Storing and Protecting Hackle & Materials!
Your source for flyfishing and flycraft resources since 1975.
I've met with pros from all over that have different ideas about the best ways to store and protect your valuable feathers, hair and fur.
First, consider the heartbreak. 
These photos show what you don't want to happen. In this case, moths have attacked a nice cape. Below, I've copied our customers' recommendations about protecting their materials. Check them out below:
"To keep moths and other nasties out of your tying supplies use ENOZ moth cakes."
"Preventing moths and beetles: Get all the fat off the hide. Rancid fats attract critters. I use powdered BORAX to treat fresh skins. It preserves them, and a little residual dust deters any larvae. This has worked as well as mothballs, without the bad odor. Mothball vapor can also cloud or otherwise impact some head cements. If you are short on borax, popcorn salt can stretch the borax and still provide some preservation. Popcorn salt is fine enough to dust the hide and be effective."
"We have built many desk, tables, and wood boxes for the local fly tiers and we use Aromatic Cedar for the bottom of the drawers and our tiers are very with the results."
"Moth balls in EVERYTHING!!"
"There are three keys to mitigate damage to your fly tying materials from moths and other insects WITHOUT resorting to heavy , smelly chemical deterents: isolation, isolation and isolation. I keep nearly every piece of fly tying material that was once on a live animal or bird in its own zip-lock bag. If I get a bag of loose feathers, I put them all into a single zip-lock bag."
"I keep items in tubs with sealable tops and sprinkle in some moth crystals. So far so good....I have also used fleaa collars cut up in pieces. Both seem to work equally well for me."
"I only had one bug/moth infestation. I mixed store brought feathers with some duck and geese feathers I had found along the shore. I had to take the who stash of material and put them in the freezer for a few days. The problem was I turned down the temp and super froze all the meats and vegetables my wife had in the freezer. Did a lot of fly tying in the dog house for the next few days. :-)"
"After years with the smell of mothballs , which i detest, I heard about cedar working fine also...I remember using 1/4" x 4" flooring for closets & had a little left over..I just cut pieces to fit in boxes & draws..Never had a problem in 30 years..Doesn't take up any room, & love the cedar aroma..My whole tying room is bug proof for about 20-30 bucks..I even recently made a 1/8" cut on pieces to restart the aroma after 25 yrs & worked great."
"Good old moth balls."
"There are three keys to mitigate damage to your fly tying materials from moths and other insects WITHOUT resorting to heavy , smelly chemical deterents: isolation, isolation and isolation. I keep nearly every piece of fly tying material that was once on a live animal or bird in its own zip-lock bag. If I get a bag of loose feathers, I put them all into a single zip-lock bag."
(And this is my personal favorite:)
"I am not sure where I heard it, but I did hear that toilet and urinal deodorizers kills moth eggs and larvae, while mothballs just discourage them. Anyway, the active ingredient in both of them turns out to be paradichlorobenzene so I can’t say one is better than the other in that respect. When it comes to stink, that’s another case. I have used both mothballs and the urinal cakes and have noticed that with mothballs, my fly boxes start to stink like Grandma’s sweater drawer. When I use the urinal cakes I do not notice any aroma carried to my fly boxes, and my fly-tying area doesn’t smell bad enough to chase folks away. While my bench may remind one of the men’s room, I have not had a problem with moths in over four years since I started with urinal cakes. Too, I notice that the 4-year-old cake in my feather drawer is still about as big as my thumb after four years! That’s quite a bang for your buck!
Mothballs on the other hand, had to be replaced annually and you could not tolerate the smell by my fly tying bench! "
I'll just add that in addition to what our customers wrote, some folks use "Bounce" fabric sofener sheets to deter moths and other insects, but I'm thinking about buying some Borax the next time I make it to the store. Also, putting the materials into the freezer for a couple of days should kill most threats -- after you've thoroughly bagged and sealed it!! And if you're thinking about using the "cakes" . . . . you know what I'm thinking!!