The Wyandotte Club of Australia’s club standards accepts the standard of all Wyandotte varieties as recognised in the Australian Poultry Standards edition two, plus the two subsequent addendums.
The Wyandotte Club of Australia Standards Committee has also recently accepted three new varieties to the clubs standards, Red Partridge, Blue Laced Red and Blue Marked Columbians and has submitted these along with Blue Partridge to the Australian Poultry Standards committee for consideration of their inclusion in Edition Three of the Australian Poultry Standards.
All four of the accepted varieties will use the existing Wyandotte scale of points for coloured birds.
RED PARTRIDGE
The proposed standard that has been accepted by our club standards committee is:
MALE
Head Plumage: lustrous, rich dark red.
Neck Hackle: medium shade of rich, brilliant red, web of feather, lustrous greenish-black with narrow lacing of rich brilliant dark red; shafts black.
Back, including saddle: web of feather, lustrous, greenish black with narrow facing of a medium shade of rich brilliant red, a slight shafting of rich red permissible. Rich dark red predominating on surface of upper back; saddle matching with hackle in colour.
Saddle hackle: matching with neck hackle in colour.
Tail: Main tail: lustrous greenish-black; web black. Main and lesser sickles: lustrous greenish-black. Tail coverts: lustrous greenish-black with lacing of medium brilliant red.
Wings: Fronts: black. Bows: medium shade of rich brilliant red. Coverts: lustrous, greenish-black, forming a distinct wing bar of this colour across entire wing when folded. Primaries: black, with narrow edging of reddish bay on lower webs. Secondaries: inner web and end of feather black; outer webs reddish bay, the lower half black, shafts black; secondaries when folded forming a triangular reddish bay alone showing when wing is folded.
Breast: lustrous, greenish-black.
Body: black. Fluff: black, slightly tinged with red.
Under-colour: slate.
FEMALE
Head Plumage: deep reddish bay.
Neck hackle: black, slightly pencilled with deep reddish bay and laced with reddish bay.
Front of neck, breast, back, wing bow, wing bar, wing and tail coverts, thighs, body and fluff: deep reddish bay each feather plentifully and distinctly pencilled with black, the pencilling to follow the form of the feather, and to be uniform throughout. Pencilling to be fine, sharply defined and with three or more distinct lines of black.
Main tail: black, with or without red markings.
Wings: Primaries: black, with diagonal deep reddish bay pencilling on inner webs. Secondaries: inner web black, outer web deep reddish bay pencilling, extending well around tips of feathers, showing pencilling when wing is folded.
Undercolour: slate.
NB: Pencilling in the Red Partridge, Gold Partridge and Silver Pencilled varieties should be distinct and in sharp contrast to the ground colour, regular in shape, uniform in width and conform to the contour of the feather. Each feather on the back, breast, body, wing bows and thighs should have three or more pencillings. Pencilling which runs into peppery markings and uneven, broken or barred pencilling constitute defects, as does light shaftiness on feathers of the breast and front of neck. Ground colour to be even throughout
BLUE LACED RED
The proposed standard that has been accepted by our club standards committee is:
MALE
Head Plumage: lustrous, rich dark red.
Neck Hackle: web of feather, light to medium bluish slate with a narrow lacing of lustrous, rich dark red, uniform in width, extending around the point of the feather; shaft, rich dark red.
Back: lustrous, rich dark red.
Saddle: lustrous, rich dark red in appearance, a light to medium bluish slate stripe through each feather, laced with rich dark red conforming to shape of centre, the blue stripe having a long diamond-shaped centre of rich dark red.
Tail: main tail light to medium bluish slate. Sickles and Coverts: lustrous, light to medium bluish slate. Smaller Coverts: light to medium bluish slate, with diamond-shaped centres of lustrous, rich dark red and laced with rich dark red.
Wings: Fronts: light to medium bluish slate with lustrous, rich dark red centres. Bows: lustrous, rich dark red. Coverts: broad, web of each feather lustrous, rich dark red, with a narrow sharply defined light to medium bluish slate lace; forming a double bar of laced feathers across the wings. Primaries: light to medium bluish slate, lower edges of outer web lustrous, rich dark red. Secondaries: light to medium bluish slate, lower half of outer webs, lustrous, rich dark red with narrow bluish slate edgings, wider at the tips; upper webs, edged with lustrous, rich dark red.
Breast and front of neck: web of each feather lustrous, rich dark red, with a narrow, sharply defined lacing of light to medium bluish slate.
Body: web of each feather, lustrous, rich dark red with a narrow sharply defined lacing of light to medium bluish slate.
Fluff: light to medium bluish slate.
Lower thighs: web of each feather, rich dark red with a narrow, sharply defined lacing of light to medium bluish slate, conforming to edge of feather.
Under-colour: all sections bluish slate, may shade to red at the base of the feather.
Defects:
• Black in plumage
• Smut or ticking in plumage
• Uneven or mealy appearance of lacing in any section
• Unevenness of ground colour in any section of plumage
FEMALE
Head Plumage: rich dark red.
Neck hackle: web of feather, light to medium bluish slate with a narrow lacing of lustrous, rich dark red, uniform in width, extending around the point of the feather; shaft, rich dark red.
Tail: main tail to be light to medium bluish slate.
Wings: Fronts, Bows and Coverts: web of each feather lustrous, rich dark red, with a narrow, sharply defined lacing of light to medium bluish slate. Primaries: light to medium bluish slate, lower edges of outer web lustrous, rich dark red. Secondaries: light to medium bluish slate, lower half of outer webs, lustrous, rich dark red with narrow light to medium bluish slate edgings, wider at the tips; upper webs, edged with lustrous, rich dark red.
