Whiting Farms new 4B's Hen Capes

[Jim Slattery]

Whiting has put out a new line of birds called 4Bs (bigger,better, bargain, birds). These birds are basically domestic barnyard birds that Tom Whiting has refined a bit. They haven't been bred for super small, super stiff hackle. Just your regular domestic chickens that have been selected for nice consistent feather count. Where Tom takes this in the future is another thing but I'm pretty sure it should stay where its at. Soft webby hen capes and stiffer rooster capes. The 4 b line is not densely barbed. The rooster hackle seems ok, looks like you can get fairly decent tailing for dry flies and from the Grizzly you can get Old School Adams wings. This I like because hen wing Adams just does not look right to me. They usually are too dark and too webby for my tastes. The Brown rooster capes will have stems suitable for Red Quills.

Now for us wingless wet folks the hen capes look pretty cool. Looks like they will only tie down to a 18, which maybe a tad long at that but really close. On the other side of the spectrum size 2's or 4's. with the Fiber length is about 1 inch perhaps just a bit more. The brown capes , at least the capes I received, are pure brown which is nice. For the most part unless dyed, Brown hen capes tend to have furnace starting somewhere up the cape.

The retail price for 4Bs is $20.00 for the Hen and Rooster capes.
Here are some pics

[hankaye]

Jim S. Howdy;

Thanks for the pix ... These have been discussed,
http://flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 677#p65677
and the folks at Whiting were kind enough to email me a copy of the Newsletter
but I wasn't able to post it (A PDF and too many k-bites). Perhaps you might be able to
post it?

hank

[Jim Slattery]

Introducing the “New” Whiting Farms “4B” Product Line
BY MICHAEL GULA
Leave it to Tom Whiting and the crew at Whiting Farms to continue to offer new and in-novative products for the fly tiers of the world. In addition to the wide expansion of col-or offerings in the High & Dry line of hackle capes, beautiful full Guinea Fowl skins, Schlappen offered in three different sizes and packaged in myriad colors, Musky Packs, and Chickabou Patch-es… Whiting Farms brings one more significant product line forward in 2014.
Introducing the Whiting Farms 4B Product line! 4B stands for “Bigger, Better, Bargain Birds,” and Whiting Farms thanks Pro Team member Scott Sanchez for the moniker! This product line is offered in rooster capes, rooster saddles, hen capes, and hen saddles, in a wide range of color offerings. Take the time to review page 7 of your Whiting Farms 2014 Product/Pricing Guide. Let’s take a look at the attributes of each 4B product category.
4B Rooster Capes: The 4B rooster capes fill a comforta-ble niche in the Whiting Farms product line. These capes possess a bit more sup-ple and flexible stem (quill, rachis) than the American line, making them ideal for
wrapping a hackle collar, tailing various fly patterns, throat hack-le, or as streamer wings. They have limited dry fly applications as they are a broad feather in profile, possessing considerable web. These rooster capes are available in ten (10) natural col-ors and eighteen (18) dyed col-ors over both grizzly and white that are perfectly suited to the steelhead, warmwater, and salt-water fly tiers’ needs too. Please note in the accompanying photo that the shoulder feathers are included, allowing for numerous sub-surface fly tying applica-tions.
4B Rooster Saddles: These sad-dles, while slightly smaller than the American saddles, are per-fectly suited for similar fly tying applications. Many of Whiting Farms foreign dealers and dis-tributors are already utilizing both product lines interchangea-bly with great success. These saddles are available in the same color offerings as the 4B rooster capes.
4B Hen Capes: The 4B hen capes are well suited for innu-merable wet fly and nymph fly tying applications, as well as ex-ceptional hackle tip wings on dry flies, as the feathers possess a more rounded tip than conven-tional hen capes. These hen capes are offered in eight (8) natural colors and three (3) dyed

[letumgo]

Wow! They look like very nice capes.

[Jim Slattery]

Hi Ray,
Yes , they are pretty nice. A tad thin in the fiber , nothing that an extra wrap wouldn't cure. Very soft in fiber and stem. When you get down to size 16 - 18 the feather really isn't much different than Starling in terms of feather size and softness. The 4B stem is more pliable.
Jim

[DUBBN]

Now I have to get some. Dun and Brown. Love barnyard.

[Jim Slattery]

Hi Dubbin,
If you are interested. I only have 1 Dark dyed Dun left. The Light dyed Dun that I had just sold. I have 1 pale watery dun left. Plenty of Brown, I loaded up on them. If you enter WS when you check out you get 20% off everything until Feb 26..
Here's a pick of the Dark dyed Dun

Jim

[letumgo]

Jim - I need more feathers, like you need more snow.

[Jim Slattery]

Ray,
At the moment you can't see half of the new shop addition, The snow is up to the roof. When the rest of the snow slides down the roof it will take about 2 to 3 hours to dig a trench to the front door. More snow last night and today. God only knows how much snow we have up there now. We were at 3+ feet of fairly compacted snow yesterday afternoon.
Jim

[letumgo]

Jim - I saw the snow photos in your news letter. It looked like you're getting buried. Is this a typical winter, in terms of snowfall?

Nice job with the new addition. I'm looking forward to visiting your place in June.