Keratin is a protein which is very hard and fibrous in nature. It can pose a great environmental threat as it is not digestible by simple protease enzymes. The major sources of keratinous wastes are in the form of feathers, horns, nails, claws and hairs. Therefore, microorganisms which would efficiently degrade and recycle such wastes are very much needed. A feather degrading geophilic, Nocardiopsis alba DMS 43377 isolated from the soil sample collected from chicken feather dumped area using a baiting technique was capable of producing keratinase enzyme. The crude keratinase enzyme produced by actinomycetes was capable of degrading chicken feathers in an efficient manner as compared to the bacillus sp. The end product of partially degraded chicken feathers was protein containing different amino acids and may have potential application as an animal feed and in cosmetics. Thus, Nocardiopsis alba DMS 43377 could serve as a novel microbes to produce keratinase enzyme that can degrade the feathers of chicken quite efficiently. © 2014, SPB Pharma Society. All rights reserved.