Please help us newbies understand shows

[Sonoran Silkies]

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Thanks for the input chickendales. So if my birds are awarded a BV or RV, even if they were the only ones in that variety, it still means that they were pretty good birds? That is encouraging.

As for the Splash, I thought he was AOV, but my cage card was changed to "accepted" so I guess that means that Splash is now an APA accepted color for Polish, which gives us the opportunity to try to breed for birds that can win higher awards, correct?

I am still confused as to whether or not the judge considers all sexes in a variety for the BV or RV award (ie - all the birds no matter what age or sex are considered and only the top birds are chosen) or whether each age group and sex are awarded BV & RV ribbons (ie- the best splash cockerel, the best splash cock, the best splash pullet, the best splash hen).

Birds are first judged by age/gender in each variety. The the two best of ALL that variety can be selected for BV & RV. Only the birds receiving a 1 in age/gender of the variety are considered in selecting BV, and the other 1's plus the 2 in the age/gender that received BV are c onsidered for RV. For each variety there is only one Best and Reserve.

Once all the varieties are judged, all the BVs are considered for Best of Breed (BB). And the RV of that variety plus the other BVs are consdered for RB. Then it moves to division.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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Thanks for answering my initial questions so clearly. Very helpful. And I did want to ask the judge a few questions but I hated to bother him when everyone was was clammoring at him. What is the etiquette for when and where to ask a judge for pointers on your birds and breeding program?

I did have the opportunity to speak to a few of the breeders who were showing and they were kind enough to help me understand the good and bad points of a few of my birds and were very helpful in answering my general breeding questions about pairing for the best possible offspring.

Ask your questions after all judging is complete. If he is on a break you can ask him to look over your birds with you later when he has a few minutes.

 

[chickendales]

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Splash is recognized for many breeds. Out here white calls usually beat greys; don't even see many grey calls.

it not in polish i know that for shure and its not apa color at all
aba regonises it for silkies only as far as i know but i could be wroung

 

[NYREDS]

The APA recognizes Bearded Splash as a Silkie variety. They were admitted in 2000.
The ABA recognizes Splash in Silkies & Old English Game Bantams.
There is a qualifying meet for Splash Modern Game Bantams at the Crossroads show.

As a general rule judges will award best & reserve of variety as long as the birds in question aren't disqualified. It is not the case that receipt of these awards indicates that the birds in question are high quality. In many cases, especially in uncommon varieties, a poor breed representative will be awarded Best of Variety because there is no competition. Judge is not required to make such a placement but in most cases they will.
To the OP-post some pictures of your birds if you'd like some feedback on their quality.

 

[k0r1nag]

Thanks to everyone again for all the great information. I really do want to breed to the standard but it seems there is a definite range in what is approved by the standard and what is actually preferred or expected in practice based on the breed and variety. More confusion, but more opportunities to learn. It is interesting to know that white call ducks and white crested polish birds have been worked on longer and so the breed has been more refined, so they will look different than other birds of the same breed in different varieties. I assume this holds true of most breeds.

And it is very timely to have all this new information as I am planning to go to another show in December.


For NYReds, here are a few photos of my Splash roo that we hope to breed from this Spring. Unfortunately, I did not get any good photos of him after he had been bathed and dried for the show, which shows his crest standing up without a divide and shows his frizzling to be better than it seems with his dirty feathers. I am trying to be patient and taking lots of photos in order to get some good ones, but I have not been very successful yet. However bad the photos are, you can still see he has a very large crest and has some nice splashes. I would appreciate any input that you would like to share.