Fly Tying materials from the source

With Lyn being newly retired, and a lack of construction activity this time of year, all on top of 'isolation' for viral safety, my life is becoming a series of mitigating the 'it would be fun some day'; today is 'some day'.

The most recent project is the addition of chickens. No, runway is not done, nor the hangar, but chickens seem to be needed in our house.

Working forward, my only saving grace is that there are certain varieties of birds that have some excellent hackle feathers for tying flies. If I am going to have to deal with birds, I might as well get something useful out of it.

With all the experience and knowledge on here, someone has to have the perfect type bird to supply eggs and hackle.

Please remember, we live in Alaska, get to 30 below every winter, and will be keeping them in the pen, (still to be built), most of the time to protect from varmints.

All help appreciated.




Let the begin.

I've had Rhode Island Reds do fine in -40 winters as long as they have fresh water and are out of the wind. They prefer a warm pad, of course, but they are hardy.

And you can make Red Quills and old fashioned Royal Coachmen from them.

Last Fall I dispatched a few old hens who were way past their egg prime. Pressure cooked and canned the meat. It's pretty good mixed with rice or noodles. True all-purpose birds.

Fly tying capes and saddles come from birds that are genetically bred for that purpose only. Sure you can use any feather, I like Partridge feathers or Pheasant when I get some but the genetic birds make a nicer feather, especially for dry flies. I'd buy the chickens for the eggs and purchase the hackle bred for that purpose. $100 will get you a lot of flies.
Check out this source - https://www.fieldandstream.com/perfect-feathers-for-fly-tiers/

Second on the Rhodie Reds. Mighty hearty, and my neighbor ties flies from their fluff all the time. Plymouth Rocks also do well in the cold, as do the Orpington's and Wyandotte's. Jersey Giants will do well up there. Stay away from the silkies and the easter eggers - too little and short undercoat. For reference, we live at 8K MSL in Colorado and it's pretty much always winter except for 30 minutes every July. We have their water on a heater, and keep them locked in the barn in a pen at night. They free range during the day. We lost about 1/3 per season to falcons and owls, but that's just the cost of free range. We installed a goose to help scare off the birds and that seemed to work.

Have you thought about ducks? They'll do great and their eggs are fantastic. Plus they're cute as hell when they're little.