Off to the Duck Show

.  Getting ready for my first duck show. I decided to enter 7 , 5 runners , 4 under a year, and one 2 yr. old drake.And  one pair of Saxony. I have 3 carriers, after searching  thrift stores in 3 towns . I finally had to  rig a divider in my largest for  2 pr. of  runners, to keep the boys from nibbling on each other, even if they were raised together, ti's breeding season.  I finally bought a large ,tall ventilated  laundry basket for the one lone runner drake and I will tie it closed. It is  big  enough for him to stand and wide enough to  lay in. I also am bringing 4 mini-ducks to sell, But they aren't  in attack mode yet , so they can stay together in a mid-size crate.  I also  bought "interesting" heavy glassware as waters at the thrift store. I figure they are too heavy to  spill, and needed deep enough to  dip their bills in to  clear their nostrils.

        I will have to  bring  them inside to  the  spare bath and try to give them  baths.....then  put them in their carriers on fresh shavings.7 ducks, (3 pairs), that is 4 baths! Then I have to  wrap them in a towel to get them past the 3 terriers

    It's the pedicure that may be tough

   Checking last minuted "Duck Bulletin" standards, trying to figure out which Saxony female to  take, have it  down to 3..... hard to pick out SQ, when you have only seen your own ducks and photos.... Hope the  judges comments are  informative....  and  be nice to  see other ducks

 I am  misting  some of the ducks, putting  some in clean pens with  clean water.... toenails.seriously,  like how  do you know if a toenail is "the  wrong length?" Other than  a grossly  rolled one?  They  look fine to me.....I mean....like  who  studies "Duck  Toenails"???

   I may not  bring my blacks at last thought , they looked good to me, but  may hold their tails up  to  high, they are only 8 months old, may have to  take them out and "run" them a bit to see if it's just  something  they are doing in the  small pen.... Or maybe just take them and  see how much that  counts off.

Well, we actually won "Champion Light Duck" with my female penciled runnerSurprise....

First, I had to figure how to transport the birds, I had been buying some kennels , but only had one  tall enough for the runners, it was a huge crate, so I  rigged a divider to  put the penciled and black  young pairs in. It worked on the way down, but on the way back they "jumped " the divider (hardware cloth), it was rainy, and I figure the males wouldn't be  fighting over  females while in transport, (everyone  hunkered down in the shavings while riding). I had the  2 Saxony  in a medium large crate. And I had one  runner drake in a large laundry basket, boungeed shut.(Only thing  tall enough, I  could find that  week)

 Got a late start, but made it in time to get birds Pullorm tested and  checked  in. First thing was they were taking the birds out one at a time. I said"ahh,  I have a problem, I have 4 ducks in  one crate and I  don't see how we can  one out with out the others making a break  for it, unless we can  put them  somewhere else as we test them"  So the Ag. guy figured out we could  go ahead and  put them in their cages after  someone nicely checked my number and their cages were literally within 10 feet of the testing. After testing and wrangling everyone into their cages,I was confusticated about the teany,tiny hook, that was a catch, that and the cages were just set on shavings with no  floor...? They were in a roofed addition  on a barn, but it was open  for  several feet  on  top the side walls, I had nightmares of  a gang of  raccoon bandits covertly attacking after dark .  I read in the  direction we were supposed to  "check in and close your coop tags" ???"Huh?" Never could figure out what they meant, the latch? huh?duh?.It was late and we had to drive 20 miles back to Atlanta for our "points room"...did not  sleep at all.. we were by airport in an older Fairfield, and I had a bad headcold and my mold,dust mite allergy..

    Next morning made it while they were judging chickens (100's of them I swear).I had brought 4 mini-ducks (Overbergs) to sell and had people  buying them pretty early, I  could have sold another pair early, which I was going to  bring , but ran out of  space. By selling them , we actually broke even on the show I walked around looking at all the chickens, ducks, geese and 'stuff' for sale. Finally, they were finished  the  ducks and geese, I  talked to  a couple  people there who were helpful, just told them it was my first show and I  didn't know anything I was then  told my  Penciled runner got  "Best Light Duck", and  her mate  Reserve, my  Blacks got  noted as BB(best of breed I think they said , and  BV Best of variety, the male got RV, reserv variety. My gray Drake got  RV, reserve variety.(Basically number 2 in the variety.

   Oh, and my hubby finally figured out "close the coop tag" means you fold over the tag with your number(all your birds cages have that number), so the judges  I guess don't  know whose birds they are judging. Course I had orange zip ties for Id on all my birds......

   My Saxony didn't fair as well, I talked to the owner of the other two and realised my idea of  "Buff" was lighter and she said they wanted what I'd call a "gingery orange"...I knew the femal I ended up taking was a bit  refined, as the 3 I was going to take all had a callous on their feet. (turns out mydrake did too,k but I missed it, because I was just trying to hang onto him. Needless to say, it was rather last minute, and I hadn't caged trained anyone and they were not happy My drake was a bit  traumatized I think, because they  put him next to a huge white Turkey!! and  another drake ont he other side. He was puffing  up to the drake trying to  box thru the  wire, while being terrorized byt the turkey on the other side. He did not eat the first day, I was a bit concerned...Here I  pull him out of his  harem of 7 ducks and one other drake, and transport him  for a  couple hours then  put him next to a rival and  a dinosaur (turkey). Rain had started, so  we went back to room early to recover  from sick and  no  sleep.

   Next morning, went early for awards, suddenly , hubby pushed me forward,  "they called your name",  I got a  plaque for  "Champion Light duck", and  they  took a pic ,before I  could adjust my headband,mussed hair....... Surprise...thought the  call duck would get it .  I believe  Mr. Travis B. got all the other duck awards.  Nice show, if I hadn't been sick I would have enjoyed it even more.

  Geese were nice too, I should have brought my Tufted Buffs, they were in good condition,  I  didn't think you could take  unrecognized breeds to a APA Open Show. I guess you can ,as there were colored Sebastopols and Buff Saddleback  Pomerainians which  won champion goose I believe.

   ( I did run around looking for  the IWBA meeting, I thought they said on the CVPA website, but no one  know what I was talking about, thought there was a meeting...wanted to go and maybe join, but drew blanks for info...)

   Nice show, nice birds, nice people............