Breed of bird recommended for 10yo's showmanship bird for 4-H

janastasio

Songster
11 Years
Mar 17, 2008
232
3
129
New Hampshire
My 10 year old daughter is in need of a new showmanship bird that is small and good disposition to work with. She currently has a bantom blue orpington but he has gotten too large for her to handle well. Thanks for any advice with this.
 
SILKIE! Best chicken ever!
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Faverolles! sweet disposition even on the roos! especially if they've been handled a lot while young and fed treats to keep their interest in what you have when you greet them! cochins are even nice! d'Uccle or any of the booted bantams are good too but hard to find good quality birds locally.
 
Let her pick the breed. SHe will have much more fun if you let her OWN the choices. Additional suggestions are araucana, modern game, serama, brahma, d'uccle or d'anvers (all bantams, obviously).
 
I would think the breed wouldn't matter as much as the disposition of the bird. Just find a smaller sized bird, if thats what you want, then work with it as often as you can, so it will be used to you/her handling it. A calm bird is an easy bird to show, especially for a youngster. Maybe a small cockerel. I agree let her pick the bird but pick a few of them, just in case one turns out to be "untrainable". Showmanship judges the showman more than the bird. But if you have a bird that easily sets-up and hold its "station" proudly, your daughter will then be able to concentrate not on wether the bird is going to fly away but rather on her own appearance and answers that she will be expected to answer from the judge. Know everything about your bird and the particular breed possible. Obviously know ALL the birds parts, its breed/variety DQ's and deductions, and anything that is different/special about this particular bird....
 
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Agreed!
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I used one of my Silkies for the Senior Showmanship class this year and she just sat in my hand. Very calm birds indeed!

I third this. An excellent choice for a starter bird for many reasons!
 
my sister she just turned 12 yesteday does showmanship with her d'uccles and our ducks....she has also tried out the bantam ameraucanas but she says they are a little flighty but still pretty easy
 
both of my daughters did showmanship for the first time this year. 10 yr old got purple with a 3 month old EE, 14 yr old got blue with a 4 month old mixed cockerel who took grand champion!! how ever they both really wanted to show their red sex links because they are soooo sweet and will just sit and coo.
 

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