I got a email from this company who custom dye feathers. Thought I would share.

http://fancyfeather.com/feathers/ostrich-feathers

Totally random, but I was just reading this...

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2012/05/07/thor-hanson-feathers-review/

It's quite interesting, even if not puppetry related. It reminds me to only buy fake feathers from now on too.

The blog is actually useful in other ways. The other day I was reading about the manner in which sauropod dinosaurs (the ones that are always in the movies with the really long necks) hold their necks up. It's an extremely interesting and useful read if you're working on realistic animal puppetry, because it also discusses and compares the neck posture to more modern animals.
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/05/sauropods_held_necks_erect.php

I'm finding that a number of the articles are incredibly insightful in terms of realism in puppetry; a lot of it though is quite technical and goes over my head.

... Sorry for hijacking but I'd literally read that feather article an hour or so ago and I've been meaning to mention the blog here for those who are interested.