Beginner to Poultry Shows

[R3M1X]

I am wanting to show my birds at the state fair this year, and want to learn all I can to do my best in the competition. I currently have Lavender Orpingtons -2 hens, 1 pullet and 1 rooster, 1 cockle- and Speckled Sussex - 3 pullets- (of the list of qualifying breeds) I will soon (hopefully by next week) have Light Brahma, Buckeye, and White Crested Black Polish day-old pullets. I also have waterfowl (pekin, rounen, blue swedish and I black duck I am unsure what breed it is) as well as pearl guineas. I know the jist of getting the bird ready for competition but what should I expect during competition? What are the birds judged on and how can I determine the best bird for the competition?
What are your experiences and advice you'd like to share I'd love to hear about.

Is it possible to show cross breeds or do the birds need to be purebred? I have a cross breed of Lavender Orpington and Sapphire Gem pullets and cockles.
I figure cross breeds are not judged in competition, but the coloring of my pullet and cockle are really pretty so it's a shame.

 

[Pyxis]

So, this will depend a lot on if this fair is actually an APA and ABA sanctioned show, or if it's more of a just-for-fun type show. In an APA/ABA show, only recognized breeds can compete to win, and only recognized varieties of those breeds compete to win.

They will be judged according to the Standard of Perfection. If you really want to show, you're going to want to buy one, and also join the APA (and the ABA if you do bantams) so you can accumulate points for your wins.

Looking at your list of chicken breeds, what you have now that is eligible to compete and possibly win are your speckled sussex. You can enter your lavender orps for fun, but they are not a recognized variety, so they won't be able to win Best of Breed or compete any further than Best of AOV.

All the rest that you are getting as day old pullets won't be old enough to show and really compete unless the fair is four or five months at least from when you are getting them. Also, since they are coming as sexed pullets, I would guess you are getting them from a hatchery. If yes, then they're not going to win. Hatchery birds are rarely good enough quality to compete. At the first show I ever went to, I saw a buff orpington that had clearly come from a hatchery entered. The judge didn't even bother to rank it among its breed, just wrote 'production' on the card, pretty much disqualified it, and went on with the ones that were actually from good stock produced by breeders.

As for ducks, the pekin, rouen, and blue swedish are all accepted and could be entered to compete, but I don't think you have them from exhibition lines, at least from what I can see of your rouen. An exhibition rouen that is bred to the SOP looks like this:

So you can enter them, but they probably won't be competitive. Since you don't know what breed the black duck is, I wouldn't try entering it, because you would need to know the breed.

Pearl guineas can be shown too. Again, they will likely only do well if they are from a breeder that breeds them for showing.

If this is an APA/ABA show, you definitely can't show crossbreeds or hybrid 'breeds' like the Sapphire Gem.

And I also just wanted to let you know, for when you're doing entries, that a male chicken under a year old is a cockerel, not a cockle. A male over a year old is a cock.

Now, all that said, if this is not an APA/ABA sanctioned show, then you might be able to toss all of what I just said out the window. They too usually judge using the SOP, but they get a volunteer to do it most times, not a trained judge, so they don't always know what they're doing. At a fair once I saw a duck that wasn't even the right color get best of variety for that color. So, who knows what will happen. And some fairs allow production hybrids and crossbreeds, though I do not know what criteria they are using to judge them since there isn't a Standard to compare them to.

 

[R3M1X]

Thanks. I realized my spelling mistake with "cockerel" after the fact One day I will get the terminology right. The fair is the North Carolina State Fair it does not seem like it is an APA/ABA show, but further research via their website will be needed to make sure. They have different divisions so I will have to make sure to look into them further. The fair is not until October 20th so there should be enough time for my young chickens to grow up.