Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

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fowlman01 said:
Our show season starts at the beginning of Sept and runs through March. My waterfowl are ready for the first few shows and the chickens are ready shortly after that. I also hatch for specific shows. As an example the ABA national will be here in Cali at the end of January. I hatched birds specifically for that show, so I still have a lot of young birds that are growing out. In the east and midwest they have to finish their show season before it starts snowing, so they have a slightly different show season.

For those of you that are new to showing...there is a lot more to it than sticking the bird in the show coop. Timing your birds to be ready for specific shows is also something serious exhibitors do. Each breed matures a bit differently so you need to know about when your bird is going to be at their best. As cgmccary notes there are a number of ways to promote a molt so that the older birds are ready to show.

Walt
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I love the shows, and it is a lot of work and preperation.i learned that from you guys years ago....it starts with good breeding stock in top health through hatching , the conditioning from that shell to the showroom...i think its rewarding..the birds learn to relax and make themselves at home in the caged setting..sometimes orpingtons relax a little too much so if i can help it, i like to show up that morning so they are fresh, not bored...sometimes you just cant...

it must be tough for you walt..you have to kind of have to know about when each bird will near peak..so far i only have 1 kind to worry about, but if i get any good at this, maybe more..

.this year was not a good year for us..lots of unexpected things like weasles that took out the best birds that i had prepped plus all but one of my EOS..we had to rewire everything with weasle proof wire, even windows..dont ever underestimate the weasle , he can easily fit through a chicken wire hole and devestate everything you have in one night after they kill the roosting birds, they eat off the tail nub or face, then leave .the weasle almost never picks on birds your going to cull out either..he goes for the show prepped birds.....sometimes you just have a bad year , but you pick yourself up and go on... so this year had to take the second string out..not a lot on the second string..but they still did well..the one blk cockeral should be peaking right about time for the classic...but our hospital is pretty over run and understaffed right now..so no one wanting to budge to let me off for that one...coboskill posted wrong dates , changed it too late for me to change my schedule..
 
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Showing is a lot of fun and a learning experience. You dont have to learn all your stuff from Judges the other exhibitors are your teachers especially the older masters of their breeds. You can learn a lot from a Cochin or Leghorn breeder if you raise Rocks or Reds. Normally the old time breeders are the ones who I like to visit and if you are a beginner there are some people who use to raise your breed and can give you tips on what you have good and what you need to improve on.

I have found pullets are at their peak when they lay their tenth egg and a hen when she lays her first egg. After they lay for a month or two they can loose there show shape leg and beak color do to production. Males sometimes get better as they mature. I have 8 Buff Brahmas Cockerels and entering three at a show in late October. Got to pick the three best ones as well as the females who will be in peak shape and who will stay home.

Many fear failure and defeat and that's why they dont stick with the breed or even chickens. It should be a fun affair and if you have children they enjoy it and if a kid sticks with it during their teenage days they normally come back when they are older and become our future breeders. That is why is is paramount to have good youth programs in your breed clubs as the kids will come back and be future leaders and breeders in twenty to thirty years.

Also, you meat some very nice people willing to help you and share their birds with you. Only a few do this so its not a requirement for those who read these threads. Its more important to learn how to just raise chickens and then learn how to hatch them well and improve each year on your brooding skills. The best thing you can learn if you show is how to condition your birds. That is something I have been working on this year is to improve the overall birds condition. You can win many times over a better bird if he or she is in mint condition.

Thanks for the judges for ex planing their views. Its a hard job I have clerked on classes of call ducks that had 60 bird in a class and you got to find the top five. That is hard work and afterwords your legs are killing you. They hardly have time to go to the bath room or eat a sandwich. God bless our judges.
 
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Robert Blosl said:
Showing is a lot of fun and a learning experience. You dont have to learn all your stuff from Judges the other exhibitors are your teachers especially the older masters of their breeds. You can learn a lot from a Cochin or Leghorn breeder if you raise Rocks or Reds. Normally the old time breeders are the ones who I like to visit and if you are a beginner there are some people who use to raise your breed and can give you tips on what you have good and what you need to improve on.

I have found pullets are at their peak when they lay their tenth egg and a hen when she lays her first egg. After they lay for a month or two they can loose there show shape leg and beak color do to production. Males sometimes get better as they mature. I have 8 Buff Brahmas Cockerels and entering three at a show in late October. Got to pick the three best ones as well as the females who will be in peak shape and who will stay home.

Many fear failure and defeat and that's why they dont stick with the breed or even chickens. It should be a fun affair and if you have children they enjoy it and if a kid sticks with it during their teenage days they normally come back when they are older and become our future breeders. That is why is is paramount to have good youth programs in your breed clubs as the kids will come back and be future leaders and breeders in twenty to thirty years.

Also, you meat some very nice people willing to help you and share their birds with you. Only a few do this so its not a requirement for those who read these threads. Its more important to learn how to just raise chickens and then learn how to hatch them well and improve each year on your brooding skills. The best thing you can learn if you show is how to condition your birds. That is something I have been working on this year is to improve the overall birds condition. You can win many times over a better bird if he or she is in mint condition.

Thanks for the judges for ex planing their views. Its a hard job I have clerked on classes of call ducks that had 60 bird in a class and you got to find the top five. That is hard work and afterwords your legs are killing you. They hardly have time to go to the bath room or eat a sandwich. God bless our judges.
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I am fearless about showing. win or loose...to me theres no shame in it, only a learning experience...I always question myself..and Im very hard on myself..I pick what Im doing to death and notice every detail...this is the first year I actually knew where I was at when I went..I knew the best birds were gone...(thanks mr weasle).it didnt stop me..I thought the one cockeral was still very good, he was just a little younger ..needed matureing , but superb color And the bones were there..just needed some more time ..he is a pretty baby.....I enjoy it so much..

unfortunatly there really isnt anyone here in my area that I can work with that raises orps and is intimate with them..It would be really nice to have somone come over and give me some pointers..Its hard trying to figure it all out by yourself....I learn a lot just talking to you guys..but it would be really nice having somone here to say now lets do this , or say why are you going that direction...my eyes tell me enough to get by on...It would be real nice to have that coach..I do have a few long distance coachs....I have one APA judge freind who brings me birds on occasion...but hes waterfowl man..created his own blue duck..still working on it...i feel like andrew wyeth creating my own brand of art..inspired by others.there are certian things that bother me that I avoid ewe necks mean eyes and obvious things that are bad.. .....there was a very old lithograph of a black orpington..that bird had a particular type of eye..and neck set..I always look for that..a certian kindness in the eye..

I have had only the best experiences with APA judges..fair,, honest, the birds who win always deserve to win..To me they do a great job..nothing but good things to say about them and the job they do..I have met some greaT freinds there, life long freinds, and Ive met some real humdinger people too..kind of off the edge crazy..but overall its worth every minute of time..
 
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fowlman01 said:
Poultry judges have to judge 400-500 birds in a day. At Columbus a couple years ago I had to judge almost 700 birds...it does not leave a lot of time to write notes, although some of us do for the important parts. In large classes I make marks that help me keep on track as I judge and I can and do share that with exhibitors, but if judges don't get their workload done during the show, they may not be asked to judge again. Most judges are very good about going over the classes if asked by the exhibitors. Animal judges don't usually have the numbers of animals we have.

Walt
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The possibly second hardest working judges, next to poultry judges, that I've seen, are the Dairy Goat judges, particularly the Considine family. Ask Paul Ashbrook, I've known him for 35years, and he's judged my Nubians a few times. I've seen Harvey Considine, orone of his boys, judge over 400 dairy goats in one day. Classes of 40 or more in each breed, according to age, and they placed them from 1-40 or whatever...then gave reasons for those placings over the microphone so you could see what they were talking about. It has always interested me that Betty Nordfelt set up ADGA dairy goat judging based on her experience in showing dogs.I can't imagine WHERE that was. I have NEVER heard a dog show judge stand, and explain their placements, even at a specialty show, in over 40 years showing dogs. If you are lucky, you might see a vague complimentary ctitique in one of the magazines after a specialty, particularly in England. Something like, "So and So was not at his best today" So enlightening!
 
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