Peacock herl

In viewing videos and SBS instructions that involve peacock herl I note that the quality of the herl used by the expert tiers has the tiny green barbs (?) on both sides of the little stem as it is picked from the big tail feather.
My bundled herl has them on one side only. I get the nice two sided barbs only on the little (stems) that I find close eye on the "eye" feathers. In my opinion, these nicely adorned herls make much better looking small flies. Am I missing something or do these better tiers have unique feather sources?
(Please excuse my improper designation of the feather parts on the peacock.)
Thanks for your thoughts. :confused:

Ray
The stem of the feather is called the rachis (RAY-KISS) and the herlis the barb. Coming off the barb are the barbules which lock the barbs together on ordinary contour feathers.

Good herl has barbules on both sides. If you look closely at your herl you will likely see the barbules on the bare side of the barb are just very stunted.

Diet is probably the main culprit.
art

Diet is probably the main culprit.
art

Also genetics of the different families of Peafoul. Not all herl make good fly tying results.

If possible, hand select very carefully. This is one of the largest differences we tiers find
in our tying materials.
Denny

When I buy peacock I usually go for the full eye. The premium herls are the ones on either side just below the eye. They are a little shorter than further down the stem but bushier. Those are the ones I reserve for my flies. There are only 12 to 20 on an eye.

Fortunately now I know where there is a flock of peafowl so if I want feathers I just need to have a walk around there and pick some up. There is an albino one in the flock. The land owner hates them. One day we must arrange for that and one of the others to have an accident! The problem is the dominant male will not let others grow the tales we want. On the down side I don't know anyone with a big enough oven, I suppose I'll have to joint them.

Cheers,
A.

Thanks guys for the replies confirming my thoughts. This appears to be another reason to avoid buying mailorder.

Alan. You really don't want to eat a peafowl. Nasty tasting things.

Peafowl I have had were fantastic eating... There are places they may be hunted as feral fowl...

Hi Hap,

I have read that peafowl were originally raised for food. If I remember correctly, one of the problems with raising them for food is that they don't grow as fast as other fowl, nor are they nearly as good at converting feed into meat as other fowl such as chickens.

If they were grown for food, they must not be too bad to eat. I think that they are also in the same bird family as are pheasants, and may in fact be a very large type of pheasant.

Regards,

Gandolf

They taste very good. At least the one I shot did.

They are just large peasants. I'll not turn my nose up at free protein.
Cheers,
C.

Pheasants:
Divided into the following:
Genera = 16
Species = 49
Subspecies = 124

Genus Phasianus Linne
This is where the True Pheasant, or Game pheasant that most of us know as Ringnecks are. It is interesting that there are 13 subspecies
in this group. All will interbreed and produce fertile offspring.

Yes, Peafowls are considered Pheasants.
Genus Pavo Linne
2 Species
3 Subspecies

All birds can be eaten by man. Just depends on how ones taste is as to how good one might think them to be.
I have raised almost all breeds of Exotic Pheasants. The only ones I have ever prepared for my table is the
Chinese Ring-neck Pheasant, Phasiamus cholchicus torquatus.
The reason I have not eaten any of the others is because many of them were valued $$ wise far above what I
could sell them for as breeders in difference to table meat value.

Sadly I choose to no longer raise the birds. I do miss having them. I have one male Temminick's Tragopan mounted,
hanging on my bedroom wall. I have tied with feathers from almost all different species I have raised but only from
collecting moulted feathers. Peafowl males moult the entire train within 4 days.
I do prefer using the first 4 primary feathers from a hen Black Shoulder Pea Hen, leading edge for my biots. They are almost
white and pen dye w/Prismatic pen to whatever color I need. (I once had a beautiful trio of the Black Shoulders) The male could
not display his fan across an eight foot wide pen. He had to turn cross ways. The herl from the Black Shoulder has a gold or Bronze
cast of color to it.

