Chicken trivia question

[annefoley]

I would like to know if a Bantam and a Large Fowl of (RIR, Orpington, etc.) count as TWO breeds or ONE breed. Also, does anyone happen to know the total number of breeds accepted in the Standard?

[Evy]

I believe they're 2 distinct breeds. As for numbers, why not get a SOP & Bantam Standard & count them? It'd be educational.

[annefoley]

I started that project when I got hung up on the question of bantam vs. large fowl and if I should count them as one or two. I will report back on my findings if anyone is interested.

[Neil E. Grassbaugh]

Originally Posted by annefoley

I would like to know if a Bantam and a Large Fowl of (RIR, Orpington, etc.) count as TWO breeds or ONE breed. Also, does anyone happen to know the total number of breeds accepted in the Standard?

This is one that has been debated since the day the Standard was written. I have heard the best of them argue the matter,starting in the days when I was a boy. It was usually in smoke filled hotel rooms on Saturday nights at poultry shows. There would be a plenty of beer,whiskey and tall tales going around. If you were smart and listened sooner or later you would hear the secrets and the wisdom that the legends of the fancy offered to the clever youngsters. You were expected to sit on the floor an keep your mouth shut.

The question at hand using RIR as the model.

In a show both a LF and the bantam can be awarded BB so clearly they are seperate breeds.

Further there is no provision in the Standard for ranking the best of all the RIRs from the three seperate breeds; The BB LF (selected from the BV of the SC and RC varieties in the American Class), the BB SC RIR Bantam (from the SCCL Class),and the BB RC RIR (from the RCCL Class).

The best RIR overall may be selected from the three elegible classes but it is not correctly refered to as the BB because there are other RIRs with the same, and equal, designation. This reconfirms the fact that the LF and the bantams are seperate breeds and should be counted as such.

(Now that I have cleared that up tell me how you position Rhode Island Whites in the scheme of things?)

[goosedragon]

Originally Posted by Neil E. Grassbaugh

This is one that has been debated since the day the Standard was written. I have heard the best of them argue the matter,starting in the days when I was a boy. It was usually in smoke filled hotel rooms on Saturday nights at poultry shows. There would be a plenty of beer,whiskey and tall tales going around. If you were smart and listened sooner or later you would hear the secrets and the wisdom that the legends of the fancy offered to the clever youngsters. You were expected to sit on the floor an keep your mouth shut.

The question at hand using RIR as the model.

In a show both a LF and the bantam can be awarded BB so clearly they are seperate breeds.

Further there is no provision in the Standard for ranking the best of all the RIRs from the three seperate breeds; The BB LF (selected from the BV of the SC and RC varieties in the American Class), the BB SC RIR Bantam (from the SCCL Class),and the BB RC RIR (from the RCCL Class).

The best RIR overall may be selected from the three elegible classes but it is not correctly refered to as the BB because there are other RIRs with the same, and equal, designation. This reconfirms the fact that the LF and the bantams are seperate breeds and should be counted as such.

(Now that I have cleared that up tell me how you position Rhode Island Whites in the scheme of things?)

Can't sleep (note the time of post) so I'll bite even though I don't know chickens. Is Rhode Island the breed and red and white just varieties? or do our chicken loving friends consider RIR a breed by its self?

[Hummer]

Originally Posted by goosedragon

Can't sleep (note the time of post) so I'll bite even though I don't know chickens. Is Rhode Island the breed and red and white just varieties? or do our chicken loving friends consider RIR a breed by its self?

GD, Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites are considered seperate breeds. Rhode Island Reds have Malay, Cochin and Leghorn in their ancestory and Rhode Island Whites have Wyandotte, Cochin and Leghorn in theirs. Now that you know that I know that you will rest a little better!!!!

Hummer

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by Evy

I believe they're 2 distinct breeds. As for numbers, why not get a SOP & Bantam Standard & count them? It'd be educational.

One of the things that I've always liked about the ABA Standard is the group of handy charts, listing the number of varieties by breed, the breeds in each class, standard weights and leg band sizes, inactive breeds and varieties, etc. It's nice to have all of that information on one page. They're not perfect. For example, the Naked Neck is listed as having 12 varieties, but only 6 are listed in the standard itself, so any total of the varieties using the chart would be off. Still, the information is handy. It would be nice to have an accurate number of the total breeds and varieties which are recognized by both organizations, including those recently recognized yet not in either standard.

[goosedragon]

Originally Posted by Hummer

GD, Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites are considered seperate breeds. Rhode Island Reds have Malay, Cochin and Leghorn in their ancestory and Rhode Island Whites have Wyandotte, Cochin and Leghorn in theirs. Now that you know that I know that you will rest a little better!!!!

Hummer

Thanks Hummer, I couldn't sleep without knowing that What I really meant was that I really didn't care a Rat's Rear but I had nothing better to do at that time in the morning. I had taken as much as I could stand of the Backyard Chicken site (those How Cute! comments and the huge amount of misinformation usually drives me to bed but not even that worked) I firmly resolve not to answer any chicken questions except those that come from Pakistan in the future. You won't have GD to kick around during the wee hours anymore.

[annefoley]

Here are the results after consulting both Standards (chicken results only).

ABA - 67 active bantam breeds, 37 inactive bantam breeds

APA - 54 large fowl breeds, 62 bantam breeds (no inactive breeds listed for either large fowl or bantams))