question about showing

[chickenannie]

this is the first year I went to the Farm Show with any idea about the poultry I was looking at. It was great, on the one hand, and all the cages were super clean and nice, but I noticed some bad stuff too. Like, frostbite on some of the combs (some pretty bad), a few of the chickens looked sick, one had cloudy eyes and a runny nose. Also, it seemed like it would be really hard on the birds to be in such a crowded place for so many days (a week). Wouldn't it be confusing and noisy for the birds to be in such close proximity to several hundred other birds? I don't think I would put my own chickens through that experience because I'd be afraid they'd get stressed out and sick or something.

Even though there were signs up "not to touch or tease the chickens", kids were occasionally poking at the cages and yelling at the birds, and there were hundreds of people walking by talking loudly etc.

Also I felt really sorry for the heritage turkeys since they were the biggest birds confined to such a small space. My free-range turkeys would have been really upset confined to a small cage for a week.
Since I've had zero showing experience, I just wanted to find out what the rest of your thoughts were on this.

 

[FrizzleFreak]

The sick birds are a discredit to their owners and will probably be disqualified. They shouldn't have been allowed into the show in case what