[Oneeyedhen]

Last chance for a large fowl Scots Grey cockeral before they become soup! 3 left 

[Clansman]

If they are going for soup anyway it would be worth taking the capes from them.

You'll probably make more off each cape than you would selling the whole live cockerel. 

They will sell well on eBay, people tying fishing flies use them and the barred capes are quite difficult to find.

its basically just a matter of cutting the skin around the comb, down the front of the neck and around the base of the neck so that all the cape feathers are included.

I just give the skin a light scrape then leave them out to dry, pretty easy to do and will add a few more £'s to the kitty for something that was going to be binned anyway.

The saddle feathers (around the tail) from the cock birds can also be used.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GRIZZLY-Genetic-Rooster-Cape-Quarter-fly-tying-/251289592862?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&hash=item3a8206e41e

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grizzly-Rooster-Neck-Cape-for-Tying-Dry-Fly-Hackles-/141061592849?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d7ed1711

[goff]

Where abouts are you thanks

[Clansman]

Sorry to butt in to your thread Oneeyedhen! 

Goff, she is up near Perth, you are near Manchester yes?

I pass by both your areas regularly so if you can agree something between you I could relay them down to you

Unless they have already been sooped! 

p.s. do you already have Scots Greys Goff?

[Oneeyedhen]

Thanks Clansman and I like the idea of selling their capes I might just give that a go. Yes they're still here at the moment Goff.

[Oneeyedhen]

I was just wondering, Clansman, do I skin them as soon as they are disspatched or wait until they have been hung for a bit? I usually just skin then to take the breast and legs off but thats after they've been hung. Any advise would be great.
Thanks.

[Clansman]

i've done them both ways in the past but I don't think it'll matter either way.

I don't really go for the proper skin curing as such.

I just skin them, scrape as much as i can off the underside, and leave them in a dry place outside for a few weeks till they dry and go hard 

And now i've just given myself some eBay competition! 

will we start price fixing?? 

[bigchicken]

Clansman would bantams capes be of any use, thinking about my spare Scots Greys.

[Oneeyedhen]

Looks like the market might be flooded soon  . How much are they worth then? I looked up ebay and I've seen them from 99p - £12!  Hope its a good year for fly fishing 

[Clansman]

Clansman would bantams capes be of any use, thinking about my spare Scots Greys.

Yep they'll all sell, just depends what size of feathers people are looking for.

[Clansman]

Looks like the market might be flooded soon  . How much are they worth then? I looked up ebay and I've seen them from 99p - £12!  Hope its a good year for fly fishing 

Pot luck! 

Aim high, i'm not at the stage yet i can sell any but i'd try for a minimum of £10 each and see what happens.

It's been many years since I sold any, I used to keep jet black bantams and large fowl, both the cock and hen capes were good sellers, i used to get £3-5 for a cape in the days when you could buy a live chicken for 50p 

But even £5 is good for something you'd normally just bin 

[Oneeyedhen]

Thanks for all your fab advise. Now to do the deed and a decent job of skin-ing  .

[Clansman]

Its actually one of those jobs thats a lot easier than you imagine