Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
AOB = all other breeds

 

[wava1vaughn]

Hi Dandydoodle not yet but your first on the list. I just feel it in my bones. Nov. isn't that far off..Hope they start laying soon. We will announce it to the world when it starts. I'll probably have to hand out cigars. You being way up there in it will probably start snowing soon. Bill

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
AOB = all other breeds

Actually the abbreviation is AOSB - All Other Standard Breeds.

 

[dandydoodle]

I think there is a couple of people ahead of me.

Quote:

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Denise, I spent hours last night pouring over the SOP and I think I may finally be catching on to how poultry judging works. It isn't up to the judge to verify the breed. It is up to the judge to judge the bird based on the class it has been entered in. So if the judge sees a bird entered as an Ameraucana it won't be a DQ as long as it has a beard and muffs and doesn't have yellow feet. (Or any of the General DQs such as squirrel tail or side sprigs.) So using your experiences and mine as examples - judge sees green legs on an Ameraucana entry. "Yellow soles of foot or toes" are a DQ, not green. So bird is marked down a few points for color (total of 3 points possible out of 100). Down but not out. The wrong comb would be a DQ for an Araucana but only a mark down for Ameraucana. Comb is worth 5 points. Incorrect feather colors are a DQ with Plymouth Rocks but again, only a mark down for Ameraucanas. Furthermore, "Easter Egger" is not in the SOP so bringing that name up with an APA judge means nothing.

So at the end of the day, I can actually see how something we Ameraucana purists view as "not Ameraucana" could still place above a true Ameraucana based on all the other things like condition and size and symmetry etc., that the judge has to work with.

 

[pips&peeps]

It is up to the judge to verify that the bird meets the standards written in the SOP, that is what the birds are being judged on. A bird with green legs will have yellow soles, the color goes hand and hand.

DISQUALIFICATIONS

If any of the conditions noted below are found, the judge shall disqualify that specimen and state the reason on both the coop card and the judging sheet. In any case where evidence is doubtful the bird shall be presumed to be acceptable.

GENERAL DISQUALIFICATIONS

All Breeds and Varieties:

1. Specimen lacking in breed characteristics.
2. ....

SHAPE

Comb:

(a) All Breeds Chickens
1. Comb foreign to breed or variety.........

COLOR

......

Shanks and Toes:

(a) All Breeds
1. Foreign color to that described for breed and variety........​

 

[BarnGoddess01]

pips&peeps :

It is up to the judge to verify that the bird meets the standards written in the SOP, that is what the birds are being judged on. A bird with green legs will have yellow soles, the color goes hand and hand.

DISQUALIFICATIONS

If any of the conditions noted below are found, the judge shall disqualify that specimen and state the reason on both the coop card and the judging sheet. In any case where evidence is doubtful the bird shall be presumed to be acceptable.

GENERAL DISQUALIFICATIONS

All Breeds and Varieties:

1. Specimen lacking in breed characteristics.
2. ....

SHAPE

Comb:

(a) All Breeds Chickens
1. Comb foreign to breed or variety.........

COLOR

......

Shanks and Toes:

(a) All Breeds
1. Foreign color to that described for breed and variety........
​

Trouble is - I bet there are a lot of judges inexperienced with Ameraucanas that feel EEs don't lack Ameraucana characteristics (most prominent being the beard and muffs). I checked three of my EEs feet this morning. Soles were green, not yellow. In fact, one of my EEs has slate colored legs. It may be wrong but I bet it IS what's going on. There are pages and pages that allow them to "cut for defects" that also cover combs and color. So the judges definitely have some latitude.​

 

[EM Squared Farms]

Hi Ameraucana Thread People !

Finally went to open my son's APA American Standard of Perfection 2010 today to see what it said:

I did find my answer to the Varieties recognized: black, blue, buff, silver, blue wheaten, wheaten, brown red, and white (hey, we have 4 of these already !)

Anyways, I was curious about the feet....I don't really look at their feet except I did notice once they do have funny colored legs

yellow soles of foot or toes = BAD = disqualifications

They are so funny with their descriptions: I love it: "expressive eyes"

Then they go on to actually list each color Ameraucana:

and the color of their feet depends on the color Ameraucana they are:

So, for ours: blue - males and females (shanks and toes should be dark slate, bottoms of feet and toes white)
blue wheaten male (slate, bottoms of feet and toes white), blue wheaten female (same, lower thighs blue)
brown red (slate to black, bottoms of feet and toes white)
wheaten (slate, bottom of feet and toes white)

Sounds like gray to me.

Anyways, I don't really look at their feet. My son handles the chickens. All I noticed is that they are funny colored to me.

It's good to know what the standard says, right ?

Our chicken judge friend did come over a couple times to look at them and didn't have anything bad to say about them.
He told him that all his chickens look pretty good.

I can't wait to see what new colors my son will choose to try and get into the standard. I'm going to let him use his BrownRed rooster and his Blue Wheaten one again, but probably with some of those newly decorated hens. He only has 10 Ameraucanas to choose from (we set limits) and probably will give him 2 breeding pens to work with.

Check out our Ameraucana hens. They have very pretty coloring. (Maybe I should put back up the pics of the hens we sold - they were so pretty too - they sold so quick !)

Thanks ~

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
You've got a lot of pretty Easter Eggers there. You should not be enetering anything but accepted colors as Ameraucanas or you are just perpetuating the problem we've been talking about. Projects are one thing- but they are projects, in an attempt to get a color that breeds true and meets ALL other breed criteria.

 

[Phage]

Quote:
No green!!! Blueish grey feet and legs, soles of feet white.

Hey Kathy are those birds from John B's lines?????

'

I know it has to be frustrating, I don't think it would make a difference if every tenth post was the APA's written Standard of Perfection for Ameraucanas, with disqualifications highlited; one of the other nine would be a picture of an EE.

Would it be possible (or legal) to copy or summarize the "complete" SOP for Ameraucanas on the first page of this thread?