A Heritage of Perfection: Standard-bred Large Fowl

[Yellow House Farm]

Greetings! This thread is established for the discussion of Standard-bred fowl, often referred to as Heritage fowl. It is for all manner of concerns with regards to the large fowl breeds and varieties contained within the American Poultry Association's American Standard of Perfection.

As a community hub, it looks to be a source for general discussion, where breeders and would-be breeders can gather and exchange information. It is a place where new-comers hoping to specialize in traditional, SOP-quality stock might find support and direction.

It is a place where stock can be discussed honestly in relationship to the SOP so that all might gain knowledge of how to direct one's breeding efforts.

In short, it is a place to discuss the story, breeding, exhibition, and production value that comprise the heritage of standard-bred poultry.

 

[desertmarcy]

I am very proud! One of my Barred Rock cockerels took Super Show Champion at the Safford, AZ show January 16! There were 22 Barred Rocks entered from 3 different breeders; 10 cockerels. I entered 6 cockerels and got first through fifth place. Then the #1 took Best American and went on to win the whole show! I have been working really hard on my Barred Rocks, so nice to be recognized! In addition to a cash award, they gave out beautiful plaques this year to the Show Champion winner and Reserve Show Champion winner. Here I am with my win and Show Superintendant James Smith, then another photo with my bird.

 

[bnjrob]

I suspect the internet social forums meet the need to associate with like minded people. Information is easy to have.

Then, the boom of interest in keeping poultry does not seam to have benefited many breeds. There is still a lack of interest among those that take it seriously. Or want to.

It appears that the breed clubs in the best shape are those with breeds that have the most interest.

It would seam that it would require the right core group to get it going, keep it going, promote it and the breed. Create it's own following, so to speak. The members need to benefit in some way, or it is not worth the money. The club is competing with the internet.

Just my opinions.

Well, if you're talking about the clubs competing with general places like BYC on the internet - I agree.

But the internet is going to have to be used as a tool if the clubs want to remain viable long term. When you're running a club on minimal funding, the internet is the fastest option of getting information out to people inexpensively. And the internet can bring people together when they can't be together in person, allowing online private meetings, educational webinars, and just social chatting with people of similar interests. The internet is also how many, many people get their information these days. Some people don't even read real paper books, magazines, or newspapers anymore. They want everything on their computer, their tablet, their smart phone. If they can't get the information that way, there are many people who just do without. Unfortunately we have become a society of convenience. So it behooves clubs to learn how to leverage the internet to have an active club.

A serious obstacle that I see is the lack of effective leadership in the clubs. Being vocal or even knowledgeable and passionate about a subject does not automatically make someone an effective leader. Clubs run by people who are mostly interested in making themselves look good, garnering friends, being in control of something, or being a club officer because no one else will do the job, are not likely to accomplish much. Neither are clubs started by a faction of people who left another club because they didn't like the original club for some reason.

Leaders of clubs should consider themselves servants of the members. They should have job descriptions and be elected by the members so that if an officer turns out not to be very effective, the membership can vote someone else in that they feel would be more effective. A leader of a club should not remain in the position forever - that causes stagnation and the start of "we've always done it this way so why should we change" kind of attitudes.

An effective leader needs to understand how to anticipate the needs of the club members. They need to understand how to reach both current and prospective members in order to meet the needs of the club as an entity unto itself, as well as meeting the more individual needs of the members. A good leader actively looks for ways to get the members engaged in the club, keep the flow of ideas coming, and generate passion among the members so that everyone works to meet the club goals. An effective leader may not know how to do everything, but they will recognize their own weaknesses and actively seek input and assistance from others who are stronger in those areas.

Clubs should have clearly defined mission/vision statements to help the officers guide the members in meeting group goals. And clubs need both short and long term goals, which evolve as needed, to direct the club activities.

Clubs need to take a stand on issues, guided by the mission/vision statement and goals of the club. Catering to everyone's personal whims and trying to keep everyone happy all the time weakens the club. "People pleasing", for whatever reason, causes a loss of authority and respect - a breed club should be seen as an authoritative resource.

Effective leaders need to understand that people are going to disagree. They may have heated discussions on the subject. And that should be ok. People who care about something can be quite passionate. Better to have a heated verbal argument than have someone boiling under the surface til they explode and shoot someone. A good leader doesn't stop all communication just because people get angry. A good leader guides things so that the passion remains and people can hash things out. Everybody does not have to agree on every single point. The effective leader will be able to coordinate the various opinions to bring things to a general consensus and then make a decision.

