Can't wait for the Congress show. In my years of showing birds around New England I was usually the only person showing large Faverolles. In the bantams my friend Eddie and I would compete. Sorry to say Eddie doesn't have them anymore. It's possible we could have five exhibitors showing large Faverolles. For years I have been breeding bantams in all kinds of colors. I don't have these anymore and starting this breeding season I will be concentrating on salmon bantams and salmon large. This is where my focus will be. I'm excited to start this breeding season. By right I should be hatching now. Reason being is to have your cockerels and pullets ready for the fall shows. By that time they should be through their first moult. By me hatching later, come the fall shows, a lot of my birds are going through their moult so it's impossible to show them.
Reason I don't hatch early is because it gets so cold up here and I feel you need to be their to pick up eggs right away so they don't freeze. One year I did try to hatch early but I had a lot of chicks die in the shell. I attributed that to picking up eggs that were to cold. I should be retiring in November so hopefully next year I can start to hatch early. My coops are old and need a lot of work. For the past 4 to 5 years I've just been raising my birds for my own enjoyment. I let a lot of things go on my coops, so now I need to apply myself to get things fixed. I have the bug to show again. Can't wait for the Congress show and I can't wait for the breeding season. I still have a ton of work to do with my birds. I feel the fun is in the journey of trying to get that perfect bird. But, as we all know there is no such thing.
Dick
Dick, meeting up with you is probably my biggest incentive for attending that show. I'm so excited to see your birds! You are a great teacher, and I've learned a lot in the couple of times we've met up there. Looking forward to that again, and meeting everyone else! (Oh, and showing off these beautiful girls!)