Does not meet sop, not a breed?

[Miriah132]

I got curious from seeing so many Facebook posts “what breed is my chicken” with answers like “that bird has yellow legs so it is a barred rock, not a cuckoo marans”. I have also heard from multiple people that, if a bird does not meet the breeds sop(within reason) that it is not considered that breed, even if the parents were. So take for example, if for some odd reason an egg hatched from two white rocks with white earlobes instead of red, that specific chick would not be considered a white rock?(not sure if that even possible but it’s just an example)

 

[JedJackson]

I got curious from seeing so many Facebook posts “what breed is my chicken” with answers like “that bird has yellow legs so it is a barred rock, not a cuckoo marans”. I have also heard from multiple people that, if a bird does not meet the breeds sop(within reason) that it is not considered that breed, even if the parents were. So take for example, if for some odd reason an egg hatched from two white rocks with white earlobes instead of red, that specific chick would not be considered a white rock?(not sure if that even possible but it’s just an example)

Barred rocks and cuckoo Marans have a similar color pattern but rocks have yellow legs and Marans have white legs, so it is something people use to differentiate those breeds.

In the case of a white rock with white ear lobes, people would guess there is crossing involved, so would probably call it a mixed breed. It's very, very unlikely two purebred parents of a breed with red earlobes would produce a bird with white earlobes. But if it did happen, then yes, it would still be a white rock-- it's just that most people wouldn't believe it. And also, since the breed description calls for red earlobes, the bird with white earlobes probably wouldn't be used in breeding.

Chicken breeds can also develop mutations, and when that happens with color, we call it a sport. For instance, in the Standard, some of the early silver laced Wyandottes produced all black birds. They were still Wyandottes, but they were black, and became the foundation of the new black variety of that breed. That has happened quite a number of times, although new color varieties are also created through cross breeding.

I hope that helps answer your question a little bit.

 

[Tesumph]

It’s the same reason you wouldn’t call a black dog a golden retriever. If you did get a black puppy from two golden retriever parents, then there was certainly some mixed breeding going on and the parents shouldn’t be advertised as purebred.

There’s some occasional oopsie gene mistakes, but if you’re breeding for SOP then you cull those out, and you’re left with a very pure bloodline with extremely predictable results.

You have to draw the line somewhere for what counts as the true breed and what is considered a mix/mutt. Oftentimes a very poor representation of the breed will just be called “hatchery quality” to recognize that it’s not SOP, but still somewhat close.

 

[Mosey2003]

The thing is, most of those FB posts are from people getting a mixed shipment of hatchery chicks, like the "rare breed special" and the like, or picking them up from swaps. So yeah, they're gonna be hatchery quality and have faults, but they generally resemble the breed they should be, like the yellow vs. white legs for Rocks vs Marans. Most people in those sort of chicken groups don't even know there's any difference between what hatcheries sell and what an SOP breeder has. I don't mean that in a snarky way, just saying. And people just tend to really like playing the guess the breed game.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

agree with above. I've also noticed that many of the people who respond of the fb page are more amateur than some of the people on the forum. For instance, Every post for gender are "Hen or Roo"... people start answering using those terms, when most of the chickens are young and under a year. A chicken under a year is a pullet or a cockerel, not a hen or roo.

 

[cgmccary]

SOP description is phenotype based. A bird can also just be the breed but a poor specimen/ example of a breed. MOST birds are not SQ specimens of their breed, still the breed. However, hatchery stock most of the time are mutts for the most part, fwiw

 

[Egghead_Jr]

There are sports of a breed then there are genetic throwbacks to past cross breeding. A Plymouth Rock would never have white earlobes, it's impossible. If a chick came out with them it's most definitely not a Plymouth Rock. Same with leg color. If an "Orpington" has yellow legs its decidedly not an Orpington. There is a base to what makes a breed. Skin color, ear color and body type are sacrosanct. If a bird does not meet the basic of a breed then it is not the breed.

If I breed the skinniest and least fluffy Cochin I can find then back cross with the skinniest and least fluffy offspring or make second generation with pair of least Cochin offspring what will come out will be decidedly no longer Cochin even though we started with pure birds. We are not keeping dynasties that are royal due to lineage rather maintaining or creating birds that meet the criteria of a breed. Then they are that breed.

 

[Miriah132]

There are sports of a breed then there are genetic throwbacks to past cross breeding. A Plymouth Rock would never have white earlobes, it's impossible. If a chick came out with them it's most definitely not a Plymouth Rock. Same with leg color. If an "Orpington" has yellow legs its decidedly not an Orpington. There is a base to what makes a breed. Skin color, ear color and body type are sacrosanct. If a bird does not meet the basic of a breed then it is not the breed.

If I breed the skinniest and least fluffy Cochin I can find then back cross with the skinniest and least fluffy offspring or make second generation with pair of least Cochin offspring what will come out will be decidedly no longer Cochin even though we started with pure birds. We are not keeping dynasties that are royal due to lineage rather maintaining or creating birds that meet the criteria of a breed. Then they are that breed.

That’s more answered my question! Thank you!

 

[336White Phoenix]

Maybe just me but if both parents are the breed u have to do something seriously wrong for it to not turn out to be considered that breed no???

 

[OhZark Biddies]

The comparison to dogs is interesting in that the big difference would be that you have breed registries.

So even if 2 parents are the same breed, and the offspring exhibit traits that are not desirable, they are still considered that breed, just not eligible to be registered.

I'm not aware of any registries in the chicken world, but I guess there are traits that do prevent some birds from being eligible for show?

To me if you hatch chicks from two barred rock parents, even if they have poor lines and conformity, etc. the chicks are still barred rocks... just not barred rocks that you'd want to use in a breeding project or use for show.

Now if one of those chicks was an all black sport, I wouldn't call that a barred rock, but it would still be a Plymouth rock, right?