And the effective leader doesn't take everything personally every time someone has a complaint or criticism.

Not everyone is born an effective leader. But a person can become an effective leader through educating themselves - lots of free and inexpensive leadership classes out there these days - and also through being open minded and thinking of themselves as a servant of the members rather than a king looking for recognition from others.

Without effective leadership, a breed club isn't going to do much for a breed or the members.

 

[Wisher1000]

I went to Newnan, GA this past weekend to the Chattahoochee Valley Poultry Show. There were 14 Campines there. I took 13 Campines and a youth exhibitor took one. I didn't win anything, but the young lady won Reserve Champion Large Fowl Youth with her Silver Campine Cockerel!

We hugged and high-fived and grinned ear to ear! It was fun to see the excitement on her face as well as the faces of her parents. I was just a proud as they were.






Oh, I forgot to mention, she bought the cockerel from me two weeks ago.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

So, from Poultry Science and Practice by Winter and Funk, published in 1940, a text by description to be destined for university study in Poultry Science at the time: "The purpose of this book is to give what appears to be the practical factual information on general poultry production [...] The subject matter has been prepared as a general college poultry course and also as a reference book for students of vocational agriculture, for poultrymen, and for general farmers," here's a quote of value:

"From 1870 to 1920 may be called the "Golden Era" of the fancier, when he reigned almost supreme. The trap nest had not yet caused the worship of egg records and fancy feathers and body form remained the goal of every true breeder. These breeders, by breeding for uniform type and definite color patterns, did much to establish the Standard breeds and varieties. Many beautiful color patterns were developed and excellent type birds were established." (27)

There was a kind of schism in the chicken world in the thirties and into the forties that brought the chicken world to a crossroads. The APA had brought poultry culture to a whole new level, but with the advent of new technologies others saw opportunities to bring it to yet another place. Those who followed the new bent eventuated the modern poultry industry; those who did not want to go down this new path continued the APA legacy.

There are many, even most, large fowl breeds in the SOP that have a standard built for production, but the reality is that the trap nest et al. is necessary to bring it to that next level. Modern technology has revolutionized breeding for feed consumption; it's not game for most people who derive their general income from non-poultry sources--neither is trap-nesting, for that matter. Some breeds really are just for being beautiful--and that's A-OK. It is perfectly alright to have a beautiful breed with very little "practical" quality. The whole world is full of beautiful flowers that serve nothing but being beautiful. It's wonderful that there are chickens that do that, too, especially considering the amount of manipulability within chicken genetics. The very complicated work of breeding to the SOP is a grand endeavor for the human mind and an excellent and worthy hobby.

Breeding for production is cool, too, but this is not the distinct line that people want it to be. There's breeding for productivity and then there's breeding for top productivity. If you want the latter, go with industrial birds. If want to reinvent the wheel, get some birds, get some trap-nests, learn several other tricks, and then have it. Chances are you're not going to develop birds that equal what already exists in industry in this life-time, but if you want to, go ahead. Bon voyage!

On the other hand, I find "backyard" breeding for productivity sort of dull I did it for a long time. I've taught lots of people how to do it. I can handle a chicken boom, boom, boom, but at the end of the day, when I get home from work, I'm much more interested in SOP stuff part of which for me is, indeed selecting for a productive frame.

As far as not showing and attending shows, well, that's a really personal question. There are a lot of folks who show poultry, and we're all a different sort of quirky, which is sort of true for any sort of specialized human endeavor sub-culture. We're really quite a motley crew, though. However, the system is set up for peer-review. In my other life, I hold to the value of peer review. The world, cyber world or no, is full of self-proclaimed masters. Some may be; some may not be--who knows. It's this latter point that answers the question, though--"who knows?" Without peer-review claims are just that.

Now, I've been around poultry practically my whole life, I have never--ever--seen anything whose beauty could approach the beauty of APA/ABA stock, when it's well bred. If you say your birds are awesome, and I say "says who?" and you say, "says I", truth be told, I'm not going to get all that excited because what's to get excited about? The whole purpose of peer-review is to establish as close to fact as possible what is fact.

