- May 19, 2009
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Question for Walt on this list because I see you are here
and don't know where else you might be conversing:
Hi Walt,
Remember you said some time back that folks nowdays had come across some things in the Standard which hadn't been noticed for decades? I think I have finally figued ot the linguistic problem with the description of the hackle in the Light Sussex. Yes, I said it probably happened because the APA was seeing English birds who had super hackles, which were a fad in Britian at that time.
But now I have found more, from John Henry Robinson , no less. That surprised me. Reading in :
Principles and practice of poultry culture - Page 605
books.google.com
John Henry Robinson - 1912 - 611 pages
http://tinyurl.com/6wpnbq6
From the Glossary:
Laced, having the feathers marked with
a band or stripe around the edge.
The term is used only with reference
to ordinary and wide feathers. The
long, narrow feathers of the hackles
of cocks and hens and the saddles of
cocks, when marked in this way, are
said to be striped
--------------------
This being said, Walt, would it not be more proper to term the Light Sussex hackle as
"white feather stripped with solid, lustrous, greenish black...'" instead of the current,
"solid, lustrous, greenish black....with narrow lacing of silvery white...".
Actually, I don't think the APA is gonna change the SOP because I see a problem with hackle terminology.
Perhaps it is enough I understand it. However, isn't it true that it is 2 different sets of genetics which create
either a black feather laced with white *or* a white feather stripped with black. That's what worries me.
It seems to me it is easier to get the historic hackle visually if the feather is white stripped with black.
It seems to me the black feather laced with white would lead more to the untypical "superhackle", against
which Outram warns. We see so many Light Sussex with black neckaces laid across their withers.
I can't help but think it is because new breeders think the laced hackle feather is all that is required...and if
the black gets broader and broader until the hackle is a caricature if its proper color ratios (super hackle)...that's ok as long
as there is a white lacing around the edges.
However, stripping carries a different connotation. Visually, it seems to me, the very action of calling the
black a stripping would limit the width of the black in breeder's visualizations, thus rendering the color ratios
in the hackle at more proper percentages.
Best,
Karen
and don't know where else you might be conversing:
Hi Walt,
Remember you said some time back that folks nowdays had come across some things in the Standard which hadn't been noticed for decades? I think I have finally figued ot the linguistic problem with the description of the hackle in the Light Sussex. Yes, I said it probably happened because the APA was seeing English birds who had super hackles, which were a fad in Britian at that time.
But now I have found more, from John Henry Robinson , no less. That surprised me. Reading in :
Principles and practice of poultry culture - Page 605
books.google.com
John Henry Robinson - 1912 - 611 pages
http://tinyurl.com/6wpnbq6
From the Glossary:
Laced, having the feathers marked with
a band or stripe around the edge.
The term is used only with reference
to ordinary and wide feathers. The
long, narrow feathers of the hackles
of cocks and hens and the saddles of
cocks, when marked in this way, are
said to be striped
--------------------
This being said, Walt, would it not be more proper to term the Light Sussex hackle as
"white feather stripped with solid, lustrous, greenish black...'" instead of the current,
"solid, lustrous, greenish black....with narrow lacing of silvery white...".
Actually, I don't think the APA is gonna change the SOP because I see a problem with hackle terminology.
Perhaps it is enough I understand it. However, isn't it true that it is 2 different sets of genetics which create
either a black feather laced with white *or* a white feather stripped with black. That's what worries me.
It seems to me it is easier to get the historic hackle visually if the feather is white stripped with black.
It seems to me the black feather laced with white would lead more to the untypical "superhackle", against
which Outram warns. We see so many Light Sussex with black neckaces laid across their withers.
I can't help but think it is because new breeders think the laced hackle feather is all that is required...and if
the black gets broader and broader until the hackle is a caricature if its proper color ratios (super hackle)...that's ok as long
as there is a white lacing around the edges.
However, stripping carries a different connotation. Visually, it seems to me, the very action of calling the
black a stripping would limit the width of the black in breeder's visualizations, thus rendering the color ratios
in the hackle at more proper percentages.
Best,
Karen
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