I have some coq de leon feathers which have been brought into the UK by a friend who visited Spain recently.
They are beautiful feathers, but packed in small quanties of several Pardo colours.
I noticed recently that Whiting Coq De Leon capes and saddles are being sold on Ebay quite cheaply.
I wondered if anyone has used these, and if so have they compared them with the original feathers from Leon?
I have no idea where on the bird the feathers I own come from. If I buy some of the whiting feathers, should I buy capes (necks) or saddles?
Presently I only use the feathers for tailing due to their cost and my only owning a few treasured feathers. On a cape I will have lots more feathers than I can use for just tails. So what else have members used them for?? Are the whiting capes short enough in the hackle length to use them for dry fly hackles??
Lots of questions but I would be interested in knowing more before I buy!!!
Those feathers are found between the shoulders of the bird. Not the neck, and not the saddle.
Tom Whiting sells the full pelts, but the traditional method still in use in Spain is to pluck the feathers off the live bird in a regular, periodic harvest.
I was in Leon, Spain, this past summer and saw the feathers being harvested from a rooster. Was fascinating to watch and photograph.
A friend of Ed Gallop… Paco Soria, contacted me a couple of years ago. He grows Coq de Leon roosters in Spain. He also harvests only a selcted number of feathers periodically through the year. He mentioned that the quality issues we look for in the Coq de Leon come from the soils that the rooster is allowed to feed from. The minerals that are picked up within these soils give the plumage a distinction that can’t be duplicated elsewhere. I always appreciate Han’s ability to discern statements of this sort. So, Han’s…any comment?
Steve Schalla
So therefore the saddles and capes being sold by whiting’s are just coq de leon coloured feathers and not the stiff feathers plucked from genuine birds??
I suppose this is reflected in the price and why they are so cheap in comparison.
I have no conclusive evidence either way on the minerals and/or somewhat radioactive soil providing a critical component for the feather quality. The feathers coming from there that I have handled have all been of a consistently high caliber.
Tom Whiting has an excellent track record producing quality feathers, and on that basis, and from the latest pelts I saw at the recent Denver show, they are getting close.
One key difference is and will remain is the fact that the Spanish birds get plucked at regular intervals, with the birds often several years in age. The Whiting birds follow the standard genetic hackle route: killed and skinned.
I also have both the feathers from Spain and the Whiting Coq de Leon product. While I can’t say that one product is superior, I will say that the Spain feathers are way different in appearance and physical features. The Spain feathers are significantly stiffer and have a very interesting opaqueness. The Spain feathers were also significantly more expensive.
Today I received the Whiting Coq De Leon capes, I bought on ebay. I have two hen capes in a dark pardo, two cock or rooster capes and two saddles.
They are as has already been said quite different from the small bundles of feathers imported from Leon. However they are undoubtedly of Coq De Leon colours and shades. Imported feathers are quite large with long flues, whereas the Whiting’s are shorter in flue and much longer.
From the pictures published here elsewhere they all come from a different place on the chickens body. They are very nice though and I am not dissapointed. I will use them not only for tails, but lots of other experiments as well.