I believe mention was made of using feathers for noters. I haven't heard of that use, and on a "modern" dulcimer with steel strings I would think that any feather shafts I've seen would be much too soft for any regular use as a noter. Since feathers are hollow, they can "crush" pretty easily, which makes them "flabby." Even "hard maple" dowel stock (a very commonly used material for home-made noters) will "notch" fairly quickly with regular use.

Feathers (generally goose?) were reportedly a traditional "pick" material, but even there frequent replacement is needed for use with modern strings. (Unless the gooses I got to just weren't trying as hard as the old-timers did.) They might last a little better on a "re-enactment" dulcimer strung with gut strings(?) - if someone can authenticate a period when anything other than steel/brass/bronze strings were generally in use.

The history of the instrument is somewhat vague, and there are lots of different versions around. Obviously not all of them are wrong, and likely there are multiple histories from various locales, each "correct" for their individual sources. The instrument doesn't appear to be an "ancient" one, and decent metal strings were probably(?)/possibly(?) fairly available for the earliest builders - maybe.

John