Quote Originally Posted by Ron Eagle Elk View Post
Andres,

I believe what LadyFisher was saying was, the wonderful color in the Spanish feathers is a result of the birds living in and eating some of the local dirt. The color differences are remarkable.

REE
Ron I think more about the Spanish gentelman?s joke. Of course local dirt could have its influence in meat taste and in egg colour but I have many doubts about its influence in "la penca" (little spots on feathers), or in feathers in general.

If you have looked the link I sent, You would have observed that there are a lot of different colors on those feathers: white, red, black, yellow, browns, etc. All coqs live in the same area eating the same things, so if food was responsible of feather appearance, all would have the same type of feather. Anyway, a "gentelman?s" joke.

Coqs de Le?n are the result of a natural evolution, so the explanation should be in genetic factors. On the other hand there is a myth about the particular environment where they live that makes impossible to raise them in another place. This seems to be real as many people have tried to raise them in different places in Spain but with negative results. They even took adult coqs to realise after some seasons that feather qualities as color or shyness have been lost. Up to what I know, nobody knows the reason for that.

Some eggs have been send to USA, and genetic work on them could achieve positive results in the future, but I am afraid they will also have to reproduce the environment where coqs live.

Apart from feathers being used to tie wet flies they are also used to tie wings on may flies or wings on caddys. (as I said in a previous thread, I will not go fishing without my caddys box full of coq de Leon patterns ).