BUT HOW ABOUT THE POOR GEESE?!

[shaun]

I was talking with Kelvin one day and he brought up the topic of shuttle cocks and the poor geese.....Then i started to wonder: "how do they get the feathers for the shuttle cocks?" Do they just go out, find geese and kill them?
or have farm, raise them and then pluck them once in a while?
I have no idea which one of these they do, but i believe the later is MUCH more economical.

"I bet if they are farmed, when ever they see someone with a pair of tweezers come around they all go bonkers! roflmao" -Kelvin

[kwun]

you guys are so funny.

of course the feathers are not "farmed". as you may know, almost all shuttles are manufactured from China, and the Chinese do raise geese for their meat (quite yummy one as well). and the by product of that is feather, and that's what the shuttles are made from.

now, i am not sure which one is worse, raising geese and plucking their feathers, or raising geese and killing them for meat.

ugh. now i realized that my fav sports relies on the by-product of killing other animals. my next jumpsmash will never feel the same again.

[shaun]

lol ducks are good! i dunno how to say it in eng bu peen(peel) pay(skin) aap(duck) is really good lol "]
but feathers....they really come from the ducks that we eat? the feathers that they dont need we use to make shuttles? MEANS THEy ARE FARMED! BUT NOT FARMED FOR THE PURPOSE OF FEATHERS, BUT FOR THE PURPOSE OF FOOOOD! okay i think i get it....all u evil ppl who use feather shuttles....ur killing all those poor ducks!

[BaMBaM]

How about the corks used for shuttles which come from trees, no one is then innocent of deforestation for the sake of playing with either nylon or feathered shuttles. Would using nylon then be lesser of the two evils?

[shaun]

BAMBAM I USE FULL SYNTHETIC! THE RUBBER CAP ONES ! BWAHAHAHA u cant blow me up( say that in canto, then it will make sense "]).
j/k i use mavis 300

[BaMBaM]

If only shuttles were recyclable (even the rubber ones) then we'd all be ecologically friendly

[Kelvin]

All the poor Geese!!!!!
How cruel can you be Kwun! :lol:
JK, I'm a huge fan of feather shuttles, but man...
ALL OF YOU!!!
HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME!!! SHAME SHAME SHAME!!! :P

As for me, after each game, I will have a moment of silence before I head off to eat, some duck...err.. Geese for dinner.
(so cruel... so cruel)

[BaMBaM]

You can eat more than one goose (geese) for dinner? That'll make at least a dozen shuttles.

[Kelvin]

The corks are actually drilled out of the trees or something like that, and they grow back relatively fast, so they are not actually hacking down the entire tree for our badminton shuttles...
Well at least according to that http://www.shuttlecocks.com
They drill it out or something I forgot... but check it out.. .I'm not so sure it's as bad as we're thinking it is...
but those Geese!!!!!!!
FOR SHAME, FOR SHAME!!!

[kwun]

OMG, how about those down comforters that has for years kept us warm throughout the cold nights?? i am sleeping with no cover on tonight.

*sniff*

[Brett]

I read on some shuttle manufacturer's website (can't remember which, though), that they select a few feathers from each goose and then throw them back out in the farm yard to grow new ones. If this is the generally accepted method, I don't think it would be that painful for the goose, kind of like pulling out a few hairs from a human head.

[Zclyh3]

Well Kelvin..that's why I'm the smart one...I play with NYLON shuttles....all of you..SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! Go NYLON SHUTTLERS!!!!! hehehehehhehe....

[Mag]

Guys, guys, guys... bird shed their feathers, remember? And I think geese shed their feathers twice annually. So, you really don't need to kill the birds to get the feathers, or even pluck them. In theory, that is. In reality, I suspect we owe much to the meat industry, but it doesn't HAVE to be that way. Maybe it's time for a brand of ecologically farmed feather shuttles?

And anybody who thinks that nylon shuttles would be better... think about the environment! Nylon is an oil-based product. Using them you help drain the planet of its non-renewable fuels. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

[Kelvin]

couldn't we just make our racquets bigger, and stronger, and smack the geese around??? the fly pretty well I'm sure, I mean they always fly south for the Winter's from North America don't they?? :lol:

For those of you without a sense of humor, that was a joke. :P

[May]

Kelvin's closest. The cork we use is actually juz da bark of da tree. they juz strip it off every year and it regrows back da next to be stripped off again.

[Don]

I'm appalled! Time to alert PETA! :)

[May]

ummm........ Kwun, they don't use geese feathers if I'm not wrong, they use the feathers of the Eider duck(that's where u get the word eiderdown) and feathers form ducks.

[Zclyh3]

Damn you Mag! Always got something up your sleeve! ~_^

[cooler]

However, plastic shuttles last much longer than feather and plastic can be recycled

[kwun]

feather is bio-degradable. i wonder if the plastic is... i can see a complete new marketing strategy for Yonex now. they will start making bio-degradable plastic shuttles...

[cooler]

recyclable plastic is better than biogradable plastic.

[May]

Do u guys know the difference????

[Mag]

Recycling is more than a word, you know :)

You're saying you recycle your shuttles?

Well,

I

don't

think

so

...

:)

[cooler]

yes if all the feather players willing to switch plastic, then we'll have the volume of plastic.

[Eric]

Um im pretty sure they dont use feathers from geese that were meant for meat because they do not pluck the birds when they are alive. the birds are killed in the factory and then the conveyer (sp?) belts drop them into a really big pot of boiling water and then the feathers are plucked out of them birds. and i dont think the feathers on a shuttle are made from boiled feathers..or are they. anyways i got the info about killing ducks from my neighbor...he use to work for foster farms or a company that worked for foster farm..or something like that.

[cooler]

badminton is still a dormant sport in north and south america, africa, and east european countries. Imagine if badminton becomes more popular in those countries, we would ran out of geese.

[kwun]

good point. either that or the price of shuttles will be driven sky high (demand/supply).

[cooler]

i think the cork is recyclable. I notice the big clubs collect used feather shuttles in a box but not sure what it goes in the end.

[Kelvin]

goes to the good ole thing we call the g-a-r-b-a-g-e (speaking in french accent)

[cooler]

kelvin, have you been getting your shuttle supply from glencoe and winter club's garbage bins? :lol:

[May]

hahahaha. gawd, won't they stink when u play with 'em????

[Kelvin]

WHO TOLD YOU??? :o

[Harry K]

Okay, for all you guys whining about poor geese/ducks/bark trees....

They can only use a few feathers (I think three or four) from each wing. They don't kill the geese to get them. Hey, without all of us playing badminton (and paying a high price for these shuttles) these birds would never have been farmed i.e. would never have even lived. Well, maybe they would have been farmed for their meat, but then they would have lived in battery cages barely bigger than their bodies, instead of which they are allowed to roam freely because their feathers are too valuable to be damaged.

I'm pretty sure I read that the birds keep producing tip feathers (the longest, strongest ones which are used for shuttles) throughout their lives. They don't just grind up a whole goose to make half of one shuttlecock.

But I'm sure you'll all agree, badminton shuttles are among the most fragile of all sports equipment.

[cooler]

No, the eggs from egg catching contest is more fragile :lol: