By visiting our site, you agree to our privacy policy regarding cookies, tracking statistics, etc. When I point this out, Whiting shrugs it off. "We've never produced enough. "We've conquered the quality, the value, and the selection." It still seems like a miracle to me, he says, that you can put an egg in an incubator, and 21 days later a perfectly formed baby chick breaks its way out of it., Often zipping around his farm for 12 out of 24 hours, Whiting still does much of the day-to-day bird work himself. One of the pelts is from the original Hoffman line, the other from Whitings genetically engineered update.

"Some of the guys in hackle production said, 'Now is the time to get out,'" Whiting remembers. Tied around a hook, a high-quality feathers barbs splay perfectly so the fly can alight on the surface of a stream or lake, hopefully enticing a trout to rise and take a bite. Big cock hackles were too stiff, marabou was too floppy and full, Eriksen told me. JavaScript is disabled. ", Challenges: Filling orders. This chicken supposedly grew feathers that produced seamless, natural movements underwater and made for a fly no salmon could resist. Although other modern-day companies, such as Metz and Keough, produce feathers for the same purpose, fly-tiers prize Whitings plumes for their uniformity, colors, durability, and prodigious length, which allows enthusiasts to tie several flies from one plume. "That gap is becoming larger. In his eyes you can see love for the animalbut theres something else, too. American Pastured Poultry Producers Association. But they are allowed to run around until theyre 12 to 14 weeks old. Every precaution is taken for the health and safety of the chickschicks that, in 40 weeks, could fetch anywhere from $35 to $100 apiece from fly-tiers. Here is a photo from Whiting Farms website of his Herbert/Miner male mounted. Want a chicken that lays like a Leghorn but produces a blue egg? Its in these quiet moments that Whiting wonders: What sort of fantastic results could the next decade bring? Today, the company's facilities -- processing at a 17-acre ranch just outside Delta and a "very isolated" production operation on a 5,000-acre ranch -- are home to about 75,000 birds at any given time. May 20, 2022, By Chris Meehan | A roosters crow measures about the same decibels as a dogs bark, and with thousands crowing at the same time, the atmosphere is utter chaos. He pulls racks of hatchlings out of the incubator and sorts them by breed, handling each one with the gentleness of a new parent. Wonderful prolific and consistent layers of large blue eggs, they are named after Dr. Tom Whiting a poultry geneticist who developed the breed. Do something different and the world will beat a path to your door. Inside, thousands of eggs sit in racks that tilt back and forth, roughly mimicking how a hen would rotate the soon-to-be newborns. He oversees every facet of his multimillion-dollar operationfrom incubating eggs to packaging boxesand doesnt have time to service his vehicle. The idea of birds in cages bothers many people, but Whiting swears that if he were to die and come back a chicken, he hopes its here at Whiting Farms. He is lean and hunched in the shoulders, walks fast, and is prone to rambling tangents on science and business. Those that pass that testa fraction of the top 1 percentare moved to the breeder shed, where theyre caged with a harem of 10 to 14 hens. "About 30 to 33 percent of my market is just supplying these factories. Whiting launched his own feather company in 1989, then stocked some secondhand incubators with eggs from Oregon. Unlike meat chickens, which are generally harvested when theyre between 35 and 55 days old, feather birds typically live for about a year. Ever heard of a mayfly? He speaks slowly, unperturbed by the pandemonium of bok-bok-boks and cock-a-doodle-doos in the dimly lit barn. ", Whiting learned the tricks of the trade on the job. ", He continues, "Because we have so much momentum and the genetics program I've worked on over the years has been refined as time goes on, we are distancing ourselves from everybody else faster than we ever have. For them to grow endlessly or develop a uniform size, an eager breeder needs to step in. If you are looking for a rooster, please choose the male option. His operation actually encompasses three distinct businesses: the "cash cow" of fly-fishing feathers -- dry and wet -- along with small-scale commercial poultry production and premium breed development for larger commercial operations that account for less than 10 percent of combined sales. 1 provider of feathers for fly patterns worldwide. To manipulate genetics, Whiting applies whats called selection pressure. In the same way he chooses certain birds for docility, he can select for plumage by painstakingly inspecting every bird, filling out a two-page summary on traits of the most promising birds, and sending a few feathers to a fly-tier for testing. Still, hes aware of the ethical questions his work elicits. ", The end result is "much more production with fewer people, but I pay more now," says Whiting. Now we can get six to 10 Wulffs from one hackle from Whiting.. Whiting still hand-inspects every grown bird for the breeder pens or processing.

