Please Critique My New Moderns

[chickenlady]

This weekend I picked up 2 pairs of Moderns. 2 birchen cockerals and 1 silver blue pullet and 1 silver blue hen. Here is the first birchen. I am not sure what to look for. Please give me your honest opinion.

 

[Critter Crazy]

I know nothing about them, but I do know that athat is oone amazing looking bird!! Congrats to you!!!

 

[a2ms4chickens]

I think your birchen game looks great. We have one and he took 1st place at one of the shows. Yours looks like him.

I just asked a friend, who judges the shows, how a modern game is judged. He said that the cockerels are to stand straight, so that his legs and neck are all in a straight line, and his tail lies just below the horizontal line. Your guy looks like he already has the stance down.

Looking through the APA standard of perfection, he meets all the requirements. I think he will do really well in a show.

Good luck!

P.S. My son is picking up a birchen hen, right now, so our little birchen cock has a friend. They are great birds and with some handling, love to be held and talked to.

 

[Redfeathers]

Those are some great poses...look at those legs!

 

[chickenlady]

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering about his wings. Does the white strip have to be even on the entire wing? On his one wing, it is not a nice stripe, it is broken up by black feathers. Is this considered a disqualification? Also, Is this what the top of the wing should look like or does it appear that someone cut the first few feathers? All 4 of my new moderns have these funny little feathers. Is this normal or do I need to let them grow in? They are 8 months old now.

 

[Arklady]

They look pretty sweet, it would be cool if you could get a silver laced blue lol....

They look nice for cockrels I can't wait to see how they look with their mature feathers in. I bet they will look fabulous then!

Arklady

 

[NYREDS]

I am a judge and that's a niceBirchin! The wing bar could be stronger on the left wing but it's a defect not a diqualification. In all his strengths are greater than his weaknesses.
Those "funny little feathers " are normal.

I don't breed game so I'm not sure what a Birchen x Silver Blue will produce. Some of both I expect since they are the same colour pattern. I expect that Birchens Were used in creating Silver Blues. You may also get some Splashes.
Have fun wwith them.
MGBs are one of my favorites to judge. I like the way they present and they're very easy to handle.

 

[hencackle]

So beautiful! I love the way Moderns look.
Chickenlady...what is their temperament like?

NYREDS--it must be fun to judge, but I don't envy your having to choose between favorites!

 

[chickenlady]

Thank you very much. I am glad his wing bar will not be a DQ. My 7 year old son will be showing these 4 in an upcoming show in April. I would love to breed them. The man we bought them from says we will get 50%birchen - 50% silver blue.

Hencackle: As far as their temperament goes, they cannot be beat!! They are so calm and tame it is amazing. We bought them this weekend at a show and my son walked around all day holding the little silver blue pullet. She calmly sat in his hand all day without a problem. They seem to love hugs and kisses and attention. They seem very curious also. Here is a pic of the silver blue hen, she is almost two and starting to molt now but pretty non the less.

 

[hencackle]

Thanks Chickenlady! My birthday is in April, you can send me 2 of those sweet pullets!