Red vs Mahogany vs Copper

[Amer]

Not to get off the subject, but I worked hard and felt like sharing.

View attachment 1848138

Cool!

 

[allbreednut]

I've actually already done this, prior to creating this thread. Colors varied considerably, which is what confused me. As for Rhode Island Reds, most of them look brown or reddish brown to me. Some are so dark they are almost black. The reddish brown, I assume, is the mahogany. None were what I would think of as "red" which is why I posted the question in the first place. I thought maybe seeing how others classified the colors might clear things up a bit.

I did look at Nicalandia's pictures above and they did help. Based on those alone, it seems that mahogany is a deeper, brownish-red and copper is a brighter, orange-red.

I'm getting the feeling that colors and color names are not consistent across breeds though, which would explain why I can't seem to pin them down. I had also assumed that if specific colors were mentioned in a SOP, that meant those colors had an accepted definition or range. That definition or range was what I was looking for; however, I'm beginning to think that base assumption was incorrect. The more I delve into it, the more subjective it seems to be ... which, admittedly, is often the case when it comes to color. We all seem to see and interpret them a bit differently.

I'd still be interested in seeing pics of birds with these colors, just to see just how varied everyone's interpretation of them is. However, I don't expect to find a firm definition of each color, as I suspect one doesn't exist. As I said above, it seems to be very subjective.

I've actually already done this, prior to creating this thread. Colors varied considerably, which is what confused me. As for Rhode Island Reds, most of them look brown or reddish brown to me. Some are so dark they are almost black. The reddish brown, I assume, is the mahogany. None were what I would think of as "red" which is why I posted the question in the first place. I thought maybe seeing how others classified the colors might clear things up a bit.

I did look at Nicalandia's pictures above and they did help. Based on those alone, it seems that mahogany is a deeper, brownish-red and copper is a brighter, orange-red.

I'm getting the feeling that colors and color names are not consistent across breeds though, which would explain why I can't seem to pin them down. I had also assumed that if specific colors were mentioned in a SOP, that meant those colors had an accepted definition or range. That definition or range was what I was looking for; however, I'm beginning to think that base assumption was incorrect. The more I delve into it, the more subjective it seems to be ... which, admittedly, is often the case when it comes to color. We all seem to see and interpret them a bit differently.

I'd still be interested in seeing pics of birds with these colors, just to see just how varied everyone's interpretation of them is. However, I don't expect to find a firm definition of each color, as I suspect one doesn't exist. As I said above, it seems to be very subjective.

 

[allbreednut]

"Subjective" is absolutely what it isn't, when it comes to chicken colors. The standards of perfection for other livestock can be pretty vague, but with poultry standards, the color of every feather is specified.

You just need to either attend a lot of poultry shows (ones with actual show birds) or do a lot of studying the standards of perfection. I grew up around standard-bred poultry, so I sort of absorbed all this by osmosis, but when you're starting out as an adult, there's no way to do it except through time and experience.