tidewaterfly 0 Report post Posted February 1, 2015 StoneFlyTyer, you get eggs from those roosters? Man, I must have been doing something wrong when I had chickens! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlaFly 0 Report post Posted February 1, 2015 Trez ... I think you're right. I saw some died feathers that I thought were probably Wyandotte on Google Images. Stoney... nice birds. I see you've taught them to stand on the wall defying gravity :-) I also see you have a guinea hen. In another thread we discussed maybe using guinea fowl feathers as a JF eyes. Peggy tells me that Wyandotte roosters are real friendly and Orpingtons are not good egg producers. Actually she said the hens lay ok if you get a non-Orpington rooster. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stevester 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2015 Man that variant Wyandotte would be a treasure trove for soft hackles. I used to see a company called Fly Tyer Variant at the Fly Tying show in Somerset, NJ for a few years. They had a lot of hen and rooster capes from Whiting that were not the expected colors or "look" for want of a better term. I loved sorting through the display and always found something useful. I think the guy that started it had to sell for health reasons and am not sure what the status of the business is now. Collins Hackle also has some interesting non-standard stuff. I just picked up a beautiful complete hen skin form him that will keep me in wet fly hackles for a couple of years. With all the availability of really good quality hen feathers lately it is easier finding subs for the old soft hackle recipes that use feathers from now banned or protected birds. Steve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlaFly 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2015 Stevester... what breed was your skin's hen? Any pictures? More important, any flies you used them on? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StoneFlyTyer 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2015 I wish they would lay eggs, lol No I'm down to one hen due to some hawk attacks but I plan on getting some more hens this spring,of some different breeds for eggs and for feathers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trez 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2015 White water flies bought out "the fly tyer variant" http://www.whitewaterflies.com/The-Variant_ep_42-1.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piker20 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2015 My orpingtons lay maybe 50 to 75 eggs a year. I don't give any artificial light in the coop. They live a long while though so kinda balances. I also keep hybrids that knock out 200+ eggs a year but if they live 3 yrs I'm happy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stevester 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 FlaFly, Not sure about the breed, I would have to ask Charlie Collins. The neck feathers are a golden badger but the rest of the body is an assortment of mottled/striped brown with some shiny black edging. I will try and take a picture of the pelt but photography is not my thing. I would like to show my flies but don't have the equipment for macro photography. Steve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
André Ribeiro 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Nice birds! These are some of the excelent poppers for bass, tied by a friend of mine Jorge here in Brasil. Big Hug Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlaFly 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Now that's what I'm talking about!!!! Thanks Andre. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
André Ribeiro 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Now that's what I'm talking about!!!! Thanks Andre. My pleasure! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vicrider 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Yep, I'm going to have to order a couple of skins like those. Fantastic poppers your friend ties. Thanx for the ebay link to the skins. The link to Whitewater flies was good except their site didn't have any of the skins listed as available. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stevester 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 FlaFly, Here is a picture of the hen skin I was talking about a couple of posts earlier. The photo gives you an idea but doesn't really do justice to how nice this pelt is. Steve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stevester 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Hmm, the photo attachment didn't work all that well. Any suggestions from Mac users how to do this so you can expand the thumbnail? Steve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikechell 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Nice birds! These are some of the excelent poppers for bass, tied by a friend of mine Jorge here in Brasil. image.jpg image.jpg Big Hug Holy Cow !!! Those are some cool looking feathers ... and they look really good on those poppers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
