CSU - Chicken State University- Large Fowl SOP

[Texasmja]

Calling all newcomers to Poultry and those just waiting to learn from our EXCELLENT teachers!! Look what I found for those of us that do not have the APA SOP. I found online copies of the American Standards of Perfection! These are very old and do not include the more modern breeds but at least it is a place to start learning and understanding what our teachers are telling us!

Please go to http://openlibrary.org/search?q=THE+AMERICAN+STANDARD+OF+PERFECTION+POULTRY where it shows a book and below says read you click on that and you can read the entire book. As I said it is VERY old from 1910 but I remember seeing someone comment that they thought the older SOP might be better. Well I think any SOP is better than none. Enjoy everyone!

Cindy

Thanks, lots of great links on that page.

 

[ronniewayne]

i attended the bluebonnet classic show in College Station got the greatest book deals at the silent auction.. i got a 1940 s o p for $20.00 this one had A O Schilling on the board and he did the illustrations, and a 1985 sop more for current use Diane Jacky illustrated this one, i got a 1920 copywrite THE MATING AND BREEDING OF POULTRY BY LAMON/SLOCUM,and a1930 copywrite POULTRY HUSBANDRY BY MORLEY A JULL..A great show also..btw i read the 1st 50 pages ..thanks for the heads up on what to read first.

 

[fowlman01]

Sorry for the delay. .........had to take care of things here first. Since Fred is pretty clear that this should be educational, I'm not going to get into which bird is best. If we do this right, you will know. I am still collecting the pics.

It is too bad this picture is so small, but it is a good representation of a NH male.



I can see that the front of the bird is rounded and has no diagonal line instead of curve under the lower breast. Wide back, nicely arched neck and nice head. Wings folded tightly to the body. Wide tail feathers and the birds overall condition is very good.

This is going to take longer than I realized, so bear with me. It is hard to talk color when you look at these as there are too many factors that can make them look different.

In any event I should have been organizing before class.

Walt

 

[gjensen]

Maybe this would be better for a critique.

 

[Fred's Hens]

The weight of this "university" class does not rest solely upon the judges, but also upon the breeders exhibiting, to display knowledge and understanding of the challenges of the Standard and how it is interpreted and artistically applied to the birds they who photos they have submitted.

While we deeply appreciate and value the participating APA judges and their work and contribution here, ALL breeders who post exhibitions are equally responsible to participate in the SOP discussions.

We shall take all the appropriate time required. There is no artificial "clock on the wall". Learning is our primary goal here. Thanks.

 

[NotAFarm]

APA Standard of Perfection
"SHAPE-MALE
COMB: Single, moderately large, well developed, set firmly on head, perfectly straight and up right having five well defined points, those in front and rear smaller than those in center; blade smooth, inclining slightly downward, but not following the contour of neck too closely."

My cockerel appears to have the "perfectly straight and up right" part but on the "five well defined points, those in front and rear smaller that those in center" is not so good. The "inclining slightly downward, but not following the contour of neck too closely", is what I am trying to "train my eye" for. My cockerel's comb does "incline slightly downward" but in comparison to gjensen's, Chris Herzog's and desertmarcy's males, not "enough". Which is the the best example of the SOP description on "following the contour of neck too closely" and which is the most correct as far as that particular part of the description?

9 month old cockerel

This is three different males that I have/had....
Male (a)

Quote: desertmarcy

 

[gjensen]

I have a meeting this morning. I could share some thoughts later today.

My hesitation is that I am no authority. I would not want to be distracting, or misleading. All I really have is opinions. I have been playing with NHs for 5/6 years, but only a couple years with these in particular. I think that I am starting to get it. I am a fan of this breed and little more.

I would like to ask Chris09 to share his illustration of the tipping/ticking topic. I think it is an excellent illustration. It is specific to the Rhodes, but applies to the New Hampshires as well. His illustration shows the correct markings.

I am literally at our CSU. Charleston Southern University. We have about $15,000,000 of work to do.

 

[Chris09]

I would like to ask Chris09 to share his illustration of the tipping/ticking topic. I think it is an excellent illustration. It is specific to the Rhodes, but applies to the New Hampshires as well. His illustration shows the correct markings.

Ask and you shale receive.

Chris

 

[fowlman01]

APA Standard of Perfection
"SHAPE-MALE
COMB: Single, moderately large, well developed, set firmly on head, perfectly straight and up right having five well defined points, those in front and rear smaller than those in center; blade smooth, inclining slightly downward, but not following the contour of neck too closely."

My cockerel appears to have the "perfectly straight and up right" part but on the "five well defined points, those in front and rear smaller that those in center" is not so good. The "inclining slightly downward, but not following the contour of neck too closely", is what I am trying to "train my eye" for. My cockerel's comb does "incline slightly downward" but in comparison to gjensen's, Chris Herzog's and desertmarcy's males, not "enough". Which is the the best example of the SOP description on "following the contour of neck too closely" and which is the most correct as far as that particular part of the description?

Some of the descriptions in the SOP are a bit difficult to understand.....at least for me. Chris Herzogs bird that you posted has a comb that appears to follow the head too closely in the pic, but still I don't think it would be faulted by most judges. The comb is a funny thing. The total comb is worth only 5 points, so many judges don't pay a lot of attention to extra points (1/2 point deduction for each point over or under 5 points). The comb on your male does not appear to follow the contour of the neck as much as it should. It is pretty subjective in my mind. One of the things many people ....including judges forget, is that the NH female can have a lopped comb. Desertmarcy and gjensons birds appear to have the correct comb setting.

This is a good time to check the profile of these males pictured in your post. The first three males pictured in your post have rounded/curved lower breasts. The last two males appear to have flat or indented lower chests. I am making these comments solely on how they look in the pictures.....they may not have this problem in real life. We will talk about color last, but I like these posts and hearing peoples perception of what the SOP means. This was some great observations on your part and also shows where the written word is only the start. Most of us need to see what the description really means. The APA SOP spends a lot more time on descriptions compared to the Standards of other countries, but it can still be difficult to understand for the novice.

Thanks to all for understanding that we need some flexibility in time to respond. Sometimes I create my own pressure to complete things. I think now that it is started it will be easier than I thought it would be. This post was a good subject to discuss.

Walt

 

[Lark Rise]

I wold have posted more pictures earlier, but my old computer crashed. This photo I had on the GNH thread. I'm not trying to scoot in late, but just responding to the previous post to ask a question. Would this be an example of striped?