NC State Fair Chicken Show

[vfem]

Tell me if this is the norm for the state fairs... I saw a sultan pullet and a silkie roo with ribbons at the fair. The sultan was cross beaked and the silkie has the wrong comb?!

I am seriously thinking I don't want to bother showing there next year, I know my birds are better quality then those, and I don't see why they even bothered to judge them! Shouldn't they have been disqualified?

Did anyone else see this?!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

That is pretty bizarre if they were judged according to the standard. If they were showmanship birds it likely wouldn't be an issue, althoug I have heard of some places that require showmanship birds to meet the standards.

Unfortunately, many fairs are not ABA/APA sanctioned shows, so how they are judged is anyone's guess. However I would have expected that a STATE Fair would be sanctioned. I know ours is. My personal opinion is that ALL state and county fairs should be sanctioned events for all animal exhibitions. (I don't know enough about other types of exhibition hobbies--flower arranging, cannning, sewing, etc.--to have any sort of idea as to whether they have sanctioning bodies or not.)

 

[vfem]

See, I assumed the same and have been getting my birds bred and ready. I was hopping by next year to at least get one of my pullets if not a rooster in for show. They were extremely limited in the # of silkie entries at all. I thought maybe it was a LACK of choices that may have done this. Like there were only 2 sultans in the show, and there were only 3 sets of White Silkie, 2 sets of black silkie, and then poor buffs were in the 'other' catergories. Lots of black in the tails, some even with random white spotting... maybe I was wrong and they were red or partridge?

I was surprised to see so few... but at the same time I saw dozens of mille fleur!!! They were definitely popular.

I was hoping next year, the NC State Fair would be my first.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Talk to the show superintendent--ask about showing, the rules they follow, etc. Specifically ask if they are ABA/APA sanctioned, and if the answer is "no," ask why not.

 

[vfem]

Quote:
Good plan, I think I can make email contact through their website for the fair. The only people I saw at this show were students from NSCU, they had a poultry group there with chicks and ducklings... they didn't know anything when I asked them anything... I think they were just there representing the school by letting kids hold chicks.

 

[blueoval1]

Yeah I have been to the fair twice so far and the quality on some of the birds is horrible especially the silkies. I dont think it is a APA show but I would like to make it one because I want to show there myself , I will see what I can do.

 

[vfem]

Quote:
Well if you can say something to someone to get them to agree... that would be awesome. I put too much into my birds to know they aren't being judged properly.

 

[Dustin Biery]

I think it is really important for fairs to find good judges even if they are not sanctioned. My local county fair doesn't have enough birds (or showmen) to be sanctioned. Lucky to have 40 birds. But we still managed to get a decent judge who knew birds and what they were looking for. I really think the judge is the key.

 

[THough1956]

I saw the same thing at the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston Salem. Some looked like they were just plucked from the pen, even had missing feathers on backs from where the roosters had been.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
There is no minimum number of birds to hold a sanctioned show. You do have to join the APA and ABA, but that cost is only $25 for each (a total of $50). If you are sanctioned, chances are pretty high that you will get more exhibitors and entries.