Those photos help a lot. I would have never guessed that. Thank you so much!
You’re quite welcome
Here is an example of melanized but not fibromelanisticYou’re quite welcome
In the description on the Greenfire Farms website it says some have Fibro. I had ended up with 2 cockerels and 3 pullets, one of each of which were DARK fibro and HUGE.
I was just sharing the information shared with me by a Belgian breeder. Since that is their country of origin, there is a breed standard there, but not in the US. (No APA SOP) It’s always up to the individual as well- your birds can be whatever color you want
whatever makes you happy!Greenfire Farms specializes in novelty. When Greenfire Farms imported the Ayam Cemani, during an interview Greenfire Farms owner Paul Bradshaw said, "Somebody who plunks down $1500 for a Williams Sonoma chicken coop, they want an artisanal chicken breed. They want something special, with a story, something beautiful. That's the market we serve."
Well said, well said. I didn’t want to go all the way into explaining the politics of why it’s a ‘thing’, but it is a thingGreenfire Farms specializes in novelty. When Greenfire Farms imported the Ayam Cemani, during an interview Greenfire Farms owner Paul Bradshaw said, "Somebody who plunks down $1500 for a Williams Sonoma chicken coop, they want an artisanal chicken breed. They want something special, with a story, something beautiful. That's the market we serve."
Personally, I don't think they did their due diligence in inquiring or acquiring the Bruges Fighter breed standard, though admittedly it does differ by country with ambiguity in regards to head ornaments and skin color. The origin country is and always will be the best source for this information. Historical artwork by Delin would also suggest that the dark pigmented head ornaments of today is a recent introduction as they were illustrated red regardless of variety color. The standard was changed in 2012 to reflect changes of breeding and exhibition, before that time, dark facial pigment was excluded and undesirable. Nevertheless, I do appreciate Greenfire Farms importing rare breeds, however I disagree with their desire to breed fibromelanosis into the Bruges, it is a cosmetic novelty, counter-productive to the standard, unnecessary and a detriment to a dual purpose chicken, i.e. very few would want to eat a black skin-black flesh chicken. The Bruges, like the Indian Game creates very good crosses for meat chickens as well.
Below you'll see in the Belgian standard that black skin is a fault. I do remember reading the standard from another country that called for black skin, don't remember which country that was. It's quite the controversy though.
Bruges Fighter Standard translated from Dutch to English, translation may not be perfect. (A lot of cut and paste here, hopefully it's still readable)
General Appearance: Very large and heavy pea-combed gamefowl with an almost horizontal body position. The typical dark pigmentation of the face and head decorations give the head a very bold and provocative expression. Despite the rather sparse body feathering, the ornamental feathering of the rooster is well developed. Challenging and fearless in character. The fighter from Bruges has a large figure that radiates strength. He used to be a formidable opponent in the arena. The variety grows very slowly. Bruges fighters take eighteen months to fully develop.
Characteristics: Dual purpose slow growing breed that does not reach maturity until 18 months, but has excellent meat quality. Hens lay quite well (80-120) cream colored eggs weighing approximately 65g. Hens are not ideal brooders. Some lines are still very combative.
Selection and breeding objectives: The Bruges Fighter is a dual purpose breed that lays eggs of approximately 65 grams. The purpose of breeding is conservation while maintaining the characteristics and utility goals. Special attention is paid to the solidity of the frame: no crooked breast bone, no crooked legs or toes, no crossed or bowed legs, no carp back, no split wings, no crossbills...
Because more line breeding occurs in poultry, great attention is necessary when assessing the offspring, and genetic abnormalities cannot be used for breeding. Inbreeding and line breeding are not recommended when it comes to maintaining the breed.
