Hackle availability

[DBenner]

Well, I went to pick up an orange hen saddle the other night, course they are all in a locked cabinet, and the girl who came to open it for me commented that some guy had been in and cleaned out the saddles (which I wanted to get a brown one but alas, none left). She said that her friends were buying Flashabou or Crystal Flash in their hair cuz they didn't like the feathers. Great.............

[Bluegill222]

yep, we've been seeing that down here, too. It peaked around prom and graduation time, but so far we haven't had the shortage on flash. I only wish I could say the same about almost every kind of feather.

[maodiver]

Flash is as popular with the younger set (16 and under) who want less bulky looking stuff...and all over head accents, instead of just around the face.

[Ray Kunz]

Wow! If the style now is reaching the point of adding "flash" to a hairdo maybe they are using it as we always have, as an attention getting attractor.
I guess the "quarry" is now the boys.

[Jim Slattery]

Jim,

Thanks for your input; good to hear from someone who's been directly effected by this fad. Couple questions -

1. Do you think this could lead the hackle producers to focus on the "hot" feathers, like grizzly, white and variants and dedicate less time and energy to duns, ginger, browns?
2. Think there'll be a surge in mom-and-pop operations trying to take advantage of the current boom? I know it's taken breeders like Whiting/Hoffman years to get where they are today but I don't see hairdressers worrying about things like quill thickness, webbing or barb count. I've got a number of saddles I bought back in the 90's that really are suitable for streamers and not much else, but pop them in a vat of pink Koolaid and I'd have the local salons fighting like rabid bats for them.

Regards,
Scott

Hi Scott,
Thanks. I'll try to give my best guesses.
!. More than likely I think grizzly and white will be the main focus. This is not a bad thing since Grizzly is the possibly the most used hackle color. Ramping up the genetic pool for white/cream feathers is good for tyers as wellcross breeding whites with black, dark duns and browns will give us all the other colors we want. Brown hackle is already in good genetic shape. Seems to me to be a winning situation color wise. Another thought is the fashion industry likes feathers that are wide, although not exclusively, , size 8 to 12 hackle would suit them just fine, as well as a lot of tyers.
2. Great question. I think this is an unopened can of worms if the fashion indusrty's demand is long term. There is already talk of breeders from India getting into the mix raising birds with long saddle feathers. I think there might be some dna testing of birds if this gets really out of hand, and could get real ugly real quick.
One thing for sure is in the long run tiers will have even better feathers than they have today. While there are a bunch of great hackle producers out there, giving Dr. Tom Whiting a whole lot more birds to raise and select from will probably advance the genetic selection 10 years in just a few years. As tyers, we should be excited about the possibilities this may bring us.
regards
Jim

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Wow, Imagine that. Maybe the short term outlook for tiers may not be the greatest, but long term may be pretty good for us. Who'dathunkit. So I'm seeing the advancement of feather genetics during the fashionista period being about the same as medical advancements during war time. Huge leaps are made in medicine during a conflict, maybe this won't be so bad for the younger tiers who will surely reap the benefits.

REE

[Fatman]

Yeah well when they advance the genetics could they get them to have some really good spade hackles on them too LOL

[maodiver]

The wheel may be starting to turn

http://modesto.craigslist.org/hab/2481269625.html

[McManus]

Several years ago I bought a terrifice Cree from Denny--where did that durn thing go--oh yeah, my son "borrowed" it. It's great to share a hobby with your son.

[Fatman]

That's fine to put up that add but where's the picture showing what they're using!!!