Article: Judging Buttercups

Judging Buttercups

By C. Sidney Cook Jr. - 1929

This article is a reprint from the 1929 yearbook of the American Buttercup Club.
The black and white images accompanying this article are of birds bred and exhibited by the author during the 1920s.

There has been marked improvement in the quantity and the uniformity of the Buttercups which have been shown in increasing numbers at some of your leading shows during the past five years, and for this reason I wish to call to the attention of Judges, some of the important and also the minor points in comparison judging of the breed.

Judges, of course, have the Standard to go by but there are many ways in interpreting that Standard. It is not my idea to criticize the judging, but rather to make suggestions that may be helpful both to the judge, to the breed, and to the exhibitor.

Starting with the MALE: - the Comb of the male is a very important feature of the breed as it is from the comb of the male and color of the female that the Breed takes its name of BUTTERCUP. The comb should be fairly large and more cup shape than is shown in the present Standard illustration; not so flat, and set higher on the head, with a sort of base between the cup or crown and the skull. Split combs; long, trough-shaped combs; flat or beefy combs; and combs higher in back or front, are all bad, and should be cut. On the other hand, round cups are almost impossible to breed, and small spikes and roughness should not be cut too severely. Heavy wrinkles in the leaders are a bad fault also. Small curled-up feathers back of the comb are of no importance.

A brilliant red or bay eye gives a male a lot of snap, but is a minor detail, as many of the best birds have colored or pale eyes.

The question of lobes is an important one. For years the Standard has called for "Solid red" and "immaterial", but last year it was changed to "solid white, 3/4 red to disqualify." Red if the natural color for the lobe of this breed, and most of the best males come three-quarters red to solid red. For this reason I feel that the breed should have four or five years to recover from this red lobe, during which time they should not be disqualified for this defect. Cut for red, but do not disqualify, for at least four years, as the lobe is not an important feature of the breed.

The breast should be round and full; a soft, even, reddish brown in color, which is very difficult to obtain. Most males are more or less mottled-a bad fault.

The back should be long and carried level-this is important-with a curving sweep to the tail. The hackle should be long and flowing. Hackle, back, saddle and wingbows should all match in color, and be a beautiful, brilliant orange. It may be one of several shades of red and orange, lemon or dark red like Rhode Island Reds or Brown Leghorns. The writer prefers a shade darker and richer than most of the winners in the buff breeds, not so faded, although at the Garden (referring to "Madison Square Garden") some Buff Plymouth Rock males were shown which were very rich and about like my ideal Buttercup male color.

It is next to impossible to get these four sections to match in color; hackles are usually lighter and wing bows darker. Pepper in wing bars is a common fault, but not too serious; but washed-out wing flight feathers are a bad fault. They should be dark and rich, with brown quills an added feature. Secondaries are usually good. Black spangling at the base of the hackle between the shoulders should be brilliant and clean cut, also some spangles on fluff and body feathers near thigh, but the writer would only cut, and not condemn a brilliant, even-colored male without these markings. Ticking or stippling in hackle is a bad fault, but in the saddle is not so serious, as many of the best breeders have ticking or barring on lower saddle feathers and tail coverts, barring being an added feature.

Buttercups were originally a short-tailed bird, but recently they have been bred with tails a little longer, more like a Leghorn. The writer favors a medium length. The tail should be well-spread, full and greenish black in color. Purple is a fault, but should not be cut as severely in Buttercups as that breed the beautiful golden females, have more or less purple in the tail.

Brownish color on the main sickles is a common fault, but not serious sunless extending to the other sickles as well. White or "cotton" at the base is a common fault. The body should be deep and about the color of the breast. Thighs of length give added style, but a short thigh is a common fault. Shanks and toes vary as to shade of green, but this is not important. The breed has a great tendency to "stubs" on shank, but I feel it should have four or five years before being disqualified for this, as in times past at some shows all good birds were thrown out, and in some instances whole classes disqualified, much to the disgust of the exhibitors who failed to pull the stubs, of whose birds grew stubs over night in the warm baggage car and show room.

