I do wish that the industry had a better way of standardizing the color of hackles. I know Whiting has a color chart for their rooster hackles, but it doesn't translate that well to hen hackle in my opinion.
I will say the the Brahma Hen Hackle, in Golden Straw, that I received from jimsflyco.com is the same color as every other Golden Straw Brahma neck I have seen since. Perhaps it is easier to standardize when a feather is dyed from a common bird. In this case a Brahma hen.
Funny you mentioned Rhode Island hen feathers Ron. For that breed of poultry being so popular around the barn yards of the world, it is strange that it would be difficult to find in the fly tieing world. I had never thought of using that color hen hackle until you mentioned it. For the life of me, I don't think I have seen it offered by Whiting. That being said, if I was not looking for it, I probably just scanned over it with out noticing if it was on the shelf.
To set the record straight, the Brahma hen I received from Jimsflyco, was sent promptly, and is as advertised. It is a pleasure for me to tie with feathers from that cape. Also, as far as Denny goes, the Ginger capes were used on Flymphs, and the trout loved them. The trout and my Chihuahua. She ate one of them
