These are the comments and results of Day Five 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:
Lots of second-guessing and people revising their decisions after reading other posts. That's what this is meant for! I loved the conversations going on and the discussion.
At first glance, I almost took the female to be a bantam langshan without the feathered legs. The tail is getting a bit too high and approaching that classic "u" shape. Her wingset is decent in my opinion, more so than the cock's. The male also looks to have a nice broad back through the saddle. I wish he'd pick up his wings a touch, but it's hard to see in the photo. My pick was AUM31.
Top Participant Evaluations:
"The male's type is much more to the Australorp Standard. His tail is a bit low, and his beak isn't well-shapen, but looking at the female, she has more of a Barnevelder back and tail carriage than that of an Australorp. Her back is medium and her tail is about 50 degress unlike an Australorp which has a moderately long back and a 40 degree tail angle. Her neck is also too short. It should be medium length. Her tail is actually higher than the top of her head. I think what unbalances her is that her legs are set too far forward. If they were farther back she would have an overall downwards slope to her back and it would be longer. Also, her tail would be lower and she wouldn't be leaning forward giving that short-necked appearance. Both specimens have a bit too low of wings. Both are sort of leaning their head forwards rather than carrying it upright. To be fair, chickens do that a lot, I think it's just the posing."
-Jada Spiegel
"At first glance the girl stood out as flashy and "look at me ", but the male is more correct to standard. The female has a bit too much arch in her back, and the tail i feel is sitting a bit too high. So between the two the male is my pick in this today."
-Catherine Cleveland
"AUF32--I like how her stance is more correct when compared to the male, and how she carries her wings higher and more set to the standard. Her tail is a little higher when you compare her to the male who also has the better coloration but only by a slim margin. I also appreciate the females condition and top line over the male!."
-Joshua Black
"I’m going to go with AUM31. I was originally going to go with the female due to her stance and better wing hold but the the males tail angle is much better than than the females, which is a bit too high I believe. It’s a back and forth for me but I’m going to say the male. Both are beautiful birds!"
-Nadia Konesko
Breeder Comments:
Zachary had some wonderful comments on these as well:
"Some good feedback on both birds. Both have strengths and weaknesses. In the female, she has multiple good points (feather quality, structure of the body, etc). In the photo chosen, it shows her tail too high and her body almost looks compacted (my fault). She was a good breeder. In the male, I would have liked a more defined breast, little more length of leg and a higher tail set. When looking at the head on the male it’s a very minor point cut. But overall, the male is definitely better just based on these two photos. Remember, use the scale of points for deductions."
-Zachary Wrzesinski
Judge's Evaluations:
"AUF32 takes second, AUM31 takes first. AUF32 has her tail too high in the photo. Overall, AM31 also has a better type." -Judge Brian Decker
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