Disaster!

[fflutterffly]

I just had to throw away about $300.00 worth of hackles. I placed this stuff in one plastic bag (first mistake) after I had them in the fridge for 2 weeks. I thought, great this will kill anything and all things. I haven't tied in about three months, off my feed all things fly fishing, but today I wanted to tie up some cloaked dappers by David MacPhall, which was youtube. When I went to get the hackles out I found adult moths in the pack and the feathers all eaten.

Moral: Don't be a dumb ass. Follow all the advice you get before anything happens to your stash.

[Old Hat]

So sorry. That really is a shame.

[hankaye]

fflutterffly, Howdy;

Can not imagine how you feel.

hank

[fflutterffly]

yeah. I should have asked the question of taking care of hackles long before I did. If I had the great advice I got from all of you people I wouldn't have had the problem.

[Mataura mayfly]

Ouch!!
I feel for you and nothing we can say can replace what is lost...... as long as you learn from it and alter the storage methods it is the best you can do...... the pain will go away..... eventually.

I am away from home for 5 week. I already know we are headed home to burst pipes in the ceiling owing to very hard cold Winter frosts, something I am not looking forward to!
But another fear is that mice have moved into my tying area to avoid the cold and I get back to find drawers in my tying bench converted into some kind of multi story mouse apartment block, with connecting eaten out corridoors lined with hackle, fur and feathers.

[fflutterffly]

Clarification: I received an email (not through the forum, but from a forum member) letting me know they would be willing to send me a saddle. In no way did I mean for this post to be a request for members to send me stuff. I'm just sharing a lesson (yes mayfly this was a great lesson). Please do not even consider this a "beg" for stuff. It seems that I have to be more sensitive to the Kindness and generosity of this fine forum when relaying my misfortunes. I folks are wonderful.

mayfly: I think the mice are far worse than a few moths. Yuck! I hope your nesting problem is just in your mind...hope it doesn't happen.

[letumgo]

Jeff - On a positive note, mice skins make excellent substitutes for moles. (humor)

[Hans Weilenmann]

I just had to throw away about $300.00 worth of hackles. I placed this stuff in one plastic bag (first mistake) after I had them in the fridge for 2 weeks. I thought, great this will kill anything and all things.

ff, sorry to hear about your upsetting experience.

Not great consolation, I know, but you were on the right track.

Freezing will kill all but the eggs. It really needs to be a repeat cycle.

Freeze for a couple days. All but eggs killed.

Outside freezer for a couple days. Allows the eggs to hatch, but too short for reproduction to take place.

Back in freezer for a couple days. That should have eradicated bug presence.

Best of success going forward.

Cheers,
Hans W

[fflutterffly]

Great tip. Repeating several times to kill the eggs. Got it.

[Smuggler]

I just wash everything I get with a mild soap, IE: Ivory dish soap. Let it soak for a half hour, heck dump a little borax in the water if you want, swish it around from time to time, drain, rinse with lukewarm water, blow dry, pat some borax where necessary and store accordingly. Has never failed me.