*Sigh*...we took two of the birds she wants to show next year to the mock fair tonight so my daughter could get the practice of taking the bird out of the cage and handling it, etc, and I knew she'd be more comfortable holding her own birds than someone else's. This year all of our birds are too young for fair. Well, she decided she wanted to bring her Barred Cochin pair, Buddy and Petunia. Both have pretty good temperments, though they were both nervous tonight. Well, my daughter's turn rolls around and she put Petunia in, took her out, and then the judge took the bird from her to explain to us what makes for a good show bird. And then he totally brought us down, though he really wasn't trying to. He was very kind with my daughter and explained to us that while our birds are both lovely, they are not show quality, and that most hatchery birds aren't (guess where 99% of all my birds come from!). He said that Petunia has very poor barring, and that it's actually more cuckoo in pattern than it is barred. Same with buddy, though his pattern was brighter. And Buddy's comb has too many points. And apparently Buddy has hackles, and Cochins aren't suppose to have hackles. I asked if I bred Buddy later, would his chicks come out like him, and he said yes. So even his kids wouldn't be show quality. My poor daughter cried the whole way home, cause as we thought about our flock we realized we have Splash Cochins without any Splashing on them, and Buddy and Petunia are our only Barred Cochins, and we have SLW's that look more like someone splashed black and white onto them instead of them having the beautiful lacing they were suppose to develop. I still hold out hope for our Silkies, though that hope is dim. One of our three Silkies has a different comb than the other two, and that Silkie is the nicest of the three, and I suspect that she is a he. So we have 33 birds (and are expecting an order that will have Bantam Buff Orpingtons, 3 frizzles, and a Bantam Dark Brahma on Friday), and basically she can't take a single one of them to show. He told us to find good breeders if we want good show quality birds, but be prepared to pay for the birds. That's hard cause I make minimum wage, and I only work part time. If I didn't make my bonuses on a consistent basis, I'd never be able to afford anything. I'm depressed over this whole mess, my daughter is very upset, and even my older daughter is upset because she has nothing to take to show next year when she joins the poultry. I do have some Bantam Turken eggs I got from another BYC'er incubating, and they are set to hatch around the time of the Fair (June 16th to the 20th), and I pray the colors are within the regulations for the Poultry Standard of Perfection, or she'll have nothing. I don't know what to do. I would like to invest in some show birds, but I really don't have room for too many more birds. I'd have to sell some of our existing flock (currently they are all happy, healthy 8/9 week old teenagers) in order to make the room, or build another coop. I'd prefer to build another coop, but I can't build to save my life, and I can't afford another one until tax season in January, and by then I can't get the young chicks cause they can't be shown if they are born after October the previous year. So it's kind of a catch 22. I'm upset mostly because my little girl is so upset and it feels like there isn't a darn thing I can do about it. I have tears in my eyes as I type this. She is blessedly all cried out for tonight. This year for fair she is "borrowing" birds, but she had her heart set on showing her own birds next year. I really don't know what to do.
If anyone has any advice, please let me know. We chose the breeds that we originally got from the hatchery for show and also for egg production and also for their temperment. I won't know about the egg production part for a few more months, but as far as temperment goes, we got some really sweet birds. I guess I went into this whole "chicken raising" thing a little blinder than I would usually do something like this. I suppose it's a learn as you go kind of thing. But really, if anyone has some advice, please, share it with me. Thanks everyone.