Breast and front of neck: web of each feather lustrous, rich dark red, with a narrow, sharply defined lacing of light to medium bluish slate.
Body, Thighs and Tail Coverts: web of each feather, lustrous, rich dark red with a narrow sharply defined lacing of light to medium bluish slate.
Fluff: light to medium bluish slate.
Under-colour: all sections light to medium bluish slate.
Defects:
• Black in plumage
• Smut or ticking in plumage
• Uneven or mealy appearance of lacing in any section
• Unevenness of ground colour in any section of plumage
BLUE PARTRIDGE
In 2003 our standards committee at the time added Blue Partidge to the clubs standards however it hadn’t been submitted for inclusion in APS edition two. This standard has been submitted for consideration for edition three.
MALE
Head Plumage: Dark orange.
Neck Hackle: Bright orange-yellow shading to a bright lemon-yellow, free from washiness, each feather having a clearly defined, lustrous, blue stripe down the centre, not running out at the tip, and free from light shaft.
Back: Bright red of a scarlet shade, free from maroon or purple shade.
Saddle Hackle: to match the neck hackle.
Tail: Main tail, coverts, main and lesser sickles: lustrous blue. Tail free of white at the roots.
Wings: front blue. Bow: bright red of a scarlet shade, free from maroon or purple tinge. Coverts: lustrous blue, forming a distinct wing bar of this colour across wing when wing is folded. Primaries: blue. Secondaries: inner web and end of feather, blue, outer web, rich bay, the rich bay alone showing when the wing is folded.
Breast and front of neck: lustrous blue, free from red or grey ticking.
Body and fluff: blue.
Undercolour: blue.
FEMALE
Head Plumage: rich golden yellow.
Neck Hackle: rich golden yellow, the larger feathers finely and clearly pencilled with blue.
Front of neck, breast, back, wing bow, wing bar, wing and tail coverts, thighs, body and fluff: soft light partridge brown, quite even and free from red or yellow tinge, each feather plentifully and distinctly pencilled with blue, the pencilling to follow the form of the feather, and to be even and uniform throughout. Pencilling to be fine, sharply defined and with three or more distinct lines of blue.
Tail: blue, with or without brown markings.
Wings: Primaries: blue. Secondaries: inner web blue, outer web same colour as body, showing pencilling when wing is folded. Undercolour: blue.
NOTE: Pencilling in this variety should be distinct and in sharp contrast to the ground colour, regular in shape, uniform in width and conform to the contour of the feather. Each feather on the back, breast, body, wing bows and thighs should have three or more pencillings. Pencilling which runs into peppery markings and uneven, broken or barred pencilling constitute defects, as does light shaftiness on feathers of the breast and front of neck. Ground colour to be even throughout.
BLUE MARKED COLUMBIAN
This variety of Wyandotte has been shown on a regular basis for approximately fifteen years in Australia and has proven to be capable of being bred to a consistent standard. The problem the variety has faced is the various names under which it has been exhibited, these include, Blue Columbian, Coronation Columbian and Blue Point Columbian.
The Wyandotte Club of Australia Standards Committee spent several weeks in discussion with a cross section of our club members who have either bred, judged or observed the development of various varieties of Columbians and has decided upon the name Blue Marked Columbian name for the following reasons:
• Consistency in the naming convention.
• It allows for the future development of Columbian varieties in a sensible manner i.e. two formats of the Columbian, one based on the traditional naming convention white ground colour with black markings and would encompass Buff Columbian and potentially Blue Columbians, Red Columbians, Lavender Columbians etc. The second variety would be the marked series i.e. those marked with a different colour other than black e.g. the proposed colour, white ground colour with blue markings and potentially Red, Buff, Lavender etc. markings.
The standard which has been accepted by the committee for this variety is:
MALE
Head Plumage: Silvery white.
Neck Hackle: web of feather, lustrous blue, with a narrow lacing of silvery white, greater portion of shaft blue.
Back: silvery white.
Cape: blue and white.
Saddle Hackle: silvery white with an elongated ‘V’-shaped blue stripe increasing in width, length and density as it nears the tail coverts. Note: the stripe should extend from near the tip of the feather approximately one-half to three-fourths the length of the web and allow a clean break of white between the undercolour and base of stripe.
Tail: main, tail blue. Main and lesser sickles: lustrous blue. Tail coverts: lustrous blue, laced with silvery white.
Wings: fronts white, some blue permissible. Bows and coverts: silvery white. Primaries: blue with lower edge of lower web white. Secondaries: lower web, unexposed portion, blue; exposed portion, white; upper web blue edged with white; the white extending around the end of feather. The white ends of the upper secondaries growing progressively wider so the exposed portion in the upper row is entirely white; forming a white wing bay when wing is folded.
Breast and front of neck: white.
Body: white except under wings where it may be bluish slate.
Fluff: white.
Undercolour: light bluish-slate.
FEMALE
Head Plumage: white. Neck Hackle: web of feather lustrous blue with a narrow lacing of silvery white; greater portion of shaft blue.
Front of neck, back, breast, wing fronts bows and coverts, body and fluff: white, except under the wings where it may be bluish-slate.
Tail: Main tail: blue, except two top feathers, which are slightly laced with white. Tail coverts: blue, with narrow lacing of silvery white.
Wings: Primaries: blue with white edging on lower webs. Secondaries: lower webs; lower portion, white extending around end and lacing upper portion of upper webs, growing wider in shorter feathers, sufficient to show a white wing bay when wing is folded; upper webs, blue.
Undercolour: light bluish-slate.