Nov/December 2025

CHINESE OWLS – Page 32 – Purebred PIGEON Breed of the Issue - CHINESE OWLS T he purpose of this article is to assist our certified judges with interpreting and applying the changes made to the NCOC written standard to match the changes made to the four views of the standard drawings that were accepted by a majority vote of the membership in January of 2021. The main focus is on how to apply the listed major and minor faults. As NCOC certified judges, we have the responsibility of making our placings based solely on the NCOC stan- dard, regardless of our personal preferences or opinions. The exhibitors have selected their pairs for breeding their show birds, made their entries, paid the related fees, and in- curred travel expenses based on our standard. They deserve to have all of their birds judged strictly by that standard. An NCOC certified judge also has a responsibility to help educate the exhibitors by pointing out the good and bad points of the birds they are judging. Our comments must be directly related to the descriptions in each section of the standard if making positive comments and to a listed fault if making negative comments. Comments based on personal preferences rather than the standard may confuse a novice exhibitor and cause them to make decisions that are not necessarily good for them. Whenever possible, try to give positive feed back on birds that have good breeding potential so novice breeders do not cull a bird because of a fault that could be corrected with the proper mating but is a very good bird in all other aspects. Such as a bird with the major fault of excessive “horns” on the back of the neck frill probably also has the length of feather desired in that area so it can be useful when mated to a bird that has a neck frill that lacks in height and extension toward the back of the neck. This should be pointed out when novice breeders are present. The next several paragraphs will cover the process of applying the listed faults and disqualifications to the judg- ing process. Disqualifications are the easy part. Determining if excessive trimming or plucking has occurred, whether or not a bird is out of condition, or if an eye cere is red versus pink are some what subjective. All other disqualifications are clear cut. Once you have determined that a bird should be disqualified it should be sent back immediately. A major fault is a deviation from the standard that should discourage one from using the bird in a breeding program as it has a high probability of reproducing in the young or carrying through to future generations. Major faults could result in a bird placing quite low in the class unless there are multiple birds with major faults in the same class. The difficulty may come with where the fault is located. Examples: A major fault in the beak, beak setting, and wattle area will probably have little effect on the birds placing because there are only 3 points for the total area. Therefore, a scissor beak, although unattractive, could only be a deduction of 3 points, the maximum allocated to that area. A bird with a vertical split in the breast frill should result in a much larger deduction of points because this area has fifteen points allocated to it. In no case should a bird with a major fault be placed at any level of champion or re- serve champion. A bird with a major fault could be selected best of color if there are no other birds in that color that do not have a major fault. However, the judge does have the option to withhold master breeder points if they feel the fault causes the bird to not be a good representation of the Chinese Owl breed. Determining the effects on the placing of a bird with a minor fault is much more difficult but no less important. In most cases, a minor fault is one that we can control by selecting a mate that does not have the same fault and has a low probability of carrying through to the young and future (This article was sent to all of the certified judges a few months after the new standard was adopted in 2021. It was apparent from discussions between myself and others on the standard revision committee with several of the certified judges not involved in the revision process that they understood and agreed with the point changes but did not really under- stand the importance of the listing of major and minor faults. A few of the committee mem- bers thought this should be an addendum to the standard but we decided it should be just for the current judges and wait for some feedback before taking any other formal action.) IMPLEMENTING THE 2021 CHANGES TO THE NCOC STANDARD By Dick Holmberg, NCOC Certified Judge Coordinator