Touching a bird feather

hot cut off but also bird flu which doctors at the hospital have warned me snout because of my health.

Im sorry but I agree with the above. Psittacosis is can be transmitted by pigeons and doves but also birds kept as pets. My mum used to warn us about it when I was a child. You can’t always see when the bird is ill so not something you can tell on sight. Also bir

I have to admit, I am
Pretty crunchy but feathers give me the ick.

i looked out the window the other day & my DD was tickling the dogs nose with a big feather then stuck it on her hair!

No probs at all, we wash hands when we come in anyway! & eve. The dog got a wet wipe nose clean!

He’s going to make them neurotic!

He is insane.

Our kids are farm kids. They have feathers, bones, fur and god knows what else in their collections. They're taught the importance of washing before eating and things like that, but it's completely normal and healthy to be fascinated by the natural world.
Is it any wonder that we are raising a generation so disconnected from nature with loonies like him doing the parenting?

I love collecting all kinds of rubbish but at the moment I wouldn't touch feathers. Avian flu crossing over to humans could trigger another pandemic. It's not worth the risk.
Not the same as domestic chicken feathers which are pretty grubby but unlikely to be contaminated by flu virus

Ha my 9-year-old currently had a few of these quill feathers in her desk so it's not just you.

My kids are obsessed with collecting feathers and my instinct is to think bleurgh but I let them get on with it and just insist on hand washing

I would have said harmless and I always have loved feathers, but having googled it, it seems it isn't a good idea with bird flu going around, we are in an area which has had bird flu locally, so I shall bear that in mind.

I always pick up decent feathers to use as cat toys. We keep a few in our living room. I genuinely never realised that some people are so worried by them.

I wash the feather!! 😆 or anti bac spray if we're out.

More bird flu now due to climate.

Yep same people spraying anti bac spray everywhere. God only knows what these kids’ immune systems will be like as adults. Living in sterile environments is not good for them at all.
Everyone knows kids with pets have healthier immune systems because of the filth 😆 and kids living on farms healthier still.

My son, when he was little, filled a scrapbook with feathers he collected and labelled.

My husband still brings home nice ones!

Bloody Hell, I remember being a kid on Blackpool beach in the seventies and we'd stick seagull feathers in the top of sandcastles then eat fish and chips with our hands.

Some people rip up all their dirty grass and put that plastic artificial shite down so they can wash it. The world has gone mad.

When I was a kid I remember being told that feathers were dirty and not to pick them up. Looking back I'm not sure why but it's fairly ingrained in me and I don't like DS picking them up now...

Oh and we now keep chickens so it hasn't scared me off birds for life.

I got ill with psittacosis (the illness you get from parrots).

It nearly bloody killed me!

To add insult to injury, I hadn't been anywhere near a parrot for years- but apparently, less than 1% of wild birds carry the bacteria. I'd recently stayed at a Centerparcs, so I blame them 😁

Anyway, I wouldn't freak out but I'd definitely ask the kids to leave the feathers alone and wash their hands.

DS and DD each had one short episode of illness ( a couple of days ) through their entire primary school days, ( and no I never sent them in ill, they just didn't get ill ) DD had none in secondary and DS only had one when he had covid, the symptoms lasted less than 24 hrs.
They both grew up surrounded by horses, chickens, barn cats, dogs etc , scrabbling around in the dirt, being slobbered on, hugging random animals, putting stuff in their mouths they probably shouldn't etc.
Never mind mites, headlice were the real bane of my life through primary !

This is a pet though, totally different!
like having a pet rat Vs a rat in a sewer

Your husband seems to have led a sheltered life. Does he realise that some people have birds and animals that live in the house with them?

What a loon! Is he normally so paranoid?
I keep a few hens so I'll acquire the occasional feather stuck to me. If I see a nice feather when I'm out at the beach, I'll pick it up and take it home. I like to use them for various art activities. 😂

I would consider a feather to be no different to picking up a stick, or a rock, or a leaf. It's good that they're interested in natural things - and feathers are fascinating imo.

In fact, just this weekend DD picked up a scruffled up crow feather and gave it to me, she was fascinated when I 'combed' it with my fingers and got it all to lie flat and neat again. And no, we didn't wash out hands until we went to the loo later on, didn't even occur to me that we should. But then, I don't routinely wash hands as soon as I get home, and I sit on the bed in my normal clothes, so it's a miracle we've all survived and not caught bubonic plague I suppose. I even ate some haribo I dropped on the patio earlier. 3 second rule, innit.

We used to clean bird skulls with Colgate as kids so I certainly wouldn’t fret over a feather.

(Just to clarify they would be skulls found in the wooded area of the garden, I wasn’t killing and butchering them with own hand!)