From the posts over time and based on my own research into the issue, there are several things that are apparent:
1. There are essentially three \"Silver\" patterns existing in the APA and ABA Standards - Silver Duckwing (clear silver hackles and saddles in males), Silver as in the APA Silver Leghorn (striped lower hackles and clear silver saddles) and then the Silver as generally listed by the ABA, with striping in hackles and saddles of males.
2. The Leghorn contacts I have communicated with favor the APA Silver description, with the clear saddles, since it is akin to the Light Brown Leghorn pattern. It is unlikely that the Leghorn folks will want to move toward the striped saddle and hackle version.
3. The actual Silver Ameraucanas, as well as the illustration in the APA Standard, lean toward striping in hackle and saddle, making it contrary to the referenced Silver Leghorn pattern. Who knows how that faux pas came about, but it is there.
4. The APA does have the Silver Dutch pattern \"custom described\" with striped hackles and saddles on Silver males, and so while it may be somewhat after the fact, the Ameraucanas (and perhaps the Araucanas, where this whole Standard snipe hunt started) could explore referencing to the Silver Dutch pattern. I don\'t see too much support from APA corners to craft yet another custom Silver pattern, and hopefully the Dutch Silver pattern is close enough for the purposes.
5. Given that the current situation creates a conflict between the ABA and APA color for Silver Ameraucanas, perhaps the adjustment to reference a striped hackle/saddle could be done for both the bantam and large Ameraucanas in the interest of consistency and maybe correcting an initial oversight, but I\'ll need to confer with the rest of our committee on that one. Since the current APA revisions are nearly through the pipeline of Standard process, it would seem better to try and take another approach to doing this if there is demonstrated consensus among Ameraucana breeders.
6. As Mike noted, it doesn\'t sound like any move toward Silver Duckwing is desirable for Ameraucanas. It is more a case of trying to tie up to an appropriate \"Silver\" pattern.
7. I think the Silver Leghorn folks will likely have to live with the ABA/APA conflict for a bit, since it is unlikely that the ABA would move quickly toward designating a \"Silver as in Leghorn\" pattern like the APA has for them.
8. Eight is my lucky number, so I\'ll stop here. You have all done an excellent job as Ameraucana breeders and fans in taking my initial observation and discussing the situation and options. Thanks!
Sam Brush