Appearance of Rooster:
Comb: Not too large pea-combed with a narrow base, color depending on color variety
Head: Very powerful with a large and wide flat skull and strong upper brow
Face: Unfeathered, fine, color depending on color variety
Beak: Powerful and curved, color depending on color variety
Wattles: Rudimentary, preferably missing
Earlobes: Very small, color depending on color variety
Eyes: Placed high in the skull, deeply set by protruding eyebrows, dark eye rim, lively, bold and challenging in expression, color depending on color variety
Neck: Long and powerful, slightly arched
Trunk: Rectangular, powerful and fairly elongated. Posture – little raised with a horizontal of slightly sloping backline
Back: Very broad, flat, slightly sloping to horizontal, broad loins. Shoulders very broad and well padded
Chest: Broad and quite deep but not protruding, powerfully muscled, breastbone very long and deep-lying
Wings: Strong and well drawn, quite high and almost horizontal. Wing bows not extended
Tail: Well filled and only slightly opened, medium length, carried at angle of 20 degrees. The numerous medium length sickles are slightly curved
Lower Thighs: Strongly muscled, well defined plumage
Legs: Medium length, thick, powerful, sufficiently spaced and parallel. Equipped with sturdy and well developed spurs. Slate blue to dark blue depending on the color variety, can appear darker in younger animals
Toes: Long, strong and well spread, also the hind toe is long with good ground contact. Same color as legs
Nails: Well curved, color depending on color variety
Feathering: Closed, hard, tight with very little down development. The ornamental feathering is well developed
Hackle: Well developed, fairly long but not too full, reaching to the shoulders and back
Saddle Hackle: Well developed, well filling the transition to the tail
Skin: Pale, slight bluish skin is tolerated
Appearance Hen:
Except for secondary sex differences, the same characteristic as in the rooster, with
Back: Wide and flat, slightly sloping to horizontal, slightly longer than the width at the shoulders
Tail: Fairly closed, carried at an angle of 15 degrees. Tail-control feathers fairly long and covering each other well
Legs: Presence of spurs in the hen should be considered as a quality
Faults: Too little muscular chest; shoulders too narrow; strongly sloping back; wings carried too low; leg position too high; leg position too narrow; eye or beak color too light; leg color too light; white in the earlobes; too little pigment in face of dark color varieties; black skin
General Remarks
Bruges fighters are, first and foremost, type animals. The color and markings of plumage carry less weight in assessment.
Body weights:
Young cockerel 4.0kg Perennial or old rooster 5.0kg
Pullet 3.5kg Over-year-old or old hen 4.0kg
Recognized Color Varieties: black, white, blue, black gold-necked, blue gold-necked, black silver-necked, golden birch, blue-gold birch, birch, blue birch, partridge, blue partridge, silver partridge, blue silver partridge, red-shouldered silver partridge, red-shouldered blue silver partridge
- Black: black plumage, legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn, eyes dark brown to almost black, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- White: white plumage with slate blue legs and toes, beak and nails bluish horn, eyes dark brown, head decorations dark red to purple-red
- Blue: blue plumage, legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Black golden-necked: black golden-necked plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Blue golden-necked: blue gold-necked plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Black silver-necked: black silver-necked plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Blue silver-necked: blue silver-necked plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Golden birch: golden birch plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Blue-gold birch: blue-gold birch plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Birch: birch plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Blue birch: blue birch plumage with legs and toes dark blue, beak and nails dark horn color, eyes very dark brown, head decorations purple-red on the rooster to blackish on the hen
- Partridge: partridge plumage with legs and toes slate blue, beak and nails horn colored, eyes orange-red, head decorations dark red
- Blue partridge: blue partridge plumage with legs and toes slate blue, beak and nails horn colored, eyes orange-red, head decorations dark red
- Silver partridge: silver partridge plumage with legs and toes slate blue, beak and nails horn colored, eyes reddish brown, head decorations dark red
- Blue silver partridge: blue silver partridge plumage with legs and toes slate blue, beak and nails horn colored, eyes reddish brown, head decorations dark red
- Red-shouldered silver partridge: red-shouldered silver partridge plumage with legs and toes slate blue, beak and nails horn colored, eyes reddish brown, head decorations dark red
- Red-shouldered blue silver partridge: red-shouldered blue silver partridge plumage with legs and toes slate blue, beak and nails horn colored, eyes reddish brown, head decorations dark red
. I personally am choosing to work towards the Belgian standard. Example for you is that I acquired a number of Bruges chicks last year from Greenfire and corresponded via email about needing even MORE because all of the combs were incorrect. I stated they ‘were not consistent with the standard’. The reply was ‘what standard, we’re not aware of one’. To which I replied ‘the Belgian standard’ and supplied photos for explaining what a good comb should look like. To their credit, I got some new blood from them this year and the combs are waaay better. If you use the wayback machine for their site, you will see that the Bruges page last year stated ‘chicks should have a flat comb’ (and they shouldn’t). It has been amended this year to the current text. So while they import and breed to preserve rare breeds, they’re not specializing in a few specific species ones working in the way a smaller, specialized breeder would. 
So, it’s just different.The comb issues might be due to dubbing them which was very common and therefore breeding irregular combs. The FEG rooster that Greenfire has photos of on their site is dubbed, was wondering if they imported this way. Glad to hear your new batch of Bruges has better combs.Well said, well said. I didn’t want to go all the way into explaining the politics of why it’s a ‘thing’, but it is a thing
maybe I'll eventually figure out the VAT #)
