# Duck Feathers and IKEA **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403 "2007-02-15T20:45:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/1 "2007-02-15T20:45:49Z")
IKEA is having a sale this weekend, coinciding perfectly with both my paycheck and the move to our new house. 🆒 For this reason, I’ve been poking around on the IKEA web site off and on today looking for good deals on various household items that I’ve deemed necessary in la casa malkavia. Just a few minutes ago I ran into this [duck down pillow/blanket combination](http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15594&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=79960&langId=-1&categoryId=15839&chosenPartNumber=30111515) that boasts the following nugget of information: _“Down and feathers used by IKEA are never taken from living birds.”_ What does this mean? Are feathers routinely plucked from live birds? Do they mean they found ducks that died of natural causes and pulled the feathers? Are they genetically engineering duck feathers in Sweden? The mind boggles. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/2 "2007-02-15T21:58:45Z")
[QUOTE=malkavia] Do they mean they found ducks that died of natural causes and pulled the feathers? [/QUOTE] My guess: no, the ducks they got the feathers from didn’t die of natural causes, unless you count being roasted for 2.5 hours at 350 F as “natural”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/3 "2007-02-15T22:04:56Z")
[QUOTE=malkavia] _“Down and feathers used by IKEA are never taken from living birds.”_ The mind boggles. [/QUOTE] From the [vegetarian society](http://www.vegsoc.org/info/clothing.html) > [@](#): > > Many duvets are filled with down, the very soft feathers from the breasts of geese and ducks. Chickens and turkeys don’t produce down. Down can be obtained by plucking, but over 90% is a slaughterhouse byproduct, and even the birds that have been plucked end up on the table soon afterwards. Most down is produced in the Orient, Canada and Europe. > > Beauty Without Cruelty charity reports (summer 1992) that in Hungary, France, Israel and China, live geese have their feathers ripped off, a process that may be repeated every 8 weeks for about 3 sessions until the bird is killed for food or force fed to make pate de foie gras. > > The female eider duck plucks down from her breast to line her nest After the chicks have grown up and abandoned the nest, the down can be collected by anyone brave enough to face the climb up the cliffs! A pound of eider down sells for 300 dollars so it’s not easy to find items made from down collected in this way. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/4 "2007-02-15T22:06:46Z")
_Some_ duck/goose eider is collected from the nest boxes in coops. The birds will naturally shed some feathers as well as pluck some out to make nests. But I’m betting the these feathers came from birds that were sent to the packing house. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/5 "2007-02-15T22:48:01Z")
You mean you don’t get down from an elephant? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/6 "2007-02-15T22:56:08Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] You mean you don’t get down from an elephant? [/QUOTE] You can, most people need a step ladder though. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/7 "2007-02-15T23:03:27Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] You mean you don’t get down from an elephant? [/QUOTE] Sure you do. You use a ladder. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/8 "2007-02-15T23:04:51Z")
D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/9 "2007-02-16T02:00:05Z")
Of the downy feathers retrieved from a nest after its abandonment, how many will be usable – that is, not completely caked with duckling doodies? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/10 "2007-02-16T03:30:30Z")
[QUOTE=The Scrivener] Of the downy feathers retrieved from a nest after its abandonment, how many will be usable – that is, not completely caked with duckling doodies? [/QUOTE] The ones I referred to in my earlier post would not have been allowed to be in the nest very long. They would be collected quite regularly to minimize such a problem. ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/11 "2007-02-16T16:46:15Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] You mean you don’t get down from an elephant? [/QUOTE] I had [this book](http://www.librarything.com/work/312620) as a kid. I got 100 of the jokes. The one I didn’t get is the one you referenced. Then one day, about 10 years later: :smack: But I think it’s because that joke was wearing sunglasses. ---
**Author:** ![Gbro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Gbro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gbro)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-feathers-and-ikea/392403/12 "2007-02-16T21:57:59Z")
During the World Wars, all hunter were required to turn in the down and feather frm all ducks & Geese for military use. (war effort) Today most hunters toss it away. I would never again buy anything that isn’t 100% down. I had a 80-20 coat, and it was like wearing a pin cushon.