These are the comments and results of Day Seventeen 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:
A short one today, with not a lot of participant feedback. If you want to compete for the best explaination, now is a great time to step in and share thoughts and opinions as we get down to the last few days.
Anyways, my two cents:
There's good and bad to both birds--neither is perfect. The Jersey has better conditioning to her and I'd argue a better photo overall. The cochin is cruched and posed in a way that makes it hard to tell how much is hunched-over and how much is type. I like the heads to both birds, with the thick skull and neck leading into the back.
I'd argue the cochin has the better bottom line to her, with a nice round breast (it could be a bit more extreme for the show world, given the meat qualities of the breast, but for breeding it needs to be manageable enough to still move freely and not touch the ground). The Jersey Giant, on the other hand, looks like her back is just a bit too short, giving her the rounded look of the larger Asiatic meat birds.
While both Cochins and Giants are supposed to be meat birds, Jerseys are a dual purpose while Cochins are almost solely meat. Therefore, with the Jersey Giant type, you need them to be a bit more balanced on the front end--too much energy to breast meat will lead to less egg production. The Jersey also has a bit of cushion coming into her tail that adds to the rounded look that is just going to place her lower than the cochin for me.
Top Participant Evaluations:
"My choice stands with the jersey. She is a nice representation of the breed and has a lot of promise. I'm still not a fan of the female cochin, but she was chosen to represent the pair."
-Catherine Cleveland
"I would choose the Jersey Giant over the Cochin. She is a pullet so still needs to fill out in the breast but she has a lot of length and depth in the keel. Meanwhile, the Cochin hen is quite flat in that area, lacking the roundness required for a Cochin. The Cochin is lacking condition overall, her wing looks almost split and the lower main tail feathers extend beyond the coverts instead of being enveloped by the cushion. Her shape overall looks like a square if you take the right angle of her breast and the right angle of the top of the tail. Cochins ought to be more round. She does have an excellent head with a good, wide skull (though her beak is a little long) and her thighs and feet are profuse and well-feathered. The Jersey Giant does need a touch longer back and a higher tail angle. But her definition and condition put her over the Cochin today for me."
-Jada Spiegel
Breeder Comments:
" I like a lot on both birds! Going to be a tough job for the judge." Susan Buchanan
Judge's Evaluations:
"The cochin hen takes first here, she just has a better topline overall when compared to the Jersey Giant." -Judge Brian Decker
Comments