Is it safe for children to play with feathers they find on the ground?

[WoolyMammoth55]

Hi wise and medically-informed MNers,

I live in the wilds of Somerset and really enjoy trying to give my kids (6 and 2yo) a fresh-air, tree-climbing, outdoorsy childhood.

They are often muddy and I'm cool with that - good for the microbiome etc!

We live close to some RSPB nature reserves and get a lot of beautiful birds around the place. My 6yo has a bird book and likes to identify them, is keen to watch them, etc.

This has translated into wanting to collect the dropped feathers he finds on walks. I'm no medic/scientist and therefore totally clueless about this, but given bird flu cases, have been lightly discouraging this and encouraging lots of hand-washing when he does do it.

Yesterday he announced that he wants to make a proper feather collection in a book, and he's going to pick up every feather he sees now and find out which bird dropped it. In theory this is exactly the sort of self-started science-y project that I'd like to encourage...

So now my 'give them a carefree outdoorsy childhood' self is at war with my 'yeuch grim, bird flu' self, and I'm at a loss as to whether to support this or forbid it.

Can someone knowledgeable please tell me what is the right thing to do, from a children's health POV?

Many thanks!

This is interesting question - I googled as I had my doubts and Google says it illegal to collect feathers .. strange

It is highly unlike you'd catch birdflu from a single feather, it's not a disease that's easily transmissible to humans. Advice on masks etc are for people working in poultry farm where you are working in lots of muck and dust and lots of potentially infected birds in a small area.

Definitely keep up with the hand hygiene, especially if the feathers are found in roosting areas with lots of bird poo. Also don't touch dead birds.

Other than that it's a great hobby and intrest, don't let it stand in the way of a budding ornithologist :)

Ooh didn't know about illegality, only the public health bit :)

I have this quandry too! I've come down on the side of it being fine if it's a wholesome setting like a wood or field, no to anything that's a bit more urban like a city centre park or a street.

DD is 6, always been picking up feathers, not been sick from it to date. She's forever munching any herbs she finds as well.

An alternative would be to go nature hunting and kit him up with a bag and tongs or tweezers, maybe gloves, let him bag up loads of bits then wash them at home? Or at least quarantine them... If you have a microscope you could check the bits for bugs. We did a nature class a while ago where DD could take an owl pellet apart with tweezers, she thought it was the best thing ever.

I was always told to avoid them because they may have fleas/ flea larvae or ticks. That's enough for me without bringing bird flu into the conversation.

There is no known risk of bird flu from handling feathers. The rare cases where it’s infected humans have been from contact with live infected birds. Carcasses should not be touched.
Keep up the hand hygiene and obviously make sure the kids don’t touch feathers to their faces.

Can you introduce the concept of "take only photographs, leave only footprints".

My children play with them, but wash hands after. I feel like the risk of catching bird flu is hugely low from a feather. Much higher from bird poo. We have ducks and the requirements are more about the risks of domestic ducks being exposed to wild infected bird’s poo. Equally though, I don’t think we can risk assess all outdoor play - they could get a tick playing in the woods or long grass, pick up a virus from something else an animal has mouthed, digest urine on plants from dogs, cats, foxes etc. Most studies show the benefit of outdoor play and getting muddy etc. There’s a far higher chance of benefit than harm imo and touching feathers is a sensual fun learning experience. How many birds do we get to feel to understand what they feel like? Not many unless you keep ducks/chickens/a different bird.

I guess I assumed that trekking them not to collect feathers was always going to be a losing battle. They have special feathers, stones, sticks, leaves etc, that I end up bringing home. No harm has come to then for it so far though 😂

Could you get him a little camera and get him to take a picture for his book instead of taking the actual feather home?
My daughter loves stuff like this too and it always makes me cringe a bit when she's touching feathers incase there's anything on them, i just always get her to wash her hands as soon as we're home

Thanks all for the thoughts and advice! Much appreciated. x

Taking photos instead is something I've considered. The problem is that we don't currently have a printer - so I think for him to get physical things to stick in a book I'd have to spend quite a bit of money on a half-decent printer, inks and printer paper - all of which come with their own carbon footprint to consider...

I'm no expert but assume taking feathers on a walk has less environmental impact overall than buying a hunk of unrecyclable plastic and metal...? Ready to be corrected if this is wrong though!

On the whole I think provided the majority don't think there's huge health risk then I'll let him follow his twitchy dreams. Thanks again all.