Whiting Farms Heritage Hackle
Whiting Farms Heritage Hackle was created by breeding legacy genetic lines to create a new and outstanding dry fly breed. Heritage Hackle is known for its amazing and diverse natural colors. The blending of these genetic lines has produced crisply barred grizzly hackle, robust Barred Ginger hackle, beautiful duns that are unique. Traditional Honey Dun is well represented as well, some of which have some speckling, Speckled and Dun Badgers are well represented as well as Golden Badgers. There are also beautiful Crees and Dun Crees. Perhaps the most intriguing Hackle from this line are the Vermiculated hackle. These feathers are totally unique and quite possibly the buggiest hackle found anywhere. Vermiculated Dun and Badger offer the buggiest feathers followed by the hackles With Vermiculation, each offer a unique color variation due to the chunky break up of colors splashes that are thrown on the Dun or Badger substrate. These are new defining colors in the world of hackle.
So how do they tie? The answer is easy, fantastic! The tying quality of these feathers is the same as all Whiting Farms dry fly hackle superb as expected, supple stems that wrap perfectly. Add that to the outstanding diversity of natural colors it is easy to see Whiting Farms has made a new Hackle line that will please fly tyers around the world.
Vermiculation & Vermiculated a new definition.
Vermiculation and Vermiculated are now new color definitions for fly tying Heritage hackle, but how did this come about, what does it mean, and who started it? This term started at Sawmill Road in Delta Colorado by poultry geneticist Dr. Tom Whiting. Tom had started a new genetic line of hackle chickens that were throwing a very unusual color on some of the chickens that were coming out of this line. To Tom Whiting the closest thing he could think of to describe this color was Vermiculite. A mineral known for having multiple variegated color hues from black, browns, golds, and whites that sparkle all mixed together. If you look in a dictionary for these terms you will see that the definition describes wavy lines that you would see in something that was worm eaten. That definition is obviously not what is not describing the hackle Tom was producing. Tom is describing it looks like Vermiculite. And is a very accurate description of appearance of this hackle. Perhaps someday the dictionaries will include this definition.
We had to figure out how to incorporate Vermiculated and Vermiculation to the Hackle color vernacular and how it best describes this beautiful plumage. So, this is what we came up with:
Vermiculated Dun: all vermiculated hackle has dun in it, be it the darkest brown dun to a champagne gold ginger dun to a pale watery dun. Vermiculated Dun is loaded with these colors over a Dark Brown Dun. Chunky splotches of various hues of these colors with dusty stardust speckling overtones. These are spectacularly beautiful capes and saddles.
With Vermiculation: A Vermiculated Dun only with less Vermiculation. A dun substrate with light Vermiculation effects.
Vermiculated Badger: Feathers with a Dark Dun center list with a a champagney golden to pale watery dun substrate with chunky darker Vermiculation. Very close to Dun Badger and Speckled badger but with chunks of Vermiculation.