I'm sure that has a lot to do with it, but there were some very fine birds at this show, mostly in the bantam class but also very respectable birds in the feathered legged classes as well. I think this show probably has gravitated to being mostly those two classes.
There was a distinct good ol' boy network there and a nice camaraderie among a handful of the men...you could tell they were familiar with one another and were having a good time competing. That was nice to see and I'm sure if I were a competitive type person and enjoyed such events, I'd start fitting in soon enough at this particular show if I attended year after year...I'm a friendly person and never have any trouble talking to strangers, so it's not too hard to get acquainted if you really want to do so. I especially enjoy talking to old farmer men and have had a fondness for them all my life...remind me of my grandpa.
I was proud of my birds and how they looked and the one fella even joked about how he'd like to hire me to get his birds ready for show, said his never looked that good.
I could tell my birds were uncomfortable, though...probably due to not being used to being confined in small spaces and my pullet really wanted to lay but just couldn't do it in that cage, so she was panting most of the day though it was not real hot in there after they turned down the heat, and I had a great cage location n near the open doors. When she got home she went straight to the nest, though she is normally an early layer and she finally got to turn that egg loose. Felt sorry for the poor thing.
One amusing thing...when engaged in conversation with the one fella, I could tell that most everything I was talking about in regards to how my chickens live was a foreign language to him and he kept giving me weird looks. Finally declared that he didn't know his chickens all that well and that I must have "pet" chickens. I had to have a chuckle about that...these birds are hardly ever handled and are certainly no pets. I could tell he didn't grasp the aspect of having a working partnership with a flock as their steward, not their owner. I know my birds well because they are not confined in a building that I only enter to feed them and collect their eggs...they are often in my visual field for most of the day as I work outside and they range out in front of me. I don't own a TV, so I watch the birds a good deal and try to learn their natural behaviors and individual traits and personalities. I don't call that making pets out of them, I call that good stewardship. He didn't seem to understand a thing I said in that conversation, so it was like visiting a foreign land and not knowing how to speak the language.
There was a distinct good ol' boy network there and a nice camaraderie among a handful of the men...you could tell they were familiar with one another and were having a good time competing. That was nice to see and I'm sure if I were a competitive type person and enjoyed such events, I'd start fitting in soon enough at this particular show if I attended year after year...I'm a friendly person and never have any trouble talking to strangers, so it's not too hard to get acquainted if you really want to do so. I especially enjoy talking to old farmer men and have had a fondness for them all my life...remind me of my grandpa.
I was proud of my birds and how they looked and the one fella even joked about how he'd like to hire me to get his birds ready for show, said his never looked that good.
I could tell my birds were uncomfortable, though...probably due to not being used to being confined in small spaces and my pullet really wanted to lay but just couldn't do it in that cage, so she was panting most of the day though it was not real hot in there after they turned down the heat, and I had a great cage location n near the open doors. When she got home she went straight to the nest, though she is normally an early layer and she finally got to turn that egg loose. Felt sorry for the poor thing.
One amusing thing...when engaged in conversation with the one fella, I could tell that most everything I was talking about in regards to how my chickens live was a foreign language to him and he kept giving me weird looks. Finally declared that he didn't know his chickens all that well and that I must have "pet" chickens. I had to have a chuckle about that...these birds are hardly ever handled and are certainly no pets. I could tell he didn't grasp the aspect of having a working partnership with a flock as their steward, not their owner. I know my birds well because they are not confined in a building that I only enter to feed them and collect their eggs...they are often in my visual field for most of the day as I work outside and they range out in front of me. I don't own a TV, so I watch the birds a good deal and try to learn their natural behaviors and individual traits and personalities. I don't call that making pets out of them, I call that good stewardship. He didn't seem to understand a thing I said in that conversation, so it was like visiting a foreign land and not knowing how to speak the language.
