The primary purpose of any standard is to guide the breeder in his quest to produce uniform specimens that most nearly resemble the ideal. This standard should also be used to guide those persons chosen to judge our birds. This will bring about consistent evaluation of our breed which is our goal.

We hope to impress in the minds of all breeders of the Old Dutch Capuchine that our breed has many characteristics or traits which must be taken into consideration when judging or choosing breeding stock. We must look for balance in our birds and not overly emphasize any one area, but rather focus on a balanced bird regardless of personal preference.

Body (15 pts.):
Neck: Medium to long, showing fullness where it meets the breast. The longer neck exaggerates the shortness of the tail and serves to enhance the rosettes. Avoid short necks and those which are consistently held against the shoulders. When showing, the bird should reach its neck out to full length positioning it perpendicular to the ground.
Body: Wedge-shaped, breast full and wide between the shoulders. Wing butts should be hidden from the front view by breast feathers giving a wide-width look to the bird. Width should taper from the breast to the tail giving the wedge shape. The body should be firm and well-muscled.
Wings: Medium to short, in proportion, with the flights ½" shorter than the tail. Wings carried closed giving a tight-feathered look. Secondary flights should show good width of feather. Flights to be carried on top of the tail.
Tail: As short as possible, narrow, and well closed being carried parallel to the ground.
Legs: Medium in length, bright red in color, and free from feather growth below the shanks. Toe nails to be light flesh colored in all varieties. Legs should be straight and placed proportionally wide apart.
 

Carriage(10 pts.): The head is to be held high with the neck reaching upwards. The neck should be vertical, ie perpendicular to the ground. The tail should be parallel to the ground. From a profile view the neck and body should form an "L" shape. The legs should be straight. The entire carriage should reflect a proud, uplifted bird.

Head, Beak, Eyes, Wattle and Cere (10 pts.):
Head: Medium in length, with a well-rounded frontal and wide forehead. The forehead should rise in a smooth curve from the beak to the top skull.
Beak: Medium length with the upper mandible slightly curved at the tip. The beak is to be flesh to red colored in all colorations.
Wattle: Fine and neat, white in color.
Eyes: Lively expression. Iris to be white pearl to impure pearl. Although impure pearl eyes with a reddish tint are accepted, the preferred color is the whitish pearl eye (fish eye). Cracked eyes are permitted in almonds only.
Cere: Fine, narrow, and red to flesh in color. The red eye cere is preferred since it accents the eye in the white head.

Hood (15 pts.): The hood should be broad and well rounded. It should be set as high as possible on the back skull, running from ear to ear, blending smoothly into the chain. When viewing the hood from the side, the eye must be clearly visible.

Chain (10 pts.): The chain runs in an unbroken line from the hood to the shoulders. It must not meet in the front but maintain a two-fingers’ width from the top to the bottom. As the hood curves downward on both sides of the head,

the chain should blend in with the hood so as to be impossible to tell where the
hood ends and the chain begins. The chain should be fine-edged and well defined. The feathering should be moderate in length and not obstruct the profile view.

Rosette (10 pts.): On both sides of the neck is an oblong-shaped rosette. The rosette should blend into the profile and be filled in as full as possible. The rosette is not a line of parting feathers or a crease (ditch) but rather an elliptical (oblong) whorl of feathers similar to the rosette on a Jacobin. The rosettes are to be symmetrical (same on both sides) and placed as low as possible on the neck – just above the wing butts. The size should be approximately the size of a nickel.

Mane (10 pts.): The mane is to be fully feathered and form a smooth, continuous line from the top of the head to the back. Avoid any breaks in the smooth line and loose, bushy feathering.

Color (10 pts.): Rich, even, and lustrous showing iridescence throughout. Accepted colors are to be shown in classes while unaccepted colors are to be grouped in the Any Other Color (AOC) class. The exception is those colors which are the result of genetic projects. These will be grouped into the Any Rare Color class (ARC). Groupings where only one or two specimens of the color are present may be combined into one class at the discretion of the show secretary or club representative. In the unlikely event that a large number of a specific AOC color is shown (ie 20 kites shown) these may be grouped separately of the AOC class at the discretion of the show secretary or club representative. Bars are to be grouped into one class.
Red: A gleaming chestnut red, even throughout, with a rich copper sheen free from green.
Yellow: A rich golden yellow color, even throughout, with a pink luster free from green.
Black: An intense, glistening black, even throughout, showing a green metallic sheen free from purple. Not showing any trace of bronze or sootiness.
Dun: An intense, gun-metal coloration to be as dark even, and rich as possible. No sulphur or bronziness should be present and the sheen should be green.
Blue Bar: Wing shield to be light blue with contrasting black bars. No checking, sootiness, or bronze is to be present. The lower breast shades from a light blue upwards to a darker blue on the neck and should show a glistening, green iridescence.
Silver Bar: Wing shield to be a light silvery-gray with contrasting dun bars. No checking, sootiness, or bronze is to be present. The lower breast shades from a light silver upwards to a dark gray on the neck and should show a glistening, green iridescence.
Red Bar: Wing shield to be ash-gray with contrasting red bars. No checking or sootiness is to be present. The lower breast shades from an ash-gray upwards to red on the neck and should show a rich copper sheen.
Yellow Bar: Wing shield to be a very light creamy white with contrasting yellow bars. No checking or sootiness is to be present. The lower breast shades from a creamy white upwards to deep yellow on the neck and should show a pinkish iridescence.
Splash (Tiger): Half white, half color, in an evenly distributed pattern, conforming to the appropriate color requirements listed above. Ideally, the color should not be grizzled but rather deep and intense.
White: Solid white: satin-like and glossy.
Almond: Deep buff (golden brown) liberally flecked with bronzish-black. Young almonds generally have considerably less break (flecking) than older birds.
AOC: Any colors not listed above (excluding genetic projects) shall be shown in the AOC class. Genetic projects to be shown in the ARC class.

Markings (10 pts.): All colors except self white are to be monk marked. The head must be white reaching down to 3/8" under the beak and eyes. The inside of the hood is to be colored. There should be between 7 and 12 white flight feathers with the ideal being 10 on each wing. The tail, vent, hocks, and abdomen are white. The balance of the bird is to be colored or in the case of splashes (tigers), to be evenly mixed with color and white. The ideal splash (tiger) would be alternating white and colored feathers in those areas normally colored. At the abdomen there is to be a straight line dividing the white and colored area. From this line to the tip of the tail, the under part of the bird is to be white. A white self can compete favorably with the colored varieties. However, if a marked bird is essentially equal in equality to a white self, the marked bird has the advantage.

Rating System

In addition to having each bird placed in its class, each bird will also be rated according to the standard. The ratings are as follows:

Excellent: This is the highest rating and should only be given to those specimens which are near letter perfect. No major faults should be visible. It is likely that this rating may not be given at every show.
Very Good: This is the second highest rating and should be given only to those specimens which are of fine quality but possess a few minor faults. This rating may be given to perhaps the top ten percent of the show.
Good: This rating will likely be given to the majority of birds in the show. Birds receiving this rating will have one or two major faults and several minor ones.
Inferior: This rating will only be given to birds not truly representative of the Old Dutch Capuchine.