Usually I avoid the use of feathers for my millinery. I don´t like the thought of birds beeing killed for my personal vanity. Let alone the captive breeding of birds under poor conditions. But sometimes the feathers come as a gift or are part of a lot with some other items for millinery. In that case I use them, but not with quiet conscience. Years ago, I got an antique feather embellishment from an old Lady. Actually it was a bellow with the skin of the bird still on it. I don´t think, I will ever use the thing. It is one of the examples for the killing of millions of exotic birds around 1900- Just for Millinery!
But there are alternativ solutions! Make your own feathers out of yarn, paper, woolfelt or collect feathers, the birds have lost during molt. Some hobby-breeders in the web sell those molt-feathers from their own birds.
For this hat I used a molt- feather from a whooping crane.
So if you decide to collect molt-feathers in your environment, fine…do it! But don´t forget to damp your loot under a cloth with a hot iron for sanitation!