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Well......Eva and I made it to the State Fair this morning. I'm not sure what we expected but we were kind of disappointed. Nothing against Bantams and Games but it seemed they outnumbered the standards 3-1 and standards were our interest. We expected to see more variety in the egg-layer and dual-purpose breeds. Orpingtons and Australorps were sparse and Australorps were classed as AOV, not even by name! We didn't see any Welsummers(one of the breeds we wanted to see in person)at all. Likewise no Freedom Ranger types either. No color variations on the Orpingtons were represented beyond Buff.
The "egg display" had one small case holding two or three cartons of each color..white,brown and pastel. No dark brown/chocolate eggs at all(later research online showed that no other state fair included a class for the dark eggs either). I really expected a table with rows of eggs. Am I missing something here?
To sum it up...in our estimate anyway....if it was not Bantams,Game chickens or commercial types it didn't cut it. I'm not sure who makes the rules and sets the classes but it seems with the renewed interest in home flocks and backyard chickens for eggs and meat there's a major void at the state fair. I'm not knocking the folks that have the rare and unusual birds as a hobby,just lamenting the lack of chickens there for the person interested in home egg/meat flocks.
Oh yes....one other thing I noticed. At all the other small livestock exhibits(rabbit/goat) there seemed to be good representation by clubs/assocations,etc or by exhibitors themselves having posters/business cards/displays and the like promoting their animals and breeds. NOTHING,ZILTCH,NADA Eva or me saw promoting chickens or eggs. Not for commercial growers or home flocks. We were amazed and disappointed!
Okay... I'll climb down from the soapbox now. I just had to rant and rave a bit. But I really would like to know why this is the way it is.
Thanks gang!
Larry
Well......Eva and I made it to the State Fair this morning. I'm not sure what we expected but we were kind of disappointed. Nothing against Bantams and Games but it seemed they outnumbered the standards 3-1 and standards were our interest. We expected to see more variety in the egg-layer and dual-purpose breeds. Orpingtons and Australorps were sparse and Australorps were classed as AOV, not even by name! We didn't see any Welsummers(one of the breeds we wanted to see in person)at all. Likewise no Freedom Ranger types either. No color variations on the Orpingtons were represented beyond Buff.
The "egg display" had one small case holding two or three cartons of each color..white,brown and pastel. No dark brown/chocolate eggs at all(later research online showed that no other state fair included a class for the dark eggs either). I really expected a table with rows of eggs. Am I missing something here?
To sum it up...in our estimate anyway....if it was not Bantams,Game chickens or commercial types it didn't cut it. I'm not sure who makes the rules and sets the classes but it seems with the renewed interest in home flocks and backyard chickens for eggs and meat there's a major void at the state fair. I'm not knocking the folks that have the rare and unusual birds as a hobby,just lamenting the lack of chickens there for the person interested in home egg/meat flocks.
Oh yes....one other thing I noticed. At all the other small livestock exhibits(rabbit/goat) there seemed to be good representation by clubs/assocations,etc or by exhibitors themselves having posters/business cards/displays and the like promoting their animals and breeds. NOTHING,ZILTCH,NADA Eva or me saw promoting chickens or eggs. Not for commercial growers or home flocks. We were amazed and disappointed!
Okay... I'll climb down from the soapbox now. I just had to rant and rave a bit. But I really would like to know why this is the way it is.
Thanks gang!
Larry
