I have answered this question before but I am afraid I am not very good at articulating the answer in a way that makes sense to you. Perhaps if I understood your point of view I could better frame the answer so that you can at least understand what I am saying even if you do not agree with me, so a question or three for you:
-Why do you want the Cream Legbar to be accepted and added to the APA SOP?
I think that it is a very worthwhile endeavor to get any breed accepted on its own merits. I like this breed and the varieties that have identified been within the cream legbar. I personally have a high value for each variety of the cream legbar. The gold-toned birds are striking beautiful as are the white birds as are the true cream birds. I do not take lightly the belittling of the non-cream varieties within the cream legbar. Quite frankly, I find it off putting and offensive.
-Do you think the history of the breed, and the Standard that was accepted into the British equivalent of the APA SOP, matter to the drafting of the current Cream Legbar SOP, and if not, why not?
I think the standard that was developed in the UK for cream legbar and the history of the cream legbar are important and serve as historical context and a convenient template. That said, just because the PGCB adopted their standard in the way they did does not mean that we need to do it the same way on this side of the pond. I can accept historical developments and perspectives on the cream legbar and believe they have value. But I think that we need to chart the course that we want for the cream legbar and its varieties here in the USA. The PGCB template does not override our judgement and choice for what we believe is correct here in the USA. I personally really do not care if whether we align with or depart from the PGCB standard. The history of the cream legbar has been documented and the USA standard will be what we say it is. The APA will work with whatever the breed organization determines is correct.
-You stated that "the Cream Legbar has few characteristics in common with the related Gold and Silver"-we know that the crest and blue egg (all simple dominant genes) are two type differences, could you please explain what the other type differences are between the Cream and the other two varieties Legbars-- becasue they have the exact same type description (other than the crest and the eggs) and I am really confused?
I may have overstated this in pushing my point. My contention still rests upon the blue egg laying and cresting. It is not just a matter of two dominant genes. Can you identify any other chicken breed in the world in which two or more varieties of the same breed lay different color eggs? I have never heard of such a thing until learning of the legbars.
When the Chilean hen was bred into the original legbars, the resultant birds became radically different from other legbars. While cream legbars maintained a similar size and shape to other legbars, the cresting, blue egg laying, and cream colors became the prominent features. This was standardized and the cream legbars bred true until they almost became extinct. The efforts to save this breed introduced many other genes that can profoundly affect the melanization and colors of the cream legbar as we abundantly see today. I personally believe that an error was made in calling the cream legbar a variety within the legbar breed. I have read the history and many supporting articles and have yet to find a compelling logic to indicate that the cream legbar is just another legbar variety.
I look forward to hearing your reply!
I hope this helps. I am not trying to be argumentative. I have found in life that I take very little on faith and I tend to question everything. Especially things that do not seem to make sense to me. I have seen too many situations where a mistake was made in the past and rather than address and fix the mistake people live with continuing the mistake, if for no other reason than it has always been done that way.
