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I see Whiting Brahma Hen w/ chickabou mentioned on the web lately as an alternative to Partridge for soft hackles.
Not living near a shop, I go on the PC for sourcing and note that the photos of the skins look like the neck feathers are very large at best. My question Is, " Are their feathers as small as a Partridge for 12s and 14s?"
Thanks.
Ray,
Yes Sir, they are. Be careful though, the saddles with chickabou are not. Only the Brahma Hen necks.
Ralph
been using the brahama hen necks for about a year now and love them.
i think you will get a lot more use out of the neck if you learn to fold the hackle instead of wrapping it. the folding method allows you to control the hackle length, and has the added benefit of getting three or four flies out of one feather
The Brahma hen "neck" has small hackles but is not a good substitute for Partridge. The neck feathers are more like a badger or furnace hen hackle. The necks do include side feathers that have markings similar to partridge. Some of these side feathers will be in the 12 to 14 size range. The saddles have nicely marked feathers but are mostly larger.
Although I like the Brahma hen saddles a lot, and they make great soft hackles, IMHO nothing really looks like Partridge.