ABA vs APA

[Suki]

BTW, the ABA standard was printed in the USA by the Covington Group in Kansas City, MO.

http://covingtongroup.net/books/index.html

[Mike Gilbert]

BTW, the ABA standard was printed in the USA by the Covington Group in Kansas City, MO.

http://covingtongroup.net/books/index.html

Isn't it funny how the ABA can get things done right, and done in the USA, but the APA has to go to China to get printing done, and the results are poorly edited?

[Suki]

Yes  I thought the same.  Since the standards are pretty similar except for weights, I may upgrade to the 2014 ed. as I don't mind supporting them.

[John W Blehm]

The Alliance is an "associate" member of both the ABA and APA and we pretty have been all the years I can remember when we were the ABC. 
The APA & ABA treat associate members the same though.  As club secretary I receive quarterly newsletters and a yearbook from the ABA, but nothing from the APA.
Also the Ameraucana Handbook that I'm working on is the 3rd in a row that the ABA has purchased an ad in, supporting our breed club.  The same ad solicitation is always sent to the APA, but with no response...not even a "no, thank you".
I'm not happy that the two groups are so buddy, buddy and wish the ABA would expand to recognize all poultry and become true competition for the APA.  I believe it is about the only way the APA will ever improve.

[Mike Gilbert]

The Alliance is an "associate" member of both the ABA and APA and we pretty have been all the years I can remember when we were the ABC. 
The APA & ABA treat associate members the same though.  As club secretary I receive quarterly newsletters and a yearbook from the ABA, but nothing from the APA.
Also the Ameraucana Handbook that I'm working on is the 3rd in a row that the ABA has purchased an ad in, supporting our breed club.  The same ad solicitation is always sent to the APA, but with no response...not even a "no, thank you".
I'm not happy that the two groups are so buddy, buddy and wish the ABA would expand to recognize all poultry and become true competition for the APA.  I believe it is about the only way the APA will ever improve. 

I agree.   If I were about 30 years younger there would be a start-up of third organization, one that is much more responsive to the membership and one that recognizes breeds and varieties separately.   That means it would not cost anything to get a new variety recognized, but all varieties would be recognized for all breeds.   That way the creators don't get penalized for breeding up a new variety in an existing breed.   

[Suki]

I'm game to do that, but I think the real reason people join the APA is for points so the new organization would have to recognize all the old points that they collected in those organisations.  That said, how would this new National Poultry Association get money to run itself?  That would be a problem and as the Alliance itself has shown a lot of people have too much inertia to change...unless you give them real reasons to do so and I don't think either corruption or incompetence is enough for the majority.

[John W Blehm]

I'm game to do that, but I think the real reason people join the APA is for points so the new organization would have to recognize all the old points that they collected in those organisations.  That said, how would this new National Poultry Association get money to run itself?  That would be a problem and as the Alliance itself has shown a lot of people have too much inertia to change...unless you give them real reasons to do so and I don't think either corruption or incompetence is enough for the majority.

One reason I never joined the APA is that I've never been a competitive exhibitor, so points and their Master titles they offer never meant anything to me.
APA points could be inherited by members of a new club, similar to what was offered ABC that transferred members to the Alliance.

[Suki]

The more and more I think about it, I am not sure why you need an APA at all unless you want to compete cross-breed.
To me, that's about all that they really offer.