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Helmet – Page 30 – Purebred PIGEON
Breed of the Issue - Helmet
AORC inHelmets –
Catch-all orCarefully JudgedClass
By Dennis Manning
I
have wanted to write this article for a while. The thought
always comes up for me this time of year as I am sorting
the new young, working to identify their best traits from
station to color.
The AORC (All Other Recognized Colors) youngsters – in
my case mostly almond and almond sub colors – are hard to
class if you are not familiar with the almond color family. I
have been entering these birds in competition over the last 45
years in varying stages of color quality. The problem for me is
that so many of the the Judges don’t recognize the difference
between good quality presentation of the AORC and poor
quality presentation of the AORC so they disregard the pigeon’s
color and only judge on conformation and station. I call it the
“its just AORC so...” syndrome. By doing that they are denying
the bird it’s 10 color points. The AHA recognizes All Other
Recognized Colors. Which means that while there is not a stan-
dard description of the color, it is incumbent on the Judge to be
versed in the color and judge it accordingly. The Judge should
grade the color presentation and award somewhere between 0
and 10 points for the bird.
AHA Standard: RECOGNIZED COLOR CLASSES
-
Black, Blue, Recessive Red, Ash Red, Spread Ash Red and their
respective dilutes; Dun, Silver, Yellow, Ash Yellow, Spread Ash
Yellow and AORC .
A.O.R.C. (All Other Recognized Colors) - All other es-
tablished colors and/or patterns such as Brown, Khaki, Indigo,
Almond, Checker, etc. not listed above as recognized colors,
NOT to include birds which are mis-marked or a poor example
of a recognized color.
“
NOT to include birds which are mis-marked or a poor
example of a recognized color.
” is one of the problems we
face. The almond sub varieties recognized around the world
can look similar to poor quality presentation of some of our
standard colors. I try to let the Judge know the intended color
of the AORC birds as having only the top of the head and the
tail color presented can provide a real challenge. I would like to
see that become a part of our judging tradition going forward.
Simply informing the judge of the intended color he is judging
in the AORC class. We do that now with our standard colors by
announcing the color class “young yellow hens” etc.. If there
are enough of a certain AORC color age and sex to make up a
class I would suppose that would make it easier but most of the
time the AORCs are lumped together by age and sex, which is
correct by our standard as only one AORC YH, YC, OH, OC
can make it to the final line up but makes it hard for the Judge
to know what he is Judging. The fix for now is to simply inform
the Judge what color the bird has been entered as. I try to write
that on my entry so that it moves forward on the judging sheets.
I would like to see the show Secretary take a moment and let
the Judge know what the breeder’s intent is. In my case that
keeps me from appearing to be trying to let the Judge know
who’s bird it is.
The Almond Sub Varieties offer some confusing examples.
The Kite and it’s dilute – Golden Dun – could also be very bad
quality Recessive Red on barred birds. A poor almond and a
deroy in Helmets can be hard to discern. Separating Brown and
Dun on a Helmet would be very difficult. Indigo is another that
we haven’t seen much of but it would really help the judging if
the Judge was pre-informed. If the Show Secretary can notify
the Judge about what he is about to see it would be so helpful.
Once the Judge has been given a fair chance to know
what Helmet marked colors he has to award the AORC birds
their points, then it is up to him to have the sufficient working
knowledge to do that job as we don’t have a description for him
in our standard. Judges should be selected based on their ability
to consider the quality of Other Recognized Colors as well as
the entire Helmet.
AHA CERTIFIED JUDGES - CODE OF RULES
1. A thorough working knowledge of the Helmet breed and
its current Standard.
3. Sufficient knowledge of color genetics to readily identify
qualities of pigmentation.•