Breed Standard

This is the Sebright Standard, taken from The British Poultry Standards book  

 SEBRIGHT BANTAM  

Origin: Great Britain
Classifications: True Bantam
Egg Colour: White or cream

This breed is a genuine bantam and one of the oldest British varieties. It has no counterpart in large breeds, but has played a part in the production of other laced fowl, notably Wyandottes. There are two colours, gold and silver.

General characteristics: male
Carriage: Strutting and tremulous, on tip-toe, somewhat resembling a fantail pigeon.
Type: Body compact, with low broad and prominent breast. Back very short. Wings large and carried low. Tail square, well spread and carried high. Sebright males are hen feathered, without curved sickles or pointed neck and saddle hackles.
Head: Small. Beak short and slightly curved. Comb rose, square fronted, firmly and evenly set on, top covered with fine points, free from hollows, narrowing behind to a distinct spike or leader, turned slightly upwards. Eyes full. Face smooth. Ear-lobes flat, and unfolded. Wattles well rounded.
Neck: Tapering, arched and carried well back.
Legs and feet: Legs short and well apart. Shanks slender and free from feathers. Toes, four, straight and well spread.
Plumage: Short and tight, feathers not too wide but never pointed. (Almond-shaped feather is desirable)

General characteristics: female
The general characteristics are similar to those of the male, allowing for the natural sexual differences. Her neck is upright.

Colour  – The Gold
Male and female plumage: Uniform golden-bay with glossy green-black lacing and dark undercolour. Each feather evenly and sharply laced all round its edge with a narrow margin of black. Shaftiness is undesirable.

 The Silver
Male and female plumage: Similarly marked on pure, clear silver-white ground colour.

In both sexes and colours
Beak dark horn in golds; dark blue or horn in silvers. Eyes black, or as dark as possible. Comb, face, wattles and ear-lobes mulberry or deep red. Legs and feet slate-blue.
Although in males the mulberry face is seldom obtainable, the eye should be dark and surrounded with a dark cere.

Weights
Male          620g (22 oz)
Female      510g (18 oz)

Scale of points
Lacing                     25
Comb                        5
Face and lobes       10
Ground colour         15
Tail                          10
Type                        20
Weight                      5
Condition                10

                              100
                              ===

Note: There is at present a decided move to improve type and to discourage the prevailing whip tails and narrow build, particularly in females.

Serious defects
Single comb. Sickle feathers or pointed hackles in the male. Feathers on shanks. Legs other than slate-blue. Other than four toes.  Any deformity.

                                                  ===================================

The following is from the “Poultry Chronicle” of 1855 and presumably deals with the breed standard at that time:
“The cocks are allowed 22 ounces and the hens 18 ounces. The cocks must have no long hackles, no saddle feathers and no long streamers in the tail. They must have rose-combs, short backs, with heads and tails approximating; their ground colour clear and every feather delicately laced with pure black. The tail feathers should form no exception in their lacing (but this will be very seldom seen) and the bars on their wings should be black and distinct. The same applies to hens.”