Production and Exibiton birds.

[Attack Chicken]

What exactly is the difference between a production and exibition(show) birds? I was wondering this because I took my leghorns to a show and another white leghorn beat him out,but the other bird even had blue in his feathers from to much bluing. He said mine were production birds and now show birds. So I guess if you take a production bird to a show and another bird has broken feathers, lopped over comb and blue in his feather he still beats the very good looking production birds? I even had a knocked knee'd pullet that beat out my other and another pullet. Just wierd lol.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

The best advice is to look at the "standard of perfection" for each of your breeds. The library should have a copy of the book...or you can usually Google it. Compare your bird to the "SOP". Be very critical...the judges will be and you don't want to take a bird that has obvious disqualifications. There are certain DQ's for each breed as well.

THEN...begin to look at photos of exhibition birds and show winners from your breed. THAT is what you're looking for.

Finally...every judge will judge differently. It's somewhat subjective...every judge has a different opinion. Don't take your birds to a show expecting to win or even place. Go to have them judged against others and the SOP so you can know what you need to change if you want to continue to compete in poultry shows.

 

[Black Feather]

Actually, leghorn hens are supposed to have combs that hang over to one side, and roosters combs are supposed to stand up straight.

Ok, hatchery vs show birds. To start off hatchery birds tend to come from places that raises birds to make a profit, whereas show birds tend to come from people who raise birds for a hobby.

Hatchery birds are mass produced in large numbers to fill orders and are sent off as chicks (way before the age when you can tell good show quality from non-show quality). To a certain degree this is a lot like a puppy mill that mass produces puppies to fill pet stores. Keep in mind though that hatchery birds are usually perfectly healthy, happy, productive chickens, unlike puppies form puppy mills.

The Standard of Perfection is the book that defines what makes each breed unique from each other. Show birds have been bred to conform as closely as possible to this standard in both looks and production levels. Mind you, sometimes production levels slip in show bids, whereas looks slip in hatchery birds. The best breeders try to have a good balance both.

It's quite possible your leghorn could have had a disqualifying feature that the judge ignored and placed you anyway. I've seen this happen when new exhibitors show. The judge does not wish to disqualify the bird and disappoint the new exhibitor, so they place them in the class. Mind you, for us experiences show people we would have had are butts DQ'd in an instant

Urban Coyote

P.S: Just an interesting note, Australian show leghorns looks very different from North American show birds.

 

[Attack Chicken]

The other white leghorn male had a lopped over comb and points missing and the blue on the feathers just made it look DQed. An older judge that my friend has known was there said even my bird had a good chance, but like you said judges can be REAL different. My male won Champ at the county fair and didn't even place at the show LOL. Oh well always county fairs to go to