Silver laced cochin

[orangesplash]

please I need expert advise on the quality of these silver laced Cochin please.
Age? Lacing? What features to look at?

 

[Valhalla Acres]

Comb, face, wattles, and earlobes should be a bright red. The beak: Dark horn, shading to yellow at the point. Their head should have a silvery white color and each feather having a black stripe tapering to a fine point near its extremity. That's what I can tell you about the head. I know a little bit about the body. I would recommend buying a Standard of Perfection if you want to show these birds.

 

[orangesplash]

What about these ?

 

[Gray Farms]

Female isn't to bad, some thin and incomplete lacing here and there. Male has some major faults. Comb is kinda large for a Cochin and his points are all over the place. Many of his back and saddle feathers have a lot of smuttiness. Wing bars should be nice and white, he has a lot of black specks in his. He is totally missing his tail feathers so couldn't say how they are. They aren't the best but no where near the worst either. They'd be a good start, but need improvement for future offspring to place in shows.

 

[orangesplash]

Thank you so much for helping me out. When I told the seller all of this, he didn’t any words to say. And just said alright fine. I’ll sell it to someone else!!

 

[Gray Farms]

Glad to help. In my experience if the seller gets offended when you point out flaws they either don't know the standard and don't know what to look for. Or they knew the flaws were there and were trying to pass lesser quality stock off at a higher price, hoping the buyer wouldn't notice. I personally would never buy breeding stock without them being in full feather. He could have grown his tail back in with a totally white feather in it for instance. This trait is very hard to breed out as well. Its better to want something you don't have than to have something you don't want.

 

[orangesplash]

I am really grateful to you for giving me such sound advise.
God bless you dear!

Glad to help. In my experience if the seller gets offended when you point out flaws they either don't know the standard and don't know what to look for. Or they knew the flaws were there and were trying to pass lesser quality stock off at a higher price, hoping the buyer wouldn't notice. I personally would never buy breeding stock without them being in full feather. He could have grown his tail back in with a totally white feather in it for instance. This trait is very hard to breed out as well. Its better to want something you don't have than to have something you don't want.