Female –The comb of the female should be like that of the male only smaller and this feature is not nearly as important as it is in the male. Lobes should be the same as those of the male, but females have more tendency to white than males. The breast should be round and full; back long and carried level; tail well spread, all of which are important. Wing flights dark, mottled black and gold. The color is usually good enough as this is of minor importance. The hackle, back, saddle and wings should be one even shade of rich golden buff ground color, and this is one of the most important features of the breed. This shade of color should be neither, lemon or tan but be very golden, more like the ground color of the finest Golden Campine females, perhaps a trifle lighter. The hackle should be clear, gold and snappy; anything other than gold is a serious fault. The back, saddle and wing bows should be barred or spangled with snappy black markings, in two parallel rows, one either side of the quill, bars to start near the end of the feather, the first pair at an angle, the others about straight, oval shape. All feathers should have gold tips and black and gold not running together. This is very important. Common faults are pepper in the gold; mossiness, color running together, white, black, brown and red tips on ends of feathers, instead of gold. This is a serious fault. Another common fault is a tendency to partial lacing on feather; instead of barring, but this is not too serious as a female well barred in all sections is extremely rare, and the writer would much prefer a bird with clear golden hackle and golden ground color in all sections, with some barring and some lacing—to one with good barring but not having the golden hackle and golden ground color. This rich golden color of the female, with the snappy black markings, is the most beautiful feature of the breed. The throat, breast and body ground color should be a lighter golden buff with black bars or spangles except on the throat. Tails should be black or nearly so, two top feathers and tail coverts gold and black barred more or less. Good length thigh gives added style. Shank and toes same as male.

The black markings on females should not be too heavy or too light. We want a golden bird, not a black one. The under color should be light gray to slate, with buff white next to the skin, but this is of little importance in the show room as it usually takes care of itself and the surface color is what we want. It is, however, of more importance in the breeding pen.

To sum up, we want our Buttercup a bird of curves, with cup-shaped comb and white ear lobes; full, round breast, long back carried level with concave saddle and well spread tail of medium length, deep body set on good length thigh. The color of the male to be brilliant orange with brownish red breast and green tail, and female to have clean, snappy golden hackle, clear buff throats, with breast and body gold buff with snappy black barring.

If Judges will use these ideas in interpreting the Standard, and Breeders will use them in working for the improvement of their birds, the advancement of the breed will be assured and hastened.

-- By C. Sidney Cook Jr. former President, American Buttercup Club, 1929

A bantam buttercup cockerel of the University of Arkansas bloodline exhibited by Michael Schlumbohm in 2014. Note the overall orange color as opposed to the darker red that is often seen. This corresponds fairly closely to the description of the author of this article from 1929 when he describes his ideal male buttercup as being a shade darker and richer than the darker males of some of the buff breeds.

A bantam buttercup pullet of the University of Arkansas bloodline exhibited by Michael Schlumbohm in 2014. Note the clean gold hackle and clear black markings throughout the body. As the author of this article from 1929 mentions, the markings must not be too heavy or too light, as we want a gold bird, not a black one. He also mentions the importance of the clean gold hackle to the look of the bird.

About the Author

C. Sidney Cook Jr. was a former president of the American Buttercup Club during the 1920s. He lived in West Newton, Massachusetts.

He bred buttercups for many years and images of his winning birds appear in many old magazines and periodicals from that time period. The three black and white images included here are from the Reliable Poultry Journal and The Poultry Item. These were birds bred and exhibited by the author.

It should be noted that such images are not actual photographs, but are likenesses of the birds drawn from photographs by the celebrated poultry artist A. O. Schilling. It is unclear how significant the changes to these images are, but they were intended at the time to fairly represent the winning birds.

This article is a reprint from the 1929 yearbook of the American Buttercup Club.

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