Featherbed

Stuffings

For expensive fillings, like feathers, the feathers would outlast the tick and be transferred into a new one when they poked through the old one. Featherbeds may be washed intact, or feathers and ticks can be cleaned separately. Since featherbeds were historically very valuable, and the feathers often took years to collect, they were not simply discarded and replaced. Indeed, they were taken along by migrants and mentioned in wills. Featherbeds were often made with feathers saved from poultry plucked for eating (servants were often allowed to keep the feathers they plucked). It took about 50 pounds (23 kg) to fill a tick. Goose and duck feathers were most valued (chicken feathers were undesirable), and down was softer and more valuable than other feathers.