Moreover, I've never met anyone who can do it on their own. Attending shows, you learn lessons, positive and negative lessons, that are very valuable, lessons that will take you many years to discover on your own. If you listen at shows, over time, you will stitch together an amazing quilt of knowledge, and all those eyes, looking at your birds, are going to see things that your eyes simply do not see--you need those eyes to do that.

As far as attitudes go, I've always worked in big places with lots of personalities, I don't find poultry shows to be any different. Still, it bears remembering that breeding to the standard is about making judgments; it's about reviewing the information at hand and then drawing conclusions; then it's about acting with the courage of one's conviction. If you really think about that--I mean really think about that--it means that you're going to walk into a room with a bunch of opinionated people who look with a critical eye through the lens of their own knowledge and experience. The best breeders are used to going over large classes of birds and culling it down to the select few; they're harshest at home.

If one goes to a show where there is steep competition among the best breeders, one must be ready for a no-nonsense snap-shot to be taken of anything being entered, and no one is going to pull the punch. Just take it; take it and learn. That is how to become a master--through submitting to masters: hearing, obeying, and learning.

I've never been to a dog show, I don't like dogs. So I can't say anything to that, nor honestly, do I care. I am all about the poultry, and I love--LOVE--being at poultry shows. I always have a little notebook in my back pocket, and I'm always scribbling notes, trying to remember. I nag all of the more experienced breeders and I instantly memorize any little pearl they might drop. I have zero interest in being unhappy when at a show, so just like in other parts of life, when folks are being all grumpy-frumpy I simply walk away. Who cares? Let them grump and frump; I don't think it happens with any more frequency than in any other walk of life.

So wrapping it up, if the question is, "if I don't show will others not take me seriously?" Well, I can only answer for myself, and my honest answer is--no. If you don't show, I won't take you as seriously as someone who's a breeder because other more qualified people recognize their achievements and regal them with that title.

Having said that, if you post a pic a of a fabulous bird of your breeding, I'm going to recognize a fabulous bird as a fabulous bird. If you post pics of fabulous birds out of your breeding with which you've been working for multiple years such that I know that they're the true product of your own selections as opposed to riding the wave of someone else's birds, well that will be very impressive.

If you come back from a show with a fabulous bird that Clell Agler told you was worth working with; well, then I'll be all ears.

 

[3riverschick]

"All the great ones look alike"

Such an important mantra. One could build
a whole breeding program on that sentence.
It is a two-fold statement. 1st, they all "look alike".
2nd they are "great". What profound majesty in
a few simple words. Lifetimes of achievement to
breed a creature which merits that statement
from the learned onlookers.
Why do they all look alike? Because their breeders understood the Standard and selected wisely , which "wisdom" directly impacts the second part of the statement.
What is "greatness"? Yes, it is majesty. A
"presence". Both as a result of the creator's art
and the science behind the creating. It is even
more than that. Greatness requires an
understanding of the nuances of the creature.
Why it evolved as it did and why that form endured.
What that extra "something" is which makes the
great ones stand out among their fellows.
We all know that the parts of a whole are
dependent on one another to provide a proper
functioning "whole" of whatever it is we are
viewing. We can breed all the correct parts of a
creature in one creature, according to the
Standard, and still not have a proper specimen.
It is proper but it is not "great". Why? Greatness
requires an understanding of the breeds' purpose.
Of the reasons behind why it came to be in the
first place and why the breeders chose to continue
its existence in a certain fashion. This is more
than "the whole is the sum of its parts" and
"Form follows function". It is much closer to
Frank Lloyd Wright's correction of his latter
quoted statement which reads, " Form follows
function - that has been misunderstood. Form
and function should be one, joined in a spiritual
union." What beauty and symmetry opined in that statement ! An understanding that whole is more
than its parts. It is the union between the parts
which creates greatness. A union forged by need.
Whose every nuance contributes to the fine harmony
of the whole. The integral beauty and symmetry
which shine forth from a "great" creature. It is not
laid down by the selections we make. It is a result
of the integral harmony of the whole. A symphony
we cannot hear unless we understand the nuances
of the breed. It is within those nuances, the
harmony of parts is made greater then their sum.
That the creature stands apart from its fellows
with that extra "something" we call greatness.
Try an exercise. The next poultry show you go to,
go with no expectations. No visual or emotional
or any expectations of the animals at all. Wander
thru the rows with an open mind, expecting nothing.
A bird will stop you in your tracks. You will gasp
and say," that bird is great, a real showstopper".
Now try and figure out just what it was about
that bird which entrapped you.
It works. I tried this suggestion once at the
1996 Collie National. Several rows thru the
contestants, this young sable smooth dog looked
up at me out of his exercise pen. He had me at Hello. There was an undefinable something about him. His symmetry and grace. The intuitiveness of his "being".
He was "more" than the sum of his exquisite parts.
I took a copy of his pedigree to mull over. I was
not familiar with his breeding. About 7 hours later ,
over an historic 1,000+ entry, he became the
1st smooth collie to won the National since the
1970's. It was an "ah ha" moment for me and
can be for you too.
One thing that will help is to study the history
and nuances of one's breed. It will help one
understand the nuances when seen. It is very
difficult to appreciate nuances and the important
role they play if one doesn't understand their purpose. Purpose lies in the history and origins of a breed.
Become a breed historian. Seek out all the little
things that made your breed great. Read the
founding fathers and legendary breeder's thoughts.
Sieve the thoughts of both and be able to throw
out the obsolete and error full. Even the old-time breeders made mistakes. Examine the results of
feeding, laying and other scientific trials. Read
about experiments that failed and why. Know the
major and minor breeding laws which apply to your breed. They are written in stone and will not change despite our enthusiasms. Look at the breeding and culling systems used by the great breeders in your
breed. If they explain them, even better!! Look for
commonalities between their systems. What did
they do to perpetuate excellence thru multiple generations? All these disparate pieces of information
will start to come together in a vision of the nuances behind the "whole". Which makes that "scared union" possible.All this ties into being able to select for proper
breed type. When you understand the "why" behind
the "sacred union", then you can select for birds
which will produce it.
Then "All the great ones look alike"
Best Regards,
Karen

