These are the comments and results of Day Ten of the March Madness poultry judging. For previous pairings, instructions, and a copy of the bracket, please see our other "blog" posts. All of the participant comments are available on our FB page and previous posts here.
Breanna's Comments:
I am still waiting on the comments from Mr. Decker on some of the ducks yet--it has been a long night for me and I am catching up on work. They will hopefully be posted this evening.
These two birds balance each other decently. What one lacks, the other seems to make up for fairly well. You can tell they are both from the same lineage as the color is pretty even across both of them. The male has a bit more of that classic Orpington shape, with the concave sweep needed in the back, and a nice tight wing carriage. He lacks, however, in the depth of breast and overall fullness--some of that comes with age, as orps mature slowly and he appears to be maybe only 9 months or so, but some of that is type-wise as well (the head, while not being crow headed, isn't as wide as it could be, indicating that he may not flesh out as much). The hen is almost the opposite. I like the depth of breast, and the overall size on her. She looks massive, much as the bird should be. She does have much more cushion than an orp should have, approaching a bunny tail in the breed, and her wings are lower (almost like a cochin's). The cushion especially is a trait to watch in orps, and therefore earns her second today for me.
Top Participant Evaluations:
"The Orpington hen is better than the cock. She has better depth of breast and a better beak. She does have a bit too much cushion, the transition to her tail could be smoother, The Brahma bantam hen is a good example of what that should look like. The Orpington does have the correct length of tail though. (It should be moderately long.) The male lacks that and has a rather low tail angle. Both specimens have uneven coloring."
-Jada Spiegel
"The male is okay, not a fan of his comb, feel like it could have better definition, his body type is decent. The girl, is my choice, however, one fall back is hard to tell whether she has a bit extra weight on her or she's just fluffy, especially around the upper legs. She stands out to me more proper breed type for a well-structured orpington."
-Catherine Cleveland
"Female has a better chest and shape...male has the better color..the female has some black peppering in the tail while the male doesn't. Both have good wing carriage. Overall I would pick the female..even though she has the black in the tail she is a much better shape and type."
-Emmy Lineweaver
"I looked at this class very briefly this morning, and now later in the evening I get to study them more. In the morning I determined that the female would be ahead of the class because of the fullness of her shape. Yet as I study her more, she does have some flaws. Her coloring is very light, almost pale, and I would like to see a more rich, even color to her plumage. I also would like to see a more level back and tail. There is not supposed to be an angle at the tail and back conjunction. She is also carrying her tail down. The other thing about her is that she has an almost Cochin like fluff. This is given away by her tail, and by the abundance of fluff that hides the hock profile. Meanwhile, the male does have the better plumage (can be more even), back and tail line, fluff, and wing placement and carriage, he gives up in shape. I would like to see a more round and fuller breast, and longer top line to him. I place the male over the female."
-Nicholas Peters
Breeder Comments:
"The cockerel needs a deeper chest. The hen needs a darker color and less of a hump or cushion on her top line. From this picture only, the hen is a better representation in type. " -Jennifer Bryant, Bryant's Roost
Judge's Evaluations:
"BOF42 needs to watch the feather quality in the tail, and BOM45 needs more chest and breast overall, but the male takes first." -Judge Brian Decker
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