Lavender

[Jean]

Some of you have asked about getting the lavender birds admitted to the standard; so I thought I would start a thread to discuss it.

I do not know if we have enough consistency in the birds to show them at a qualifying meet or if we have five breeders who have bred them for five years now. (for both bantam and large fowl)

The obvious delay is the naming of the variety.  There are some out there that are against the name we have chosen.  It has gone so far as to name calling on a public forum by a person who is supposed to be one of the leaders of the ABA.

We will have to make headway with the Standards Committee with both the APA and ABA before we can begin the process.  One way I have thought about making some progress with them is to perhaps have a slight compromise on the variety name.

I wonder if we could offer our variety to be lavender/self blue or self blue/lavender.  This way the lavender term is still there and the self blue is still there.  We could still call our birds just lavender, no need to include the rest.

Or, we can wait to get the birds accepted; I see no rush.  We will continue to breed our lavender variety for a bit longer.

In the meantime I encourage everyone to join the APA or ABA and vote to implement change within the ranks by removing closed minded individuals.

Any and all thoughts would be appreciated.  

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I am happy to offer my opinion but, I don\'t think I have any right to say what they are called...I\'ve had my lavenders (both sizes) less than a year, I haven\'t spent years of my own blood, sweat and tears to make them what they are.  I get why those who have put in the time, effort, money, etc. want them called lavender, and I must admit that I would be disappointed to have to start calling them \"self blue\"...

I also think that \"self blue\" is too confusing for newbies to differentiate between regular \"blue\"...I can\'t even count how many posts I\'ve read elsewhere on that particular subject.  
While it would be really nice to get them accepted asap, and get the work of those who have bred them for so long recognized, I think it would also be a disservice to those same breeders to have them accepted under any other name than \"lavender\".
I\'m usually all for compromise, but why compromise with those that refuse to compromise with us?  I say stick to our guns and wait it out for \"lavender\".

[Mike Gilbert]

I believe we should have an in house referendum on this matter, so the ABA and APA knows how many voting members we have and how unified we are on the issue.   The sooner the better, but definitely before we try to get this color qualified as a new variety.   So far it has been just a very few of us expressing opinions on the message boards - at least the ones that I go to such as Showbirdbid.   Once we have that step done I believe we can better explain why we might be withholding APA/ABA dues and purchases until we get the name we want.

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Sounds good to me Mike!

[HarryS]

Perhaps we could have a club survey here like others had surveys with clicking on the dot.  One for the name Lavender or Self-blue (which has much confusion in many breeds as to what they have been calling self-blue).  And another on the same thread as to should we support the APA and ABA without giving the members a voice.  Sorry,  I am not a member of the APA or ABA.  

[Jean]

Perhaps we could have a club survey here like others had surveys with clicking on the dot.  One for the name Lavender or Self-blue (which has much confusion in many breeds as to what they have been calling self-blue).  And another on the same thread as to should we support the APA and ABA without giving the members a voice.  Sorry,  I am not a member of the APA or ABA.  

Harry, I am not suggesting we go either self-blue or lavender, but a combination name including both terms.

[Beth C]

Jeanine already said everything I was thinking, and since I doubt I could put it any better, I\'ll just say, \"Ditto!\"

I think the survey is a great idea to see where everyone stands.

I\'m not a member of the APA or ABA, either, and am debating the best course of action. While I\'d like to join to have a voice, I\'m reluctant to hand them my money until they\'re willing to work with us on this...

[dak]

I have a small group of LF lavs and would like to see them recognized as Lavender, however from what I\'ve gathered from other forums,  \"the powers that be\" are dead set against this.  There has been a similar discussion regarding lavender vs. self-blue bantam cochins on the cochin forum.  It looks like the cochin \"powers that be\" will be going with self-blue when and if the time comes to get them recognized.

[Cloverleaf Farm]

It\'s really too bad some of the other breed organizations are giving in so easily..makes it harder for the rest of us.

[Beth C]

Maybe we need to contact some of the other breed clubs about banding together? If they realize someone else will fight with them, they might not be so quick to give in.

[Mike Gilbert]

If you are not members of the APA and ABA, your opinion will mean nothing to them.  Maybe this is a lost cause.

[Jean]

Maybe we need to contact some of the other breed clubs about banding together? If they realize someone else will fight with them, they might not be so quick to give in.

We did try to get with the other clubs, but currently we are only joined together with the orpington club in this matter.  The silkie club went ahead to get the birds accepted under self blue.  The President of the cochin club wants self blue, but they are quite a ways out to consider getting them accepted.

I have not spoken to the \"fav\" club yet, but will look into it.

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Sure you have, you just didn\'t know it! LOL  The Fav club is WAY too far off to thing about it, though we are calling them lavender at this point.  There are just a few breeders who have just barely started with them...

[jerryse]

Seems to me that I remember a time when we were told that we would never get our breed in the standard ever.Seems that anything with lavender in the name may satisfy both sides.After all Ameraucana was a compromise.I remember American Araucana,Araublue,and Iowa blue also on the ballot.

[John]

I think the results so far on the \"Lavender Only\" poll are interesting.  Of course it is not anything official and you have to vote to see the results, so I don\'t want to discuss them here yet.