 

[Yellow House Farm]

That's what I'm afraid of lol! I'm hoping to keep it small but this whole chicken math thing...I know I'm doomed.

Heather, you're only doomed if you do it incorrectly, and many do it incorrectly. When you actually decide you are, or really anyone is, going to become a breeder:

1. Get rid of every other chicken on your property--every single one--every poopsie, boopsie, and clyde. Get rid of chickens that aren't part of your breeding program. You will need every drip of infrastructure at your disposal to run a proper program. Many--many--folks fail because they do not do this.

2. Don't imagine that you can breed a new variety or cross anything productively until you have been working with an established variety for several seasons. Otherwise you will create junk, frustrate yourself, waste a ton of money, and quit. You're not going to establish some landrace wonder. See number 1.

3. Admit that you're going to build infrastructure openly. Create a plan. You need breeding spaces, which are small coops, or a larger coop divided interiorly into smaller units, plan for a minimum of four; this might be a 16x6 or 16x8 unit divided into four sections with discreet runs off the back.

4. You need two growing pens, one for cockerels and one for pullets. They can be of equal size or one can be larger (for pullets) and one can be, say, a third smaller (for cockerels). This depends on the breed you're raising; with Hamburgs, the latter model can work fine because you can bottom cull (get rid of the worse birds) more quickly. Your growing units can follow several different designs, some more expensive and permanent, some less expensive and permanent. Ask around. You don't want them to be too small though.

This alone will give you the infrastructure that you need, although, if you have the inclination, a holding pen and spaces for individualized cockerels are cool.

5. This relates to numbers 1 and 2. If you want a small, easily balanced, enjoyable breeding program, only have one variety of one breed. Don't make excuses--for many this is the difference between eventual success or failure.

6. Subscribe to the Poultry Press, locate the APA/ABA sanctioned shows nearest you and start attending. Make contacts with APA/ABA breeders and have at it.

7. Realize that culling is part of the game and don't have an existential, Bambi debate over it.

8. Be aware that there are very--exceedingly few--true breeders of poultry. I would estimate that an easy 95% or more of folks selling anything on line are not even close to being what an established, peer-acknowledged APA/ABA breeder would call a breeder, and that might be generous. Most varieties of most breeds are maintained by a mere handful of breeders, some times only one or two, who supply, in either immediate or proximal generations, all of the standard-bred chicks of that breed. Most other folks are what we term multipliers; they buy birds and hatch eggs; they exercise little to no skill in selection and need to continuously return to breeders to maintain any quality in what they are working with, for fowl poorly selected degenerate in a matter of few generations.