The Pheasants of the World by Jean DelacourISBN 1-85259-138-2 My copy is a second and revised edition, 1977
It has many color plates, info on color of males, hens & chicks. One of the best books on Pheasants ever published.

Denny

A funny story from Hawaii... We were hunting the Big Island for (Rio Grande) turkeys, pigs, and pheasants (kalij and ringneck) when my wife shot her first turkey. We had been watching them from afar for a long time before we could make it work and get in range.

The turkeys were running out in huge fields with grazing cattle everywhere.

I tried to gift the bird to others in the party and all IMMEDIATELY turned down the offer.

The "Fu Man Chu" around the beak was obvious and the monstrous bettles (many still alive) in the "half-gallon" craw should have made the discovery quicker... But we were told the table quality of turkeys living on dung bettles was not too good... and, due to my hardheadedness, we discovered later they were absolutely correct! I have never tried to eat a nastier bird!

And I have eaten many birds most folks would never consider food...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Denny

Pheasants:
Divided into the following:
Genera = 16
Species = 49
Subspecies = 124

Genus Phasianus Linne
This is where the True Pheasant, or Game pheasant that most of us know as Ringnecks are. It is interesting that there are 13 subspecies
in this group. All will interbreed and produce fertile offspring.

Yes, Peafowls are considered Pheasants.
Genus Pavo Linne
2 Species
3 Subspecies

All birds can be eaten by man. Just depends on how ones taste is as to how good one might think them to be.
I have raised almost all breeds of Exotic Pheasants. The only ones I have ever prepared for my table is the
Chinese Ring-neck Pheasant, Phasiamus cholchicus torquatus.
The reason I have not eaten any of the others is because many of them were valued $$ wise far above what I
could sell them for as breeders in difference to table meat value.

Sadly I choose to no longer raise the birds. I do miss having them. I have one male Temminick's Tragopan mounted,
hanging on my bedroom wall. I have tied with feathers from almost all different species I have raised but only from
collecting moulted feathers. Peafowl males moult the entire train within 4 days.
I do prefer using the first 4 primary feathers from a hen Black Shoulder Pea Hen, leading edge for my biots. They are almost
white and pen dye w/Prismatic pen to whatever color I need. (I once had a beautiful trio of the Black Shoulders) The male could
not display his fan across an eight foot wide pen. He had to turn cross ways. The herl from the Black Shoulder has a gold or Bronze
cast of color to it.

The Pheasants of the World by Jean DelacourISBN 1-85259-138-2 My copy is a second and revised edition, 1977
It has many color plates, info on color of males, hens & chicks. One of the best books on Pheasants ever published.

Denny

---

Trade you my Jeff Foxworthy plastic-injected-molded singing bass for your old tragopan! ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AlanB

They are just large peasants. I'll not turn my nose up at free protein.
Cheers,
C.

---

Starting August 20 I have a permit to shoot a bull moose in an area very close to home where it may be closer to "assisted suicide" than hunting... Very close to free protein, in very large quantities... ;)

Wouldn't eating a peasant be called canibalism?

Woops! Sorry 'bout that.

hey guys,

tell you what, anything taste good if it is prepared correct and has the proper seasoning... take a ground hog for instance, if you remove the one gland immediately after shooting it, it wont taste like dirt... with a proper fire, and correct seasonings, it taste like bear.... a little greasy, but heck, poor mans bear? im all over it! lol

on a more serious note.... ive heard a couple people saying they want to get there hands on a true albino peacock... i cant seem to figure out why though.. i have one, and have never used it... i also have one dyed red ive never used....

what would be a good pattern for red or white? i cant think of any, or find any for that matter...

personally, i couldn't justify purchasing something like that specifically for color variants.... unless thats all anyone can think of(?)....

thoughts anyone?
spoof

I tie PTN, Prince nymphs and Griffiths gnats using red peacock at times.
Do you want to get rid of some of it?

Rick

sorry, ill have to decline.... you know how it goes, the second it hits the mailbox.... u have a pattern you need it for! :) sorry