anyone else get upset when you see low quality

[Momma_Cluck]

or maybe the "fear" of looking stupid to a Judge who uses "Show" standards".. so other kids with with "sub-standard" Birds drop out...
nice way to segregate the haves from the have nots-- and encourage Adults to take over for the kids... how do they learn from THAT!?

I know-- our local 4-H just dropped a judge for telling kids to "stop wasting her time with these crappy birds"... she had done the judging for 4 years, and all we ever heard was complaints by parents and kids how she was "hypercritical" over the bird and paid little attention to the kids knowledge of the birds or work they'd done to get there...

Don't know where YOUR 4-H is, or how you judge or how the leaders prep the kids.. here, they are told to keep documentation of where they got the chicks, how old they were, what feed they used for how long etc... they also have "classes" on showing their chickens and what to look for in a "perfect" bird of different breeds... and yes-- it IS what they strive for--- but FEW people have , have access to or can afford "Show quality" birds... they get them at the Farm and Fleet, Ideal, local farms etc...


So, do these kids get excluded? Does 4-H now become more like Westminster and become more "exclusive?"

Maybe where you live... but not in most small towns.

 

[seedcorn]

Quote:
I would agree no reason to make a kid feel bad but it is also fair and reasonable for the person in charge to explain why this bird is DQ. No reason to be mean about it.

4H should be about the kids learning about animals. They need to be shown the differences between breeds, etc or just have a mutt showing. There you would judge on health of bird and how well the kids can handle it, etc.

 

[seedcorn]

Quote:
They don't have to be "perfect" but at least resemble the breed w/out DQ's. Hatcheries have decent birds if you stick w/main breeds. What I see way too often, are junk birds. If done correctly, explaining to parents/child why they should pass on certain birds because of defects is fair. Would hate to see them keep on breeding and then telling everyone it won my county fair and sell the offspring to unsuspecting nubi's.....

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

The shows have open and Jr. entries, totally separate judging. We show our ducks and chickens and we are adults. We actually enjoy it, but our kids also show in Jrs. My son reads up on his breed and what to look for and culls his own with our guidance. We get 4-H and Jr. orders all the time. We do give 4-H and Jr. discounts. We want the kids to win and the parents are the ones footing the bill so we try to give them a break on price.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Apparently 4H has adopted the "No DQ Act."

All participants get a participation ribbon. HOWEVER, when I see a bird that needs to be DQed, I ask the KID why the bird should be DQed. Guess what. The kid can tell me WHY.

If they didn't want to be judged by the show standards, then why would they have a "breed" separation at the show?

They do:
Pullets
Meat
Hens
Breeds

I personally prefer telling the kid why his bird WILL be DQed at the state level rather than having his hopes and dreams crushed by a judge that is much older than myself and honestly could care less about "feelings." I am here to help the kids learn. I am doing my job as I have been asked back 4 years in a row now.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
If I remember correctly, 4H has 2 types of competition. One is showmanship where the child is judged on their handling, preparation and knowledge and the other is judging the quality of the bird. Kids with the lesser quality birds can excel in the showmanship area. Kids that work on keeping to the SOP do well in the other area. There is nothing wrong with giving ribbons for showmanship, but it should also be acceptable to give ribbons for meeting the breed standards. There is nothing wrong with a gentle critique of a kid's bird. If a parent feels that their child may be sensitive to losing because the color, shape, size or whatever of their chicken is not up to snuff, they should encourage the child to excel in showmanship and forget the other classes. I think that the OP is not upset about inferior quality birds being shown in the showmanship area. I think that the OP is disturbed that just because a chicken was shown at the fair or won a ribbon it is passed off as show quality.

As of yet, I haven't shown my birds. However, when I get to the point of quality I want I intend to. I had some that I felt finally might make the grade, but they were killed by dogs. Now I'm starting over. There aren't a lot of breeders in my area. I have to have eggs shipped to me. It would be quite a setback to depend on eggs that were sold to me because they were advertised as coming from show quality stock if they weren't. I know that SQ stock doesn't give me a guarantee of SQ chicks, but it's my best hope, and it's a start.

BTW 4H is also about learning to lose, not just winning. Also, at the state fair I saw some so-so birds (not 4H), and none of them had ribbons on their cages. I like to see the winners so that I know what to strive for.

 

[Chicken Lil]

Hate to sound like an idiot, but what does "DQ" and "SQ" stand for.

I like to go to see the poultry shows, but do not participate, just like to know what folks are talking about.

 

[sara]

Quote:
I can't agree with you here. It wasn't that many years ago that I was in 4-H and their was a lot of QUALITY, as a matter of fact sometimes it was way too competitive in my mind. Parents spending small fortunes to make their kids the winners. I loved 4-H but sometimes it was more about how much money you had to spend on a champion that actually learning how to breed a champion. Quality at the show wasn't a problem.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
SQ=show quality
DQ=

 

[klf73]

DQ=disqualified