Formation | 1873 |
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Purpose | Support and Promotion of Standard-bred Poultry |
Location |
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Region served | U.S. & Canada |
President | Norma Padgett [1] |
Affiliations | American Poultry Association |
Website | amerpoultryassn.com |
The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. [2]
The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in response to the burgeoning need for an overseeing body to set standards for poultry breeds and to administer judging. [3] A year after its foundation, the Association published the first American Standard of Perfection , which to this day is the most widely used and respected handbook on poultry breed standards. [4] The APA continues to publish and expand the Standard, and aims to promote all aspects of poultry fancy by certifying official judges, sponsoring shows, fostering youth participation, and advocating for its members, in both the U.S. and Canada.
Once the APA was formed in 1873, they made it their first order of business to create a standard for American poultry breeds. Six members from the original meeting came together to develop the first Standard of Excellence. It was adopted at the January 15, 1874 meeting in Buffalo, New York, as the official guidebook for poultry judging in North America.
The first Standard described 46 breeds, some with multiple varieties, in its 102 pages. It was (and still is) the bible of standard bred poultry for breeders and judges. The next edition, in January, 1875, the Standard was expanded to 243 pages, encompassing 79 breeds and varieties. In 1888, they changed the name to the Standard of Perfection as requested by Mr. H. H. Stoddard. The idea behind the change came from the fact that there could be many degrees of excellence in various birds, while the specifications in their book described a bird which reached perfection.
The Orpington is a British breed of chicken. It was bred in the late nineteenth century by William Cook of Orpington, at that time in Kent in south-east England. It was intended to be a dual-purpose breed, to be reared both for eggs and for meat, but soon became exclusively a show bird.
The Cochin is a breed of large domestic chicken. It derives from large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. It is reared principally for exhibition. It was formerly known as Cochin-China.
The Dominique is an American breed of chicken, characterized by black-and-white barred plumage and a rose comb. It is considered to be the oldest American chicken breed, and is thought to derive from birds brought to America by colonists from southern England. It was well known by about 1750, and by the mid-nineteenth century was widely distributed in the eastern United States. It is a dual-purpose breed, but is kept principally for its brown eggs. It became an endangered breed in the twentieth century, but numbers have since recovered.
The Rosecomb is a breed of chicken named for its distinctive comb. Rosecombs are bantam chickens, and are among those known as true bantams, meaning they are not a miniaturised version of a large fowl. Rosecombs are one of the oldest and most popular bantam breeds in showing, and thus have numerous variations within the breed. An ornamental chicken, they are poor egg layers and not suited for meat production.
The New Hampshire Red or New Hampshire is an American breed of chicken. It was developed in the early twentieth century in the state of New Hampshire by selective breeding of Rhode Island Red stock; no other breed was involved. It is fast-growing, early-maturing, quick-feathering, and yields a meaty carcass. Mature birds are a light or medium red in color; they may fade in sunlight.
The Phoenix is a German breed of long-tailed chicken. It derives from cross-breeding of imported long-tailed Japanese birds similar to the Onagadori with other breeds.
The Jersey Giant is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was created in Burlington County, New Jersey, in the late nineteenth century. As the name suggests, it is a large breed, and is among the heaviest of all chicken breeds.
The Ameraucana is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was developed in the United States in the 1970s, and derives from Araucana chickens brought from Chile. It was bred to retain the blue-egg gene but eliminate the lethal alleles of the parent breed. There are both standard-sized and bantam versions.
The Sumatra is a breed of chicken native of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. These chickens were originally imported from Sumatra in 1847 to the U.S. and Europe as fighting cocks for the purpose of entertainment, but today the breed is primarily kept for exhibition. 1883 is the year the Sumatra was admitted to the American Standard of Perfection.
The Buckeye is an American breed of chicken. It was created in Ohio in the late nineteenth century by Nettie Metcalf. The color of its plumage was intended to resemble the color of the seeds of Aesculus glabra, the Ohio Buckeye plant for which the state is called the 'Buckeye State'.
The American Standard of Perfection is the official breed standard for the poultry fancy in North America. First published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association, the Standard of Perfection classifies and describes the standard physical appearance, coloring and temperament for all recognized breeds of poultry, including chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese. The current edition was published in 2015.
The Modern Game is a British breed of ornamental chicken which originated in England between 1850 and 1900. It was bred from gamecock stock, but solely as an exhibition bird.
The Chantecler is a breed of chicken originating in Canada. The Chantecler was developed in the early 20th century, at the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac in Oka, Quebec. It is extremely cold-resistant, and is suitable for both egg and meat production.
The Delaware is a breed of chicken originating in the U.S. state of Delaware. It was once of relative importance to the U.S. chicken industry, but today is critically endangered. It is primarily suited to meat production but also lays reasonably well. It has plumage of a unique pattern, and is accepted into poultry standards for showing.
The Java is a breed of chicken originating in the United States. Despite the breed's name, a reference to the island of Java, it was developed in the U.S. from chickens of unknown Asian extraction. It is one of the oldest American chickens, forming the basis for many other breeds, but is critically endangered today. Javas are large birds with a sturdy appearance. They are hardy, and are well-suited for both meat and egg production, especially by small-scale farms, homesteads, and backyard keepers.
The Fayoumi or Egyptian Fayoumi is an Egyptian breed of chicken. It originates from – and is named for – the governorate of Fayoum, which lies south-west of Cairo and west of the Nile. It is believed to be an ancient breed.
The Orloff is a breed of chicken named after Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, a Russian Count. Reflecting this origin, it is sometimes called the Russian Orloff or simply Russian.
The Derbyshire Redcap is a breed of chicken originating in the English county of Derbyshire. The name "Redcap" derives from the breed's unusually large Rose-type comb. British breed standards dictate a length of more than 7 centimetres (3 inches) of length for a Redcap comb. It is covered in small, fleshy points, and has a distinct spike pointing backwards called a "leader". Combs, wattles and earlobes are all ideally bright red.
The Lamona is an American breed of chicken. It was developed from 1912 by Harry S. Lamon, who was the senior poultry expert of the Bureau of Animal Industry, at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland.
The American Bantam Association is a poultry fancy association for breeders of bantam poultry. It publishes the Bantam Standard, with detailed descriptions of all the bantam breeds and varieties that it recognizes; in most – but not all – cases, these are the same as those recognised by the American Poultry Association. It also publishes a quarterly magazine and annual yearbook, hosts poultry shows and provides judges for them, and provides information on bantam breeds.