There has been a few posts recently regarding flies tied with CDL (Coq-De-Leon).

I was interested to read how people have grasped onto the Whiting farms CDL capes and saddles.

I am lucky enough to have been given a few feathers in several colours of the genuine CDL from Spain. I also have a few Whiting CDL capes. I just wanted to point out that the genuine feathers are plucked from live birds in Spain. (Some controversy over the cruelty of this, and I am probably a critic, although the birds do not appear to suffer much.) As far as I know all their feathers are harvested in this way and are never sold as capes. Whitings are the necks of birds. The genuine feathers look nothing like the whiting's except vaguely in colour. The genuine feathers are really large and stiff. The ones I have cannot be wound because the stems are so stiff. They are stripped and used as tails and very occasionally wings.

Maybe Whitings can call their necks Coq-De-Leon because they are from that particular strain of cockerel, but the feathers are in no way similar.

What do others think about this???