Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

To add to the first post.

I know of a bantam shown as a white Plymouth Rock that won best of show in a 4000 bird show and it had no Rock blood in it. It was an white Orp/white Wynadotte cross.

Think about that!

w.

 

[thedragonlady]

To add to the first post.

I know of a bantam shown as a white Plymouth Rock that won best of show in a 4000 bird show and it had no Rock blood in it. It was an white Orp/white Wynadotte cross.

Think about that!

w.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, by golly it's a D@^%*d duck !

 

[Mi Ranchito]

LOL!!!!

 

[BGMatt]

Good post Yellow House.

Distilled down .......the APA SOP only requires the bird to "look" like the description. New breeds/varieties are only required to breed 50% true. IMO that is too lenient, but some of the very same people that have a "story" will whine about the APA being too strict. Some will be OK with that and some won't be. There is this weird kind of snobbery that goes on with the newbies that I don't quite understand. In some ways it is more demanding than the SOP itself. It took a while but I did realize that the "story" is more important to these folks than the birds themselves.

From 2-5 times a year I get correspondence about admitting some breed to the SOP with a great story and they become annoyed when I tell them they have to put 50 in a show and that they all have to meet the breed descriptions AND color description. Every so often I become annoyed by these experts who don't want real Standards applied. If it can be this or it can be that and some guy said that is the way it should be, I'm supposed to say..OK.....ah...no. I guess that is why I don't have patience with these less than 10 year "experts". I have been doing this for 50 years and certainly don't think of myself as an "expert". It is just not that easy folks. We are always learning......and I have learned some things from newbies right here on BYC. I have a fellow now that it PMing me about a possible error in the Hamburg beak description and as of now I think he may be correct. As far as I know he has no story.
I'll ask.

Walt

The only thing that doesn't make sense to me for the APA is why they don't shorten the acceptance process for certain things or waive it...for instance it doesn't make sense to me that the Black Plymouth Rock Large Fowl would have to go through the long process when A) The bantam version is in there B) It's a recognized breed already just a "new" color and C) The Blue Plymouth Rock is, which in it's breeding makes Black Plymouth Rocks. Same could be said of the Splash, and in Andalusians as well.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

The only thing that doesn't make sense to me for the APA is why they don't shorten the acceptance process for certain things or waive it...for instance it doesn't make sense to me that the Black Plymouth Rock Large Fowl would have to go through the long process when A) The bantam version is in there B) It's a recognized breed already just a "new" color and C) The Blue Plymouth Rock is, which in it's breeding makes Black Plymouth Rocks. Same could be said of the Splash, and in Andalusians as well.

It would probably be better for Walt to chime in here, but I imagine that it's because it's a slippery slope. Where is the line drawn? As a teacher I'm always looking for loop-holes for my individual students to get their way, but with a national organization the potential for unresolvable headaches is monumentous. The volunteers filling the positions would be burnt out too quickly trying to accommodate all of the whims.

 

[BGMatt]

I can see how it'd be a slippery slope. Was just thinking primarily about blue varieties that produce by definition black and splashes, and since color descriptions exist for those already...

 

[gjensen]

To me, it is whether a bird looks the part and plays the part.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Walt, I agree. A lot of it boils down to the story.

If the story doesn't matter, then why has the APA bothered to acknowledge "heritage"?

For me, the history of these various breeds is half the fun. It allows me to apply some scholarship to my hobby aside from the genetics and husbandry knowledge I am always seeking. It is disheartening to hear such a learned poultryman discount the history of various breeds. Particularly since I have seen you share so many stories of this breed or that which account for fascinating and valuable histories in their own right.

 

[fowlman01]

The only thing that doesn't make sense to me for the APA is why they don't shorten the acceptance process for certain things or waive it...for instance it doesn't make sense to me that the Black Plymouth Rock Large Fowl would have to go through the long process when A) The bantam version is in there B) It's a recognized breed already just a "new" color and C) The Blue Plymouth Rock is, which in it's breeding makes Black Plymouth Rocks. Same could be said of the Splash, and in Andalusians as well.

None of this is a big deal to me and they don't have to go through as many fiery hoops as new breeds. if they are accepted by the ABA it is not a problem to get them in. The ABA/APA Standards Committee's are working very well together these days. The APA has a color Standard for Splash. I sponsored the blue Plymouth Rock bantam in the SOP, before I was on the committee..

Someone has to come forward and start the process and pay the fee's etc. This is not an APA problem, it's a lack of interest problem. The APA loses money on the fee's as they absorb more than half the cost to insert them into the SOP. The process is in print in the latest APA yearbook.

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

I can see how it'd be a slippery slope. Was just thinking primarily about blue varieties that produce by definition black and splashes, and since color descriptions exist for those already...

The APA does not discriminate against blacks from a blue mating. If it looks black and is entered that way it is not against the rules, but you won't win against a real black of the same breed. I can usually tell if it is a back from a blue...they just don't look right and they don't usually have the intensity of the real blacks.

Walt