I want it to be clear that lots of people beat me, but I dont like those kind of people to beat me but it is also an opportunity to compete with a breeder who is on the other end of the US. Win or lose it is an opportunity. The exhibitor who would buy birds to show will soon find out that no one can win all the time ...then the real breeders kick it up a notch and go gunning for the bird buyer. Two years is the usual lifespan of the high roller bird buyers. some of these birds go for obscene amounts, so showing a string can cost thousands of dollars.
I guess as long as you think that you miss obvious things....you will. I don't think you do. You can't expect to get the eye you are looking for as quickly as you would like, but I am sure you won't miss things that are pointed out. I even miss things and most of this is second nature to me. I'm judging the chickens in movies and commercials...the judge in me is on all the time when I see chickens...so because I saw it it doesn't mean that many overs saw it either. Everything is obvious when pointed out.
Walt
When I think about the show or don't show question, I guess it comes down to a point of view, or orientation. I'm certainly not going to feel a sense of accomplishment for showing some else's bird. None of my talents have come into play save that of keeping the bird in condition, and as Walt points out, buying a string could be really expensive. However, if we come at it from the point of view of putting a show together, as part of the team who puts on the NH show, if you've some great birds, I want to see them at the show. It boosts numbers and peaks interest. But maybe there needs to be room for sensitivity. We have some great Black Muscovies, which come out of Jim Zook's stock. Mr. Zook lives far away and does not show in our region. I've shown a drake I received as duckling from him on multiple occasions, and it added to the pagentry of the show. Five generations later, the muscovies I show are all born here. Then I gave credit to Mr. Zook for the stock, and I still do, multiple generations into it. I imagine I always shall, for that's part of the romance for me--the history. On another note, I procured a Pilgrim gander from Steve Blash to pair with a quartet of Pilgrim geese I received from a lovely retiree who could no longer maintain them. She originally had them from the now defunct Pilgrim Goose Farm. Because Steve runs the show in Massachusetts, and we are always at the same shows, I shall never show the gander, unless Steve isn't showing any Pilgrims, and then I might to add to the pagentry of the show. In which case, Steve would be there, and it would be common knowledge that the gander were his. He'd be proud as could be--in his very subtle, low-key manner, of course. Still, chances are I shan't ever show him, because I have a pasture full of his young, and I'd rather bring some of those and sit with Steve to discuss them.
I guess that's another point, I don't know if I'm ever going to have the sense that something is
mine. I often have folks over here going over birds with me, and at the shows I corner anyone I can for imput. Although, of course, I have my own thoughts, I am
always turning over in my head what these mentors and friends are telling me. So, even if I'm alone, making a decision, it's like they're there making the decision with me. So, in a way, I guess "my" stock is always going to be a community effort for which I'm just the hub, but I like it that way. Contrariwise, there's a gentleman in the region, who rarely, if ever, sells stock and who rarely, if ever, allows visitors. He has great stock, so, to each his own. I wonder, though, how many, if honest, have a sitution more like ours, one where you sense that between the books and the mentors is found the seed for success, and your stock is better and better because of the community-effort that in one way or another supports it.
Even if we never meet, Walt and Bob, you have added significantly to what I do and think. Walt, I can't look at one of our Dorkings now without trying to imagine my fist in between their shanks. And, Bob, your introducing me to the outstandingly fecund poultry author, John Henry Robinson, alone has been an amazing service. I read him and re-read him. He has a little book, (check out this title)
Standard Poultry for Exhibition: A Complete Manual of the Methods of Expert Exhibitors on Growing, Selecting, Conditioning, Training, and Showing Poultry--Fully Describing Fitting Processes and Exposing Faking Practices--Briefly Explaining Judging for..., which is and outstandingly informative read, not just for what he's saying, but reading between the lines, he does an excellent job of letting the reader into the turn of the century poultry world--the state of the shows, breeders, and also his impressions of the state of the various breeds and varieties at that time, which subsequently helps to shed a light on the state of breeds and varieties now. When Bob was talking about varieties that never actually met the Standard requirements to begin with, and, therefore, what are we saving, Robinson's thoughts on this are interesting. Thus, if such and such a variety of Wyandotte were no good then, and they're no good now, when were they ever good? Thus is "preserving" them an act of
saving them or an act of
creating them? Not that I say this to stir the pot, nor do I currently have an opinion of my own, it just makes for interesting reflection. Still without Robinson, and Bob to introduce Robinson, the thoughts wouldn't be there.
I ramble...and yet, perhaps, it's all to say that it apparently takes a village to raise a good chicken. So, apparently,
mi pollo es tu pollo. 
