Feather Identification Question-

[DFoster 0]

A while back I was given a box of 1970's era tying materials from a gentlemen who briefly had the tying bug and then quit.  Anyway there are what appear to be black hen hackles in size and shape. However in good light they most definitely are a really dark shade of blue and are quite nice to tie with.   I know it's tough to see in the photos below but I'm wondering if these are simply dyed hen or could they be another species of bird?  To me they almost look to good to be dye.  When I got them they were separated into individual feathers and not part of a skin.  I do not know anything about dying techniques - is there a way to test to see if it's dye?

[flytire 0]

Looking like rooster to me

like strung hackles 

[Jaydub 0]

I concur with flytire on the ID. 

They appear to be dyed, since the color is uniform all the way to the butt end of quill. 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

As a guy who used to buy strung neck and saddles - by the pound... What you’re looking at are dyed black feathers.  To confirm, wet one and rub it between your fingers.  Dyed black is rarely very color fast and it should start to color your fingers... Any time I worked for a few hours with black (or dyed red) materials my hands would need a scrubbing to clean off the transferred dye staining... 

an alternative is to thoroughly wet a feather then simply lay it to dry on a clean white paper towel.  If it’s dyed, some of it will transfer onto to the paper towel...

[tjm 0]

That was called 'dyed black dry fly hackle" when I bought it ~45 years ago, packaged loose in plastic envelopes. I still have some in one of the storage boxes I think. Had some on the leather too, very small neck, likely from India roosters. What Capt Bob said about the dye and why I never put fingers in mouth when tying as some people have recommended to moisten fingers.

[DFoster 0]

2 hours ago, tjm said:

That was called 'dyed black dry fly hackle" when I bought it ~45 years ago, packaged loose in plastic envelopes. I still have some in one of the storage boxes I think. Had some on the leather too, very small neck, likely from India roosters. What Capt Bob said about the dye and why I never put fingers in mouth when tying as some people have recommended to moisten fingers.

Thank you -that is exactly how they were packaged. (No label). 
 

Thank you all for the responses – I will try the captain’s recommendation but I’m fairly certain now that they are dyed rooster. The thing that threw me is that my modern black rooster is actually black when seen under my tying light and these old feathers are a dark blue.

[SBPatt 0]

On 12/19/2020 at 6:59 AM, DFoster said:

The thing that threw me is that my modern black rooster is actually black when seen under my tying light and these old feathers are a dark blue.

I’ve been playing with dyeing black recently and have found different dyes produce different “shades” of black - straight Rit Black leaves a bluish cast while another one I used had a brownish tinge. I found that by first dyeing with Rit Dark Brown, then with Black I got a truer color. As always, this is just for my benefit; I doubt the fish are going to care one way or another.

Regards,
Scott