LOL We've got one judge that I've questioned at times if he's ever even owned any chickens. He picks ones he likes for GCH and RV every year. Bring something that strikes his fancy that day and you're golden. We've gotten RV from him the last 2 years running with poorly conditioned hatchery birds even beating properly conditioned SQ entries. Our GCH winner at that one last year had mites at the time and hadn't even been bathed. He was neat looking though. At least for last year I know he read the "How to Judge Poultry at the Local Fair" pamphlet our state puts out and memorized the "things to watch out for" because he made a comment about most all the birds having DQs. On each of the cage cards he had a note about what was wrong with each bird. He listed one thing from the list he memorized even though they didn't apply. It was more of a
followed by a
after talking to him. We still go every year though because it's just FUN!
One of our 4-H locals has a licensed judge and supposedly 2 will this year. The one that's always had one would have DQed any EEs last year, at least that's what he told me. He said he cringed when he saw the Ameraucanas listed because they're always EEs and he hates when he has to DQ kids. He was so relieved to see they actually were Ameraucanas.
Under AOSB both listed as Ameraucanas and Auracanas, last years judge at state allowed them and the judge the year before DQed them, licensed judges. So even when there is no actual proper class for them, they still get through half the time.
See if you can get a copy of last years fair book and check the rules and classes. Checking with your poultry leader/poultry superintendent/extension agent/older 4-Hers should also help you get a better idea. IME so far some are really proactive on getting info out and other's just kind of figure everybody already knows these things and don't bother, so you have to take the initiative.
I don't remember where we got the info from, but DSs 1st year in poultry, we were only told about the meat/egg/DP pens and that he could only have 3 entries. Okay, great, so 3 birds in a pen is 3 entries, off to the store we go. We bought 3 "RIR" and 3 BR from the feedstore. The "RIR"s varied a lot in their size and appearance. The BRs were indistinguishable. Great, he can enter the BRs. Two weeks before fair, a dog got one of the BRs. So no entry our 1st year. DS was so upset after all those months. Then of course we get there only to find several cages full of individual birds. A couple more phone calls/emails in the Spring could have saved us a lot of hassle.
The same goes for every new fair/area you go to. Different rules, classes, ways of doing things...... The better prepared you are, the less stressed you'll be and the more fun you'll have.
