I suppose I need to make a few things clear.
I have shown 2 Lf Cuckoo twice so far this season and my 3 bantam cuckoo Marans 2 times as well. I too am confused as far as the exact coloring definition but so far all of my cuckoos shown have done well. I have been breeding cuckoo four years to my own liking, I like massive brightly colored roos with crispness and definition to their cuckoo pattern, I like my hens to be big and fat clearly cuckoo'd on top and stormy blue-grey on the bottom. I do not breed white into them, I have never used a roo or hen with white in it. I wouldn't enter a bird that has white in it.
I am not an APA rules expert nor do I claim to be. I can not control what is submitted by anyone to the APA. I am just a person that likes my Chickens that can show up at a show and pay the entry fee and present a healthy bird. If the judge likes them good for me if he/she doesn't I will happily take them home and continue to care for them like the pets they are. If Bev Davis liked me and my little cuckoo cockerel enough to ask me to help at the qualifying meet I am not going to say no. I like going to shows and meeting other breeders and exhibitors.
I am 100% confident that the Marans Club Officers are perfectly capable of writing and submitting a standard proposal the the APA. In the meantime, I will continue to keep breeding my flock as I have been. If I don't meet the "standard" that is no one's problem but my own.
With that being said, I also wonder about the French Standard as it only describes what is a Silver Cuckoo. With the cock being considerably lighter than the hen. Having almost no baring in the hackles. The English version is closer to what I have seen, bred for and like for myself. However they have clean legs as everyone knows so I do have this problem as I have 6 hens that are of Fugate lines in my flock of 14 hens and pullets. I am trying to correct this by mating them with well feather shanked roos. I have been successful with this with several other varieties so I do not believe it will be a problem.
I agree that this color differentiation or lack there of should be clarified before the meet planned for 12/13 Hopefully it will be. Yet once again, I am not in control of such matters. I can ask Bev or Dick to see if they can give me an idea.
French standard for "Silver" Cuckoo......I can't find anything about the amount of white permitted or if it is unacceptable.
Silver Cuckoo Marans
Color of Male and Female
Disqualifications:
Green or Coppery colored feathers.
Cock and Hen:
The Cock is much lighter in plumage then the hens. Hens are smaller and more compact with a darker plumage.
Comb, Face, Wattles and Earlobes: Bright Red.
Beak: Light horn shading to white at the tip.
Eyes: Reddish Bay.
Shanks and Toes: Pinkish White.
Plumage: All Sections of the body is covered with cuckoo plumage with black and white striping throughout with a rough pattern and irregular lines. Hackles are slightly lighter in shade. Hens are much darker with a bit more uniformity in the striping. Undercolor is grey.
English Standard for "Dark" Cuckoo...again no mention of white.
THE DARK CUCKOO
Male and female plumage: Cuckoo throughout, each feather marked across with bands of blue-black. A lighter shaded neck in both male and female, and also back in the male, is permissible if definitely banded. Cuckoo throughout is the ideal, as even as possible.
2013 Cock Hopeful
