Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

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Be very careful about being critical of color that you are seeing on a monitor. NO ONES monitors will show the same color unless it has been calibrated at least once a day to a Pantone program or some other color correcting program. One of my duties at the university was to be sure that all the graphics computers were properly calibrated to show color accurately. They all show color differently unless calibrated daily. The hen has slate legs on my computer and the posterior can look like that for many reasons....note that the right foot is much more forward than the left foot as a for instance. If the hen has green legs it should be DQ'd, but I don't think is has green legs.
Again they are not perfect by any means, but I don't think they fall into the EE class and I don't think any of those bantams would be DQ'd for color or type. That could change if I saw them in person. Online pics can be very deceiving.

What about the width of tail feather and the lack of tail break in the hen? I doubt that an EE would have those qualities. I would almost bet that those bantams came from a breeder and not a hatchery.

Walt

Walt, I come from a graphics background as well. Sure wish poultry had a Pantone system for translating color. Sometimes
it is hard to translate the written SOP to real life and sometimes the language of the SOP and the SOP illustrations do not always
seem to be the same.

Then you know how much color can change once it is digitized. I just had my second cataract done last week. I was making very important decisions at press checks and didn't know until a few months ago that I was not seeing white. They do one eye at a time and boy after it is done, the colors are different. Thank God for my many years experience and some luck. lol

I have often thought about printing color samples of feathers,m but there is no way to get totally accurate color even with the new digital presses.every copy will not be the same. Most of them will, but not all. There is a disclaimer in the front of the SOP that indicates that that the illustrations, particularly the color is only a ballpark, so read the standard description. The SOP is printed on a high speed sheet fed press, so edition #1 will not match edition #5000 dot for dot. The paper stretches, dots get fatter, etc etc. And then....as you look at it in the light over time it will fade the colors. I never left a Pantone book out in the light.

Anyway it is good that someone understands a bit about color and the digital world.

What helped me the most were two things I did. I found the oldest person I could find in the breed that was not yet senile and picked their brains. Most of them enjoyed talking birds. The other was to go to as many big shows as I could and look at what was winning and compare that with my idea of how I perceived LONG BACK...etc. I mean really.....what the heck does long back mean.....hahaha Once you see it you will know what it means. The SOP illustrations are really helpful if you look at them more as an ideal side view rather than a detailed representation of the breed. The 2010 SOP has several new illustrations by Katherine Plumer. Those are very detailed. She has those on her web site....better yet...buy a standard.

And while on color. I tried to have the printer tweek the color of the Bue Wheaten Ameraucana and the Brown Red to something that would be more accurate. Those two males are way off....mostly in the hackle and saddles. They did not have the original scans, so it will be changed next printing.

Walt
 
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From what I've seen at the shows, the sad fact is, EM Squared EEs shown as "Ameraucanas" likely WON'T be DQd. So what then ??????
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I have a question - once a breed/color has been admitted to the SOP, can the details be changed? Now that we see the issues that are giving the judges a problem, can the descriptions be tweaked?
 
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From what I've seen at the shows, the sad fact is, EM Squared EEs shown as "Ameraucanas" likely WON'T be DQd. So what then ??????
hmm.png


Hence my comment about county fairs. Now, I have only been showing for 2 1/2 years, but they open shows I have been to, I have never seen an EE entered. On the other hand, our local county fair this year had 8 EEs entered in open class, and the APA judge (that I am quite familiar with) placed them all with no DQs, except the one he DQ'd for mites, and it was the ONLY one that was remotely close to looking like a true AM. Here's the EE that won the breed and a pic of its cage card:

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For those of us that want to learn - all I can say at this point is --- I look forward to Crossroads at the end of October and FULLY expect I will see NOTHING but PERFECT Ameraucanas!!!!!! As much as I love EEs (and I DO love EEs), they will all be marked DQ!
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Well, I have seen EEs show at on open show. The Four Corners Poultry Assn fall show. The judges were Gary Overton, Ben Burkett and Terry Reeder. I'm not sure which judged Ameraucanas because I was working. The EEs were given a third behind my birds. They had green legs and weren't even close to a recognized color.

This was not a case of a judge trying to spare a 4-Hers feelings.
 
I would love to see the APA and ABA judges try to educate when judging a 4-H show. Go ahead and place the birds based on condition and closest to real ameraucana type, but inform the kids that the bird is in fact an ee. No harm, no foul and the kid(s) will learn very quickly what a true ameraucana is. If it is an open show, there should be no excuses.

Many people on here know that this is not a money maker for me, this is what I do. I have no problems giving chicks to 4-H groups and have offered birds to our local groups. I would gladly take kids in that are interested in the breed and help them out. I know alot of the members of the ABC would do the same. We are passionate about the "real thing", but that's just who we are. Why do something half heartedly????
 
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