Selling rooster feathers

Does anyone know anything about these being in high demand these days? Apparently because feathered jewellery is so popular, the fly fisherman are not happy because of the lack of supply now for fly tying. I understand they are a hot commodity. Harrop's Hens I know you're aware of this. Anyone else and if so who would I contact to sell feathers to and would it be financially worth it?

I also realize that this means hand plucking.

I don't know anything about jewelry but I have certainly seen an increase in feathered jewelry on TV and locally in the last year or two.
I do know quite a bit about fly tying though. I used to fly fish a lot and tied many thousands of flies myself.
The capes and saddles of chickens are the parts that are so coveted by tyers. Although there is also a demand for others types of feathers, pheasants,peacocks,et al. I will only address chickens here.
In chickens they are looking for long hackles with very little fussyness on the base of the feather. They must be stiff and strong but at the same time thin. They wind these feathers near the front of the hook so that the fly will float on the water (dry flies).
Metz capes and saddles were considered top of the line when I was tying and it was common to pay over a $100 for a premium cape back in the 80ies.The metz capes (sorry I am not even sure if I am spelling this right) and saddles came from a farm that specializes in raising birds for that industry. They have very security facilities and claim no bird leaves the premise alive. They have bred birds for many, many generations for the industry and it would take a great deal of dedication to compete with them.
On the other hand there was also many capes available that were not of such great quality, but also serve the industry well. Many of these were dyed and most used for wet flies which don't have to float. If you were interested in exploiting this market that would be where to start. You must keep in mind though that a cape must follow up the head, many are cut right out near the eyes to keep the very small head feathers available for small flies. This means you must kill the bird in a way that allows you the time and luxury of slowly and carefully skinning it. No head chopping, bleeding or anything that may sully or damage the feathers. Consequently gassing is the method of choice and most people that raise birds for the fly industry have no interest in the meat. Although I don't really see why with a little extra effort both could not be achieved.
I don't know how the capes are treated after skinning but they were course and hard so I expect it was a simple drying process. You would also have to fumigate them in some manner. Getting insects into a fly tying room can be disastrous. Anyway a long winded answer to you inquiry, hope it helps.

I checked out our local sports store. They had "saddles" or "backs" being sold for $10-12 (for a complete back).
So, I had saved Tony's hackle feathers when we did his autopsy. Didn't know to save the back.
I have the hackles advertised on usedvictoria.com (there are used "whereever" sites all over) for $10.
Not one bite. I have it in the fishing section though...when I get around to it I'll pop it in jewelry.

Just recently had someone contact me wanting to know if I had any information about "Hackle" chickens. the person asking thought this was a breed of heritage chicken.

Apparently people use a variety of breeds including barred rocks, and selectively breed them for extra long hackle feathers. They are quite beautiful, and the hackles are not only in demand by fly fisherman and jewellery crafters, but also hair dressers! The newest thing is apparently using these feathers for adorning ladies up-dos!

The lady asking me about them wants to get some "Hackle chickens to raise as an ornamental breed for her backyard. I think she may be on to something...they seem to be in high demand!

I'm enjoying everyone's thoughts and input, reading each post between chores. Good info.

That's funny because my hubby saw a girl the other day in the city wearing BR feathers in her hair. I didn't really think too much about it until reading this topic. Must be the next NEW thing.

It's the latest fad, I even saw some locals with the feathers in their hair. About a month ago even Roseanne had them in her hair. IF I remember PETA had a thing about NOT wearing them and stated 1500 roosters a week were being killed for the feathers.

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Thanks for the links Lynbar. I have no desire to go into the business at all but I do have some beautiful roosters that we cannot keep nor sell and therefore will eat and it would be nice if there was some money and purpose in their beautiful feathers rather than mulching them in a plucking machine.

It does sound somewhat complicated though.....the whole process, with no guarantee the feathers will even sell. Interesting....

About a week ago I was contacted by someone at one of the bigger news stations asking for an interview about the this latest fad and also wanting to know if I was selling feathers. Told them no to the interview and that I wasn't selling feathers.
Apparently I don't get of the farm enough as I knew nothing about this.

Heather

I have supplied an artist out in BC with feathers which I collect as the birds moult. She makes beautiful earrings with them. Lou

Hmmm...Yes, certainly have seen a few good rooster feathers floating around in the thin air, should saved them....maybe I will.

I have a bag of feathers from my bronze turkeys that I had saved up for about a year, they sure are beautiful. Turkeys seem to lose a whole lotta feathers. Still lost somewhere in our container in storage after our big move to up here, smiling. Have a beautiful and awesome day, CynthiaM.

This subject of supplying feathers for fly tying has been around for a long time. Back when I first started raising poultry and pheasants and only started showing birds here and there I had fly tiers inquiry about the feathers. The fly tiers and a fella from The Fishing Hole came to my place to check out my stock. Of all the birds I had the only ones they liked were the once they I didn't like as show birds. Quality for show birds are the exact opposition to what the fly tiers want. We, the show quality birds, like to have a wide heavy and softer feather that lays down nice on the body. They want narrow light and hard feathers. It was not going to work for me to try and meet their requirements. I did prepare some capes for them from my junk rooster and male pheasants but it still was not good enough for them. It was not worth the effort for me. As someone mentioned the Metez type of breeds is what they are looking for. This breed which I have seen are Barred Rock colors with amazing length of hackle and saddle feathers which are very narrow and long.

Good luck but the fly tying feather quality is very different and demanding.