biosecurity and showing

[key west chick]

The Jefferson show today was my first. As i looked at some of the birds, I thought that some of mine looked as good as some that were there,even if they are not perfect. But I also saw some that looked just plain bad. Maybe they were cold or something but some just looked like they were having a bad day. So how do people that show, not bring anything home? Today I left thinking I might want to show someday but now I'm not sure.

 

[moduckman]

Don't give up the thought of showing. I want my birds to do well, but sometimes they do have a bad day. I once had a Modern hen get egg bound at a show. The poor thing looked terrible, but soon passed it and wopuld have placed, I believe. We do not get rich showing birds. As a matter of fact you usually lose money showing. What you want to do is the have good birds according to their breed. Sometimes you have to bring your competition in certain breeds. By that I mean there may not be very many of your variety that is shown, so you bring several to compete against. A bird will sometimes get a little more respect from a judge if it can beat several birds. There are times when a bird "out of condition" makes it to a show. We do our best to not bring them. Sometimes exhibitors have to bring several birds in bad condition if they have no one to watch them at home. Also, if the show had an egg layer competition, the birds do not always have to look their best, just prove they are good egg layers.

 

[cgmccary]

I've thought about going to that show myself, not to show anything, but to look, like you-- the GA shows are often pretty much as close to me as the AL shows.

I think for me, the debate about whether to show my birds or not, it boils down to the reason I keep chickens in the first place: I keep chickens for my own pleasure; it is my hobby. Sometimes, I have thought about "showing" simply to display/showcase my breed which is not commonly seen at the shows, but I chose not to because I didn't want to bring anything home. I have a "closed flock." Having no disease in my flock, no sickness is much more important to me than displaying my breed. I couldn't come up with any other reason "for me" to show. My reason against showing coupled with my reason for keeping chickens in the first place far outweighed any reason to show. Does that make sense? I think each person's motives and reasons should be the governing factor.

 

[BJ]

My feelings:

I blame shows on losing a good part of my flock. I lost 90% to lymphoid leukosis. I'm only speculating, but it has scarred me. Chickens can look healthy and be carriers. It is like sending a sick child to daycare...the parent knows the child is sick, but they are already scheduled to go to work and the child infects other children. People do it out of selfishness. There are always and will always be people out there who will do this. I love my chickens too much now and I'm done with the shows. I enjoy watching them, caring for them, and getting eggs. Kids can still do poultry in 4H and not show the chickens.

If you do chose to show, give them plenty of vitamins to keep their immunity up and also remember to treat them for mites before bringing them home. We always sprayed them with Adams flea/tick spray before we loaded them up to bring them home.

Edited to add a few more comments. I've been told that you should have "coop" shoes. In other words, don't wear the same pair of shoes to the show that you will wear into the coop. Your shoes can carry disease.

Also, just want to say that our family got a GREAT DEAL of enjoyment out of showing our chickens...and if I had it to do over, I would probably do it again.

Good luck with your decision!