If they arent, Whiting says, they fight viciously, sometimes maiming or killing one another and jeopardizing the quality of their feathers. All our birds are Non-GMO raised and vaccinated for Mareks Disease. (The poultry yard). I hope its always out of reach., Written by Michael R. Shea for Field & Stream and legally licensed through the Matcha publisher network. Now he has set to develop new, improved lines of the popular breeds, along with developing new breeds and crosses to fill new niches and markets. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hello Ron. Chickens, Whiting likes to say, are genetically plastic. Through selective breeding, a 4-pound barnyard hen, for example, can produce 8-pound great-great-grand-hens with wildly long feathers in an array of colors and textures. We dont advertise, he says. They are not friendly, flaring up their neck hackles and striking through the wire cages. Hes even working to develop roosters without combs and wattlesthe red flesh on their heads and below their chinsbecause the tissue is susceptible to frostbite in colder climates. The blue egg laying Brown Leghorns are a brown. Whiting stares at the bird with a mixture of pride and scrutiny, as if critiquing a work of art. Tom Rosenbauer, marketing manager for Orvis and an experienced fly-tier, says that in the 1970s, most feathers came off food chickens from India. Like purebreds, they're not robust; they don't have hybrid vigor. Please see our sexing policy before ordering a fully feathered bird! Its difficult. in their water daily as a supplement to aid with digestion and overall health. People say, Why do you waste resources on something thats as ephemeral and frivolous as fly-fishing? he says. Although Whiting rarely ties flies himselfhe doesnt even like to fishhe does understand his clients fanatical focus and borderline mania. PETA wasnt amused. The feathers become fish flies! "This recent year with COVID, demand has shot up," says Whiting. Who would have thought? Even so, his bare arms are hatched with scars from handling his broods. He then went on to earn a masters degree in poultry management and genetics and a Ph.D. in poultry science. "I always think, 'If I've got to stay here and run the damn thing, why am I giving away the gravy? I cant stop thinking about quail, Whiting told him. I play games with myself to keep my concentration going, he says. A former professor of his from CSU owned Colorado Quality Hackles, and Whiting, though not a fisherman himself, liked the idea of raising birds for their feathers to be used for fly-tying. However, they can come in a wide spectrum of feather patterns including solid blue, black, black breasted red, and many other variants. Ours love to roost as high as possible in their chicken house, all the way up in the rafters. While most poultry geneticists crunch numbers on computers in an effort to bolster bottom lines that rely on chickens bred to be fatter on less feed as quickly as possible, Whiting stoops over giant ledgers scrawled with notations about the characteristics of his genetic lines, working out whom to breed with whom to produce something beautiful that nature has yet to create on her own. Tom Whiting knows a thing or two about feathers. Im sure I would have been diagnosed with one of the maladies they throw around today. Its just an interesting genetics project, and Im objective., So far, his methodical, scientific approach has proven wildly effective. So most people are pretty optimistic about the fly-fishing world. We dont do trade shows. Training an heir apparent will require at least five years, he adds. Suite 675

Well check out the Whiting True Blue. This is no ordinary chicken. He produces feathers for fish fly tying. Sea trout will strike this fly even on a hot summer day. Terms of use | We walk outside, and Whiting leads me to another building where he removes a padlock and swings open a steel door. If we had seen a Whiting cape in those days, he says, wed have thought we were seeing something from outer space. This chicken is not a rare or heritage breed but a breed we feel is worth investing in.

So, he transferred to Colorado State University to study avian science and stayed in school through a doctorate in poultry science with an emphasis in genetics at the University of Arkansas. Today, Whiting is the No. Our blue egg sometimes tends to go to the green side so sometimes a blue-green. Instead of live-plucking them, which would be painful (and illegal), Whiting Farms euthanizes the birds using carbon dioxide. The first shipment of 20,000 eggs hatched at Whiting Farms in 1989. "I'm stunned it never has been done," he says. All rights reserved. Fallon, NV 89406. Whiting Farms was the developer of the Arkansas Blues aka UofA Blue Egg Layers. We hatch birds every Friday and process birds twice a week. Breeders like Andy Miner, Harry Darbee, and Henry Hoffman pioneered genetic feather linesthat is, hackles from birds specifically bred to produce the best feathers for tying flies. Feedback | Whiting isnt averse to challenging work, toiling with almost preternatural patience. I can tell a Hoffman grizzly blindfolded, because I know the feel of those feathersthe density of the pigment in the black makes a softer section. I know how to do it, but I'm in it because I'm a poultry geneticist and it sounded like a fun poultry genetics project. After starting his business, Whiting purchased Hoffmans entire genetic stock, and later acquired lines from Darbee and Miner. We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. Whiting, who sports a shaggy mop of brown hair and a gray moustache, credits his success to an unwavering, intense, and unexplainable interest in chickens. Tom greatly expanded the number available while also improving the quality of the feathers, which is a hard thing to do.. At a glance, they resemble a snakeskin more than anything youll find on a farmyard chicken. In the early 2010s, for example, when long feathers became fashionable as hair accessories, Whiting Farms plumes went for as much as $1 apiece. translation missing: en.general.social.alt_text.share_on_instagram, An Insider's Guide to the Best Fly Fishing in Kentucky, Exploring the Lakes, Creeks, and Rivers of Southwest Virginia, How to Travel Around the Maldives on Just $100 a Day, Personality-Based Storage Systems for Your Hunting and Fishing Gear.

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