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Hey caychris - Love your tag line.... Seems like I have heard that focus on ONLY ONE TRAIT is not the best approach for any breed. pouhamu - a standard of perfection is really a great thing...the Cream Legbar being new in the USA has a draft standard, and for the most part - we are thinking that the breed will be lucky if APA acceptance would happen in the next decade. During the next decade a number of things may be discovered and the 'style' may change - just take a look through historic chicken info and you will see that breeds have changed over the years.... So in the mean time a lot of people appreciate that there is a Legbar that is an autosexing breed (which is so very useful that those of us who raise them are plumb spoiled by the trait.), Lays a blue egg, and has a crest.... IF as caychris wishes for his flock, certain individuals do not meet the SOP - does that make the bird any less desirable if the bird has a trait that he IS looking for - such as high egg production. It makes sense that people who are attracted to a breed would promote, breed for and protect the traits that drew them to the breed in the first place. IMO it is a really legitimate question. In theory, the SOP would not be detrimental to the breed, HOWEVER there are some instances where over focus on just one thing may have led to diminished capacity in another aspect of the breed. In fact, the older lines of CLs from Greenfire Farms may have better production rates than the newest line. This is a definite consideration for people who want the best production. Here is another example. If the SOP calls for a six pound hen - and I have a 3.5 or 4.0 pound hen who daily lays an extra large, extra blue egg -- what would be the advantage of seeking to bulk up the hen ? Homesteaders, Livestock raisers etc. look at things like feed conversion ratio. Showers approach their flocks from a totally different place. Here is another thing... if one needs to keep one pen of chickens to get 'correct' males and a different pen to obtain 'correct' females -- to meet an SOP - then if the flock owner's original objective was sustainability--- does that requirement help or harm the breed. Should the SOP match the breed as it truly is? Or should the SOP be an idealized unreachable thing that some folks adhere to and breed toward - If you were to find out that some of the things in an SOP are impossible (Sigrid van Dort mentioned one that is written into the Dutch standards - ) --- Then what would you do? With the very long horizon of a true accepted SOP for the CL - each raiser should perhaps concentrate on the characteristics that drew them to the breed and are important to them. Now - floppy comb--- written into the draft standard as acceptable for the female - but not acceptable for the male. Will a straight comb harm egg production - probably not..would a floppy comb be a DQ in the CL show ring - probably. It occurs to me that the looks-only approach that the APA has may leave out important traits. I had thought that when I discovered the Sustainable Poultry Network I would encounter more Kindrid Spirits, and to a degree, I did - but seems that heritage poultry are their focus. Reminds me I should go ask Jim about that. The individuals own plan for their flock should outweigh any other influence....JMO
