4-H Showtime

[Luviae]

We will be showing a couple of Rhode Island Red chickens for 4-H in the county fair next month. This is our first chicken show. Do we need to bathe our chickens-and with what? Is there any special "show" things we need to do?

 

[12chickenlover3]

In the book, Storey's guide to raising chickens. There is a lot of information about prepping your chickens and getting them ready. You should check it out.

 

[Whittni]

Go ahead and read through this, it has everything.
http://ucanr.org/sites/4-H-Fresno/files/25520.pdf

Find out the standard of perfection for Rhode Island Reds and write it down on an index card and practice, practice, practice! This is generally a guide though:

Start by picking your best birds, they should have a bright red comb and be cage trained and pose naturally.

You can wash your birds if they need it, but if they are already shiny don't worry about it. You'll want to pluck their eyebrows and face with tweezers for a cleaner look. The hen below has a hairy face, but you'll just want to clean up the cheek area a bit.


For cage training, place your show birds in a cage for an hour a day for a few weeks and handle them regularly. Be able to answer these questions:

http://www.apa-abayouthpoultryclub.org/Edu_Material/Showmanship Knowledge.pdf

And post pictures or a video of your bird if you can and the forum will be sure to help.
Good Luck!


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Special Show things:
Be able to walk your bird on a table and pose it without the bird flying off.