You need another video. I would like to see how they process the chickens to keep the blood off the capes. Also the growing pens and the feather treatment.
the task of keeping track of those chicks has to be monumental. Plus when they breed they'll put several different lines of hens in with one premier breeding rooster and then they have to track all those various breed combinations. It just hurts my mind!!
So, did you get some awesome hackle. I am addicted to buying variants I haven't seen before. I have some amazing capes. The hackle on some is longer than some saddles from other companies. I have capes I tie from and capes I just look at. I am going to have to put them in my will. I am getting old now, so I better come up with some people that will appreciate the hackle I have collected! All the best and thanks for the inside look at Whiting Farms. Sean
I asked my wife if I could raise some in the backyard and she said “Are.you kidding me, have you ever smelled chicken poop?” No, but Chechen didn’t throw up so it can’t be too bad.
It sounds like Dr. Whiting is into breed preservation as well? He's breeding La Flèche presumably for preservation rather than flytying or is he also breeding them for research?
Well, we never had it so good! I have a few Metz # 1's that I bought in the 1980's, I don't think they would even make the Pro Grade. Cost is relative, you could not buy what we can buy now for any price in 1985 it just was not there. If you didn't know you would think ok some chicken coops!
I learned to tie in the mid 90s with my dad's old stuff. He had a bunch of Hoffman capes he must have got in the 80s. Anyways I just got back into it after 20 years and am shocked at the quality and how much they've improved. The cheap stuff now looks far better than the expensive stuff used to.
