Partridge Color Variation Question?

[SilkieCRZYness]

This is predominately about silkies, but I have seen so many different colored Partridge Silkies. Is there a right or wrong? One that most prefer? What does the Standard call for? Thank you

 

[Lotsapaints]

SOP partridge is the same for all the breeds...mine look mahogany red with a black chest greenish cast to the feathers they really look like a red, green and black chicken how that translates to a Silky I dunno but I'm not typing out all the paragraphs and the hens have a red mahogany neck laced in greenish black and the rest of the body is deep mahogany laced with black which looks greenish beautiful is all I call them.

Taking pictures of them never does the color justice

 

[destiny_56085]

APA Partridge Color Standard

Color of Male
HEAD: Surface of feather, brilliant shade of rich red.
NECK: Hackle - surface of feather, lustrous, greenish black with narrow edging around entire surface of rich brilliant red; shaft, black: to match saddle. Front of neck - black.
BACK: Surface of feather, lustrous greenish black with narrow edging around entire surface of a medium shade of rich brilliant red, a slight shafting of rich red is permissible. The surface of upper back should appear to be rich glossy red when viewed from a distance too great to distinguish the individual feathers.
SADDLE: Surface of feather, lustrous greenish black with narrow edging around the entire surface of rich brilliant red, shaft black; to match hackle in color.
TAIL: Main tail - black, shafts black. Sickles and lesser sickles - lustrous black. Coverts - lustrous greenish black, with narrow edging around the entire surface of rich brilliant red.
WINGS: Shoulders and fronts - black. Bows - medium shade of brilliant red. Coverts - lustrous greenish black, forming a well defined bar when wing is folded. Primaries exposed portion of outer web forming wing bay, reddish bay; shafts, black.
BREAST: Lustrous black with greenish sheen.
BODY & STERN: Body - black. Stern - fluff, black, slightly tinged red.
LOWER THIGHS: Black.

Color of Female
PLUMAGE: Penciling in the partridge female should be of uniform width and conform to the shape of the feather. Each feather of the back, breast, body, wing bows and thighs should have three pencilings; the center black, then alternately reddish bay and black, ending with reddish bay edging around entire surface. More attention should be given to the brightness and sharpness of the reddish bay ground color and the almost jet black penciling than whether the bird appears lighter or darker than an individual preference. The ideal is one uniform color over the entire body of the bird.
HEAD: Deep reddish bay.
NECK: Hackle - surface of feather, center portion black; slightly penciled with deep reddish bay, with narrow edging around the entire surface of deep reddish bay. Front of neck - same as breast.
BACK & CUSHION: Deep reddish bay with distinct pencilings of black.
TAIL: Main tail - black, except two top feathers, which are deep reddish bay on the upper web, penciled with black, shafts black. Coverts - deep reddish bay, with distinct penciling of black.
WINGS: Shoulders, fronts, bows, and coverts - deep reddish bay, with distinct pencilings of black. Primaries - black with edging of deep reddish bay on outer webs, shafts black. Secondaries - inner webs black; outer webs deep reddish bay, with distinct penciling of black extending around outer edge of feather, shafts black.
BREAST: Deep reddish bay with distinct pencilings of black.
BODY & STERN: Body - deep reddish bay penciled with black. Stern - fluff, deep reddish bay.
LOWER THIGHS: Deep reddish bay, penciled with black.

UNDERCOLOR: Slate in all directions.

DISQUALIFICATIONS: None listed.

DEFECTS: Purple sheen in males. Unevenness of ground color in females. Dullness, mealiness, and smokiness in ground color of females. White in undercolor. Red on partridge males is not to be so dark as to give the impression that the bird is black. No male is to be awarded a first premium if ten percent or more of his breast feathers are other than black.

 

[SilkieCRZYness]

Awesome Amy! That was exactly what I was looking for. Now I hear people refer to their partridge silkies like, my light partridge, my dark partridge. Are all of these shades of partridge allowed in the show ring? Thanks

 

[destiny_56085]

From my observations, people are throwing anything in the show ring with any shades of black and brown and calling it partridge. To really correct the color on silkies would take ALOT of work. Nikki from Hattrick has some of the best ones I've seen so far on her website. The one rooster is correctly colored and the other has very nice type but lacks the black in the breast. I think there's a reason they don't make champion row very often.