Entered my first fair yesterday! They didn't know what a Showgirl was!

[jossanne]

YAY for you! I know the feeling about summer camp. When I left my birds at the fair a few years ago, I felt the very same way.

I'm thinking about taking my silkies to our county fair in September, if they're well-feathered and pretty. They'll be about 6 months old. But I hesitate, because our fair is pretty small and the judge seems incompetent.

The only other time I took my chickens down (they were all just hatchery birds, but that's what everyone has here) we didn't do really well. The bird that won best of show was labeled "White Leghorn," but he had BIG red earlobes - I wasn't even on BYC yet, but I knew leghorns don't have red earlobes. Apparently the judge didn't realize that. Some others that were labeled as crosses won better ribbons than my purebred girls did. It was frustrating.

And to top it all off, someone came into the barn in the middle of the night and opened all the cages. When I got there first thing in the morning, they'd caught about half of the chickens, and put them all in one big cage because they didn't know which bird went in which cage. I think they caught them all - at least they caught all of mine. So I got back the right birds, but it was scary. They've changed the poultry building since then, so it's a little more secure, but I'll put padlocks on my cages if I give it another try.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Request that the fair be an APA/ABA Sanctioned Show & amploy a licensed judge. They may need to raise the entry costs to cover their increased costs, but it would certainly be worth it.

Definitely complain about birds winning who are CLEARLY not what is protrayed, unless the tag is remarked to match what the bird IS.

 

[jossanne]

Quote:
I wonder if it would do any good. I doubt anyone around here has birds that fit breed standards, including me. Except, hopefully, a couple of my new baby silkies...

There are probably only about 25 chickens in the open show, and probably twice that many in the 4-H show. This is a really rural, sparsely-populated county, surrounded by other sparsely-populated counties. Would APA/ABA licensed judges even be interested in participating in a "show" like this?

 

[luvmychicknkids]

My husband wants me to eventually get show quality La Fleche to breed and show.

I just don't think I could (show them that is). Especially reading things like the story about someone opening all the cages.....how could ANYONE think that was funny or acceptable or whatever they thought??? I would be a nervous wreck until they were back home!!! Thankfully all we have right now is hatchery La Fleche so he can't encourage me to put them in the Fair this Fall.

 

[PoultryPedia]

A note of encouragement--
Most actual chicken shows are far more secure than most fairs. My local one is held in a large sort-of warehouse type building (vs a shed-type building).
People are always posted at the entrance and club members are always wandering the aisles keeping an eye out--and club members know pretty well who the entrants and their particular birds are. No one is allowed to remove birds or even handle them unless they are the owner.
At night the building is locked and some club members sleep in a travel trailer in front of the building to keep watch.

 

[JessaLynn]

My son showed is Barred Rock Rooster AKA (Big Daddy) in the fair one year and he was stolen.The guy in charge of them act like it was no big deal and brushed it off.Told him if it were a horse,ya'll be searching high and low but to them a chicken is a chicken.NOT TRUE he was a beloved pet.So I told him I'm sure the mayor would like to hear about this then, turned around quick and oh no no! I'll get you 3 hens to replace him.I wanted my sons rooster back but atleast now he took me serious.I ended up with a pair of bantams (forget what they were) I ended up selling them because our other chickens were pecking at them to bad.Owell lesson learned but sucks!