Monday, September 23, 2013

IMPORTANT NEWS: Orloff May Never Have Been in the Standard of Perfection

After reading a post on the USOC Forum, I was quite surprised to learn that the Russian Orloff may never have been included in the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection, and that the bird in the 1800s SOP was actually a bird called "Black Russian" instead of Russian Orloff.

This information was gathered from a fellow USOC Forum member who uploaded the following email from APA President Sam Brush:

Mr. Rivera -
Your inquiry of July 8 about Orloffs was received, but I actually
responded to a similar question through Facebook, and therefore thought
I had taken care of this. I apologize for that miscue, and I will
attempt to provide a response similar to what I posted to the gentleman
on Facebook.


The Russian Orloff, contrary to a lot of posts out on the Internet, was
never a recognized breed in the American Standard of Perfection. In the
1905 American Standard of Perfection there was a breed listed as "Black
Russians" and I assume that is the source of confusion about whether or
not the Orloffs were once in the ASOP. The description of the Black
Russians was quite a bit different from the more recent Russian Orloff
descriptions (mostly for Mahogany and Spangled). The American Bantam
Association does recognize several varieties of Orloff Bantams, and
their standard descriptions are more in line with what I think the
Orloffs are intended to be.

 

Regarding recognition of the Orloffs, there is a process for admission
of new breeds and varieties into the Standard of Perfection, and details
regarding that process and the requirements are outlined in the APA
bylaws, which are in any APA yearbook. The process beings with an
application for acceptance, and the APA Secretary can provide you or
your club representative with that starting packet. The admission
process is overseen by the APA Standard Committee, and Walt Leonard is
the Chairman. I am copying him on this response so that he is aware of
the interest in Orloffs. His email is fowlman01@netscape.net

I am also copying our APA secretary, Pat Horstman, and asking that she
mail the APA Admission Packet to you at the address you have in this email.

 

The Orloffs have been out there on the poultry landscape for a long
time, and there just has not been a focused effort by Orloff enthusiasts
to go through the process and get them admitted. The APA Standard
Committee would certainly be open to working with your group to initiate
efforts to get them recognized. Please be aware that the APA would like
to coordinate with the American Bantam Association on the description
since they already have one available for the bantams.

 

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me
or Walt Leonard. The Orloffs are a unique and interesting breed and it
is good to see this spark of enthusiasm for them.

 

Sincerely,
Sam Brush




If this is correct, then I have believed a fallacy for quite some time.

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