Is this English Maran pullet 'showable'?

[Debbi]

Yes, the Marans in this country now goes by the APA approved standard. Unless you plan on showing her in England, she will be disqualified. The coloring should be very crisp and well defined, with three different colors. Reddish color on the hackles. Wheat coloring through the middle part of the body to the tail, and a creamy color from the breast on down the whole bottom half. This is not the exact wording in the SOP, just trying to give a quicky description. Wings and tail in the hens will have black (or blue if a blue wheaten) feathers. Go to the Wheaten Marans thread on here, Berkeley Springs (Randy) has some gorgeous hens!!

Here is the link to the thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/426622/wheaten-and-blue-wheaten-marans-discussion-thread

 

[qball53]

No, it wasn't the person who sold her to me, I actually posted a seperate question on BYC. I could have picked a feathered legged one, but she was most definatally the sweetest. I'm so glad I picked her, showable or not

I for one am a bit disappointed that the APA chose not to allow clean legs. Folks here decided they wanted to follow the "French" standard since their namesake is after all French. I believe every "line" of Marans in this country are still producing clean shanks on at least some of their birds. We purchased a Wheaten pair through Rare Breed auctions that was "French", yeah right the shanks are as clean as my bald head. I am afraid that this country is going to promote OVERLY feathered shanks on the Marans. Too many folks extolling the "marvelous streetsweepers" on their birds. We intend to keep some clean shank birds in our program to manage the amount of feathering prevelant in our birds. BTW I prefer the clean shank because I live in Houston which is quite often a muddy mess.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: She could be entered as "English Marans," basically as an unrecognised breed, but she would not be compared to any other bird unless other "English Marans" are entered. And she runs the risk of staff entering her simply as marans and then being DQed.

In some breeds you need breeders that are less than perfect for exhibition for one reason or another (male/female line breeding, lethal genes, etc.) But you shouldn't need clean legged birds to properly breed featherlegged ones.
You should

 

[Debbi]

She could be entered as "English Marans," basically as an unrecognised breed, but she would not be compared to any other bird unless other "English Marans" are entered. And she runs the risk of staff entering her simply as marans and then being DQed.

In some breeds you need breeders that are less than perfect for exhibition for one reason or another (male/female line breeding, lethal genes, etc.) But you shouldn't need clean legged birds to properly breed featherlegged ones.
You should

She still would not do well, due to her too dark and muddy coloring. The clean legged birds will still pop up, even when two feather legged birds are bred. There is no more French or English Marans here, since the breed has been APA approved, it is now an American Marans, and judged accordingly to the SOP, put forth by the parent Marans Club, and approved by the APA. I suggest you look at other show winners for Wheaten Marans, and even go further, and look to the Wheaten thread here on BYC, to see even better examples of the variety! If you want to show your birds, you need to know the USA Standard of Perfection for this variety!!