Feathers are ranged weapons. I like the idea of a ranged build just for its theme and flavor, so I try to make one once in a while, but unfortunately ranged weapons are just trash in this game. They have lower damage than melee weapons, as if to balance out the fact that you can attack from a distance, except you can't because the concept of distance doesn't exist in the combat system. Every Skyrim character ends up a stealth archer sooner or later, and every LT character ends up swinging a zweihander.
Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try this biojuice farm. I know NPCs regain their items over time, but last time I tried it took forever, and it was just faster to remove the NPC and roll another encounter. Is the first slime special in some way? Like does she regain items instantly or something? I know there are two types of slimes, regular robbers and ones that want to transform you, and only the latter carry canisters. They do keep spawning even after you tell the queen to stop (the lore reason being that she has no way to contact her 'subjects' and tell them to stop, so even though she's not making any more biojuice, there's still a lot of them out there), but it's a pain in the butt to farm them. I guess helping the queen is the better choice from a money-making perspective.