There are, to my knowledge, no true breeders of standard-bred Golden Hamburgs remaining. The best multiplier of standard-bred fowl I know of is Duane Urch, but be aware that his stock is a starting point--possibly the best starting point. He advertises 100 breeds of standard-bred poultry, which by sheer definition, will keep anyone from being a breeder. He is, however, probably the standard-bred industry's most respected large-scale multiplier.

Hopefully this helps. It seems a bit rigid, perhaps, but the results of this sort of discipline are awesome. It will also lead to calm focus and, with the help of a true mentor, or true mentors, a career of success in standard-bred poultry.

Cheers!

Thank you! I've read other threads referencing Duane Urch and he seemed to be the most reputable person offering the rare heritage breeds I'm interested in and I had bookmarked his site a while ago as a source for chicks when the time comes.

Would you mind explaining eb+ and ER?

All chicken colors are built on top of certain black bases that are specific patterns; we say black because they have to do with the distribution of black on the bird. "eb" is the color of a Dark Brown Leghorn. ER is the color of a Birchen cock. Just google these images, you'll see the difference. The question with each black base is how does the black respond when genetic pressure is added to make the black move. ER is very fluid and moves around easily; thus the black tail can easily be reduced to a spangle and the black stripe in the hackle can easily be reduced to a tick on the tip, which explains the Silver Spangled Hamburg. eb is more stubborn, especially in specific regions and does not cede its space without a fight. Therefore, with the same gene pressure for spangling in the Golden Hamburg as is in the Silver Hamburg, however, with an eb base, one procures a spangled bird with a fully black tail and full black stripe in the hackles becuase the eb base does not easily yield its black hold over those regions. So, look at the Birchen Game and SS Hamburg, and notice the difference in black distribution in hackle, saddle and tail. Then compare a Dark Brown Leghorn male with a Golden Spangled Hamburg male and notice the extreme similarity in black placement--the black that doesn't move. Thus, when some Golden Spangled Hamburg breeders moved to produce a Golden Spangled line with tail and saddle/hackle like the Silver Spangled Hamburg, it was a move to completely create a variety that had never existed. This fad, like most fads, had a highly deleterious effect on the Hamburg community. It divided breeders into camps and polluted the Golden Hamburg gene pool. Eventually, in the confusion, they were dropped by almost everybody, and the end result is that today I can not call to mind a single breeder for whom standard-bred Golden Spangled Hamburgs--an outstandingly lovely fowl--is the main focus--not one breeder in all of North America.

For this and other reasons, you will find that many of the best breeders in the country are markedly against any sort of fadism in standard-bred poultry as being deleterious and dangerous to the breed. The APA and ABA Standards are full of breeds that are practically obsolete because of fads. It is why many of us are completely against any sort of fetishized import--because only the uninitiated see these fowl and see quality.

The same horrible scenario is currently going on in Orpingtons, Polish, Sussex, and Brahmas. Ridiculous and unsophisticated colors and types are being mused about on the internet by people with very limited understanding. They, in turn, in their ignorance, fill other new-comers up with stories of bogus glory. All of a sudden folks without a lick of standard-bred experience want to get their rubbish fowl into the SOP. When their inexperience is met with resistence from the APA/ABA communities, they assume it is because the APA/ABA community is unmalleable or exclusive, it doesn't occur to them that communities that are 140 years old and 100 years old respectively have dealt with a different worthless fad (or ten) every decade and have come to understand that they do much more harm than good.

As far as Hamburgs go, all six varieties of Hamburg where part of the original standard published in 1874--all six. One could argue that they were the most established breed of exhibition poultry qua exhibition poultry in the community. They have now almost disappeared in standard-bred form. If the few remaining are not assumed and reestablished by true breeders, they will become as decimated and obsolete as the French breeds, and silly newbies want more Marans colors......

I got a blue naked neck hen (showgirl)today do I breed her to a blue silkie to get more naked necks

One would say a Blue Naked Neck Silkie. A Naked Neck is a dual-purpose breed in the AOSB/SCCL class. The Naked Neck Silkie is a sub-variety of Silkie, which is the breed name. I'm not sure if Blue is a recognized color. It might just be white. Walt will know. The Naked Neck gene is an incomplete dominant (I BELIEVE) so it behaves like the Blue gene; ergo you only want one copy of the gene in the bird oryou'll get too much or too little naked neck. If you breed a Naked Neck Silkie to a feathered neck Silkie, I think, you'll get 50/50.

PS: The term "Showgirl" is even worse than the word "roo". To serious breeders it sounds very--very--silly.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Every year I enjoy the shows, and every year I realize that large fowl are in trouble. As Matt Llamon put it, "they're dying a slow death." In New England, the top large fowl are: Salmon Faverolles, Light Brahmas, Australorps, Anconas, White Dorkings, WC Blk Polish, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, White Wyandottes, Dominiques, Buff Cochins, Buff Orpingtons, NHs and Langshans. Of all of them, only the Faverolles, Brahma, Anconas, Dorkings, Australorps, and Langshans are being bred in a strong enough number to ensure continued success. Each one only really has one steward. Two stewards in particular maintain four of these breeds. That's not a very base. There are, perhaps, some upcoming Barnevelders if the breeder is able to maintain focus.

I bet nationally it would be hard to come up with a list of 50 hard core large fowl breeders that specialize and maintain a strong program. Indeed, at a meeting after the Boston show, some people were just calling a spade a spade, and some think that large fowl are doomed.

One reason is that it's just not as cheap as bantams. Brian Knox likes to quote Harry Halbach who used to say that the cost ratio is 5:1. I've seen it; 'tis hard to ignore.

Another huge problem is the lack of specialization, which is the only way these breeds were ever developed. People are so often more concerned with variety than with quality.

Too many people are wooed by junk novelty; they prefer margarine over butter because they like the commercial. At the Boston show, there were some Bredas on display. Greenfire Farms strikes again. They were junk--absolute, undeniable, utter junk--genetically pathetic. I wonder how much that folly cost? They're never going to amount to anything. The best they offer is a laugh to all of us who are going, "Oh, geesh." It's too bad, another potential breeder lost.

I think that, in the never ending quest to be unique, people are so often drawn to the most obscure breeds or the most obscure variety. They end up selecting something for which their limited resources are never going to be sufficient to achieve success. Many times they're selecting breeds that were never important, which means they were never developed to a high level of quality in the first place.

So, why this reality check?

Well, I believe that only through honesty can anything of value be accomplished, and honesty allows us to observe, respect, diagnose, and act.

First of all, some breeds and many varieties are going to fail. They're going to disappear, and that's OK. They represent a time period that is no more, a time when fowl were so common that there were genetics, know-how, and poultry-friendly resources to burn. That time is past.

Secondly, it takes an enormous dose of honesty to assess one's situation and realize what one is willing and able to accomplish.

Something else to consider, is that rebels constitute, perhaps, the single largest group of conformists. I have seen through years of serving as an educator that the rule is to rebel, to not listen, to not learn, to not put into practice, to cling to willful ignorance. The unique individual is the rare one who listens closely and obeys, who is more concerned with achievement and quality than constant self-assertion without reflection. In poultry, this sort of "rebellion" leads to dissolution. As one judge and waterfowl breed put it after the Boston show, "How many come to understand? Maybe two out of thousands." Everyone just nodded in agreement. If one plays the game long enough, one realizes that poultry breeding is like a revolving door issuing in one trade off after another; our collective poultry genetics get passed left and right in an unending game of experimentation and whim, and with each pass the stock declines in value and substance.

So what is needed?

First and foremost, commitment and stability are the keys.

It takes multiple breeding seasons to begin to understand your stock.

It takes a mentor to keep you from exacerbating your genetics in the multiple years it takes to get to know your breed. It takes a village to raise a child and a team to breed a good chicken

It demands specialization, requires it unapologetically, and withholds all progress until it is the force behind the breeding program.

It takes continuous education in research and hands on experience, a huge portion of it to be had at shows.

It requires an ear to listen and tenacity to implement

The rewards?

Success in breeding birds that improve

A beautiful flock of birds that stuns even the uninitiated by the sheer force of their beauty and symmetry

A community of peers of like regard who take genuine interest in your endeavors and who are your best cheerleaders and guides

The fun and confidence that come from mastery

 

[Wisher1000]

A few of the older cockerels

 

[fowlman01]

The new APA Standard will be available in Feb. It will include the Marans and other breeds and varieties that are not in the current Standard. In addition there are three pages explaining the economic qualities of the Standard bred birds. This is something that the APA drifted away from over the years, but we are now putting more emphasis on those qualities.

Walt