Blue Wheaten Pullet

[Cloverleaf Farm]

He was also saying that across the board, he\'s not liking the fact that he\'s seeing little to no combs in the females...

Those are the females that produce male offspring with nice, small, neat combs.   He or she apparently has little or no experience breeding Ameraucanas.

Exactly.  I explained to him why the females have such small combs, and he started comparing them to cornish...

[dardavis]

I\'ve got to get a pic.  I have a pullet  that has tail feathers like that but is a creamy whitish... I just love looking at her.
I can\'t wait to see what I get when I put my BW roo that I got from Jean over her.

[Guest]

He was also saying that across the board, he\'s not liking the fact that he\'s seeing little to no combs in the females...

Those are the females that produce male offspring with nice, small, neat combs.   He or she apparently has little or no experience breeding Ameraucanas.

Exactly.  I explained to him why the females have such small combs, and he started comparing them to cornish...

I am also dismayed at how some judges don\'t have a clue about certain breeds.

I also have Marans, and was happy with a \"flock\" of Black Coppers that I had on exhibit at our state fair,, only to see on the card, that the judge \"dq\'d\" them because they had feathered legs..!

If a someone is going to judge, then they should know what the standard is, especially when its one of the most \"obvious\" traits of the breed!

Sue

[Jean]

OMG!  That\'s too funny; one of the best I\'ve heard.

You\'ve obviously done a good job breeding and you should be proud no matter what.  There is always something to fix.

I got so fixated on clean hackles, I overlooked the muffs and beards on my cockerels.  Now, I have to get an outside bird to try and fix it.

[eliz]

\"\"\"I also have Marans, and was happy with a \"flock\" of Black Coppers that I had on exhibit at our state fair,, only to see on the card, that the judge \"dq\'d\" them because they had feathered legs..!

If a someone is going to judge, then they should know what the standard is, especially when its one of the most \"obvious\" traits of the breed!\"\"\"
________________________________________________
I used to have a couple of Cukoo Marans, and learned that there were 2 types. Feather legged (European )and non feathered which i think is predominant in the US. Except for the ones i had, i had only been exposed to the non-feathered so maybe he hadn\'t seen them before.  Regardless since Marans have been so popular in the last 2-3 years you would have thought he would have seen both.

eliz

[Mike Gilbert]

Not to defend the judge, but he is not required to know the standard of unrecognized breeds.   And some Marans breeders want feathered legs, others want clean legs.   On the other side of the same coin, if there is no recognized standard the judge had no basis whatsoever to disqualify any of them!

[Guest]

I left a copy of the proposed APA standard with the superintendant, but the judge didn\'t bother to look at it. The standard accepted  by the APA  lists feathered legs.

What I learned was, to be there when the judging takes place! LOL

Sue

[Mike Gilbert]

The standard accepted  by the APA  lists feathered legs.

Was the Marans standard/breed accepted?   I had not heard that?   I was at the APA national in Illinois in 2009 when they were not accepted, but lost track of things after that.

[Guest]

I was referring to the \"provisional standard\" that the APA has approved for now until the breed is accepted. There is a copy of it on the Marans Chicken Club, USA\'s website.

I agree its diffiult for judges to know what it is, unless they know where to look for it. I don\'t know if the APA informs judges when there is a \"provisional\", I guess you would call it, standard to use until a breed is accepted.

Sue

[eliz]

Visited Feathersite and out of many pics there is only 1 or 2 feather legged birds.....eliz

[Guest]

Visited Feathersite and out of many pics there is only 1 or 2 feather legged birds.....eliz

A lot of the pics on Feathersite are from England, and the English standard calls for clean legs.

The APA standard committee required that since Marans are a French breed, that their standard follow the origin of Marans which is French with feathered legs. That is how othe US standard came about with feathered legs.

Sue

[Tailfeathers]

Personally, I don\'t expect a judge to know the Standard for every APA accepted breed and/or variety.  I\'m not even sure that is possible.  It certainly wouldn\'t be for me as anyone who knows me can tell you that my cranial activity and space for such is severely limited and handicapped!

Having said that, I do expect a judge to be humble enough to say to himself that he does not know a particular breed/variety and in such cases all he/she has to do is simply go get a copy of the Standard and look at it while reviewing the breed/variety.

I\'ve actually seen judges do this and I frankly think that is the laudable thing to do.  But that\'s just IMHO.

God Bless,

[Blue Egg Acres]

Personally, I don\'t expect a judge to know the Standard for every APA accepted breed and/or variety.  I\'m not even sure that is possible.  It certainly wouldn\'t be for me as anyone who knows me can tell you that my cranial activity and space for such is severely limited and handicapped!

Having said that, I do expect a judge to be humble enough to say to himself that he does not know a particular breed/variety and in such cases all he/she has to do is simply go get a copy of the Standard and look at it while reviewing the breed/variety.

I\'ve actually seen judges do this and I frankly think that is the laudable thing to do.  But that\'s just IMHO.

God Bless,

I agree wholehearedly!