Advice on training for showmanship?

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

I want to do showmanship with one of my hens in 4-H this year. It will be my first time doing it. I am wondering if anyone has any advice on training a chicken to pose, or any other general advice for showmanship. The hen I want to do it with isn't what you could consider show grade, but she's super sweet and loves people. Thanks!

 

[nebulathechicken]

I’ve done Showmanship in 4h for a few years. The judges tend to go pretty easy on 4hers compared to open Showmanship so it’s a good way to learn. What I do is I always choose a chicken that is super calm and sweet. The posing ends up being pretty easy because once you put chickens on the table they tend to not move (don’t know why)! The main things to be prepared for is they might ask you to walk your chicken down the table, so what they do is they hand you a walking stick and you are soppused to put it on the back of the chickens leg and walk them in a straight line. You can practice this with a pencil. Also be prepared to properly put a bird in and out of a cage. One last tip is make sure the bird isn’t just comfortable with you, but everyone. Theirs lots of things in Showmanship but the main thing the judges are looking at is how you answer the questions, so it’s mainly your knowledge and not the chickens behavior. Good luck it’s really fun.