 1990s (FAO report) and Hungary was recently still indulging in the practice, as revealed in Swedish TV footage earlier this year.

The International Down and Feather Laboratory and Institute has since been at pains to stress that more that 99 per cent of the world’s supply of down and feathers are by-products of food production, and that most ‘harvested’ goose down and feathers from both Europe and China are shipped to Japan for expensive bedding and outerwear products.

Down harvested in this way is twice as expensive as from the food industry, and a figure of ‘less that 10 per cen’ of Hungarian production is noted. It is nevertheless important to raise awareness of infringement of welfare standards: if some producers can get away with it, keeping buyers in ignorance of their lack of welfare standards, they will.

The EDFA (European Down and Feather Association www.edfa.eu/englisch/index.htm, cagily says: ‘This convention specifically forbids inflicting any harm or injury on farm animals. Thus, it is forbidden to harvest feathers and down from live animals outside the moulting season, for example. . . Improper live-plucking is forbidden.

‘The harvesting of feathers and down according to the rules from the live animal at the moment of moulting is not forbidden. The process has to conform to quite specific regulations, however.’ This practice is still therefore allowed to happen, according to what ones defines as the ‘moulting season’ - still not a very satisfactory situation. Geese moult their outer feathers just once a year, but I doubt if the under-down is moulted annually; one just does not see masses of down moulted around the fields.

Flights and contour feathers must be replaced annually, having become very tatty and weathered. The down stays clean, and is needed for the bird’s survival, so it cannot all be lost at once. If damaged, it begins to re- grow immediately. If left intact, I suspect it is replaced continually, as needed.

Traditional down

Plucking in the past was hand-done with perhaps a bit more regard for the family geese, compared with rough handling of hundreds by employees in a modern commercial shed.

Harvesting of feather and down was also a necessity. Geese were plucked of their breast down mainly in April when the feathers are supposed to be loose: the broody goose plucks her own breast down for the nest, and even the gander’s breast feathers start to fall.

At least there was a bit more thought for the bird in the process. Where birds were plucked more than once a year, they had to be well fed so that they could grow new feathers, for feathers are built of protein.

Harrison Weir quotes Pennant thus ‘It is for the sake of their quills and feathers that they are bred, being stripped while they are alive once a year for the quills and four of five times for their feathers. From this operation they do not in general suffer much, unless cold weather sets in, when great numbers perish in consequence.’ It seems human perception of welfare does not change easily where profit is involved.

Hand-harvested down (from table geese) is very clean, and just smells a bit ‘goosey’, like fresh grass. I doubt if this type of product would benefit from scalding or washing; this is the top quality product referred to by the IDFI.

However, commercial goose feather and down products are advertised as ‘steam cleaned’ and despite King Henry’s edict about washing feathers, they were washed in the past.

Harrison Weir described the washing of feathers thus: ‘Quicklime and water are mixed together in the proportion of one pound of lime to every gallon of water, and when the undissolved lime is precipitated in fine powder, the clean lime water is poured off for use. The feathers which are to be cleaned are put into a tub; the lime water is added to the depth of three inches into which the feathers are well steeped and stirred. After remaining in this state for three to four days the feathers are taken out of the foul water, laid on a sieve to drain, washed in clean water, and then laid upon nets similar to cabbage nets, where they are left to dry. The final process is to beat, by which the dust is separated from them.’ It was also noted that ‘poultry feathers’ from turkeys and fowls were of lesser value because their elasticity was less than that of goose. Wild duck feathers were elastic, but gave a ‘disagreeable odour’ because of the amount of oil they contained, though that was countered by washing and the addition of a small quantity of lime which combined with the oil. Unwashed down is very resistant to moulds and bacteria, and does not seem to be attacked by insects such as moths and beetles. Down in old duvets behaves as well as ever after 30 years of use.

And some 20-year-old hand-picked down (obtained from dead table-birds) looks and smells as good as new, despite no processing at all.

For home-preserving of down, gentle baking in the oven has been recommended perhaps similar to this method: ‘The plan most generally pursued by farmers’ wives . . . is to lay the feathers on paper on the floor of a spare room to dry, and then beat them lightly to get out the dust or dirt, after which the quill parts are carefully cut off, and then they are put into bags and placed in the oven after the baking, while it is yet slightly warm, and left there, when, after a few weeks, the bags are hung in rows on beams in an airy room so as to get thoroughly free from all moisture, and when that is so, are put into bed, pillow or cushion “ticks” for use.’ (Harrison Weir, 1902).

Making duvets

Several years ago, casing for bed duvets and jackets was sold, but at the moment I’m unable to find a similar business. Readers might like to send in suggestions regarding any supplier.

It is possible to make a simple duvet cover, but high grade cotton, closely-woven fabric must be used to stop the down escaping. This dense ticking also helps exclude house mites (which cause allergy), but the EDFA also assures us that ‘favourable warm and climatic conditions offered by down bedding for humans (rapid accumulation of warmth while the person is sleeping, rapid decrease in humidity when the room is aired) are a very unfavourable habitat for mites, which need humidity.’ Commercial duvets are made with baffle box construction which has thin strips of material sewn between the top and bottom cover. In ‘cassette construction’ the casing is also divided up into individual, boxed pockets into which the filling is placed. This ensures the filling does not move around ensuring an even spread of insulation and no cold patches.

I’m no good at sewing, and baffles would be quite time consuming to make. However, a simple construction (rather than using small strips of material to separate the top and bottom cover) just sews the top and bottom covers together forming boxes. Allow, of course, sufficient material or spacing in this ‘stitched through’ design to stuff the down into the tube. Check the dimensions needed with an existing duvet.

The tubes serve the same purpose as baffles: they keep the down evenly spread across the duvet. The down can work its way along the tubes which can be quite handy. If it thins at the head end, it’s actually better as the weather warms up. When you need more insulation, simply give the duvet a good fluffing up out of the window, using gravity and a helping hand to strip the down along, and the duvet fluffs up nicely again.

This type of construction is said to allow cold to come through at the points where the top and bottom covers are sewn together, causing ‘cold spots.’ This would be true if the duvet was held stretched out across the bed. In practice, the tubes push together and provide quite good insulation, and this is something that you can make yourself.

Before you engage in this, reflect that, unlike Galliforme birds, ducks and geese have to be plucked twice (when dead) to get a good product. Also, the plucking must be dry. The dead birds cannot be dipped in a boiler of hot water to loosen the feathers. The dry outer feathers get plucked first, then the down follows. That way, the high value product is kept pure. If there is only one bird, save the product in a well-sealed poly bag and accumulate it over a few seasons. A tip from friends who rear a small number of Christmas geese: don’t do this just before Christmas. Do the slaughter and preparation well beforehand.

Freeze the goose, and then you can enjoy Christmas, instead of exhausting yourself just before December 25.