Chicken Showmanship Tips

[SinseaChicken]

Hi! I'm 12 and my family got chickens very recently. I have three hens. I'm interested in showing them but I have never shown anything in my life. Here are some specific questions I have, but anything helps.

Are there any important rules?
Are there any special dietary needs?
Do I need to train my chicken to do anything?
How will the chicken be judged?
Are there any differences depending on your age?
I have an RIR. She is the same age as my other birds (4 months) but is half the size of them. Will her size affect anything?

Noodles does not enjoy being picked up, occasionally bullies the others and is very loud. She makes a noise like the child of a broken air raid siren and a kazoo. Clementine is very small but very smart. She is OK with sitting on your arm but she hates being held with her wings pinned to her side and is flighty. Winifred is reasonably affectionate, is OK with being handled and is slightly dumb as she swallowed my earring recently (We got it figured out). Which of my chickens should I show?

Clementine
Winifred
Noodles

 

[ChickenGrass]

Hi there.
For showing there isn’t really many important rules apart from the chicken should be Healthy and Mite free.

Just keep feeding your chickens what your feeding now.
I just use layers pellets and a mix of corn and pellets in the winter.
You can use show pellets but not many people use them.

Afew weeks before the show put the chicken into a cage for a week so she can get used to being in a cage.

The judge will take the chicken out of the cage and will check that it’s free of mites etc.
it will then check for Defects such as crooked Brest etc.
then he/she will check for condition.
They will check that It has all of its wing feathers, all nails, and then over cleaniness.

After that he will check how close your bird is to standard.

I think some shows offer junior classes which is for people under a certain age.

To see type of the birds we would need a side picture like the one you have taken of noodles.

Unfortunately your ‘RIR’ clementine would not be great for showing as her feathers are much too light.
To see type I need a better picture.

noodles dosent look great for showing either.
Looks a bit ‘light’ and not very good type unfortunately.

 

[OldEnglishGameBantam33]

Don't you show the judge every part of your bird? There is an order and way to do it.

 

[ejtrout31]

Are doing showmanship for 4-h or just showing in general