Is my Welsummer hen up to the SOP?

[SummerTheAnimalGirl]

 

[Bertram]

I would say no. Her neck should be thinner with her back straight across and then the tail at about a 80 degree angle. I would want her comb smaller with 5 pronounced points and her legs a little brighter yellow. Her back and wings should be a bit darker than her breast. Though keep in mind it's hard to know for certain from a picture.

 

[Amer]

As hatchery birds go, she is very close, in my opinion. Nice, deep body on her. But she should have tighter plumage and no cushion over the back, which should be flat and longer.
She has an excellent head shape and nice yellow shanks, but her wing color is a little uneven.
Her tail should be a 60 degree angle, which she seems to match.
All things considered, she would be a good bird if she just had a longer, flatter back. But she still represents her breed.

 

[Bertram]

As hatchery birds go, she is very close, in my opinion. Nice, deep body on her. But she should have tighter plumage and no cushion over the back, which should be flat and longer.
She has an excellent head and nice yellow shanks, but her wing color is a little uneven.
Her tail should be a 60 degree angle, which she seems to match.
All things considered, she would be a good bird if she just had a longer, flatter back. But she still represents her breed.

Are you a poultry judge? I thought that body conformation was more important than color but I could be wrong. The bird did not seem to mach the picture and description in the APA Standard.

 

[Amer]

Are you a poultry judge? I thought that body conformation was more important than color but I could be wrong. The bird did not seem to mach the picture and description in the APA Standard.

I am a fair judge, and I will soon begin the work to acquire an APA license.
I wouldn’t compare her to the picture, the pictures are the artist’s depiction of the Standard. The words are where we form our own interpretations.
The artist's depiction of Welsummers is especially faulty, imo.
I wouldn’t say she is show quality, but the question: is she up to the SOP? is a very vague question, so I simply compared her to the Standard. I believe she represents her breed, which is more than I could say of hatchery Orpingtons or Australorps, etc though I can’t judge her size.
Also, I think her comb shape and leg color are just fine. The comb is only worth five points in the Standard (and having an extra comb point is only a 1/2 point deduction) and you said the leg color is wrong. It isn’t. The Standard says no cut shall be made for faded legs in females that are producing, but her legs aren’t even faded. A lot of people look at the comb first because it’s easy, and will look at the leg shade because they don’t realize that.

 

[Amer]

Type color condition is true, but it is a simplified way of putting it. If you look at the scale of points you can see both color and shape are taken into account and condition is allotted its own 10 points.
In the wings, color is more important than shape.
Rather than look at the type, then color, then condition, judges take all things into account, since all things are important.

 

[Bertram]

That makes sense. I know that I am quite harsh on my show birds and that might have translated to the Welsummer. I would not show her or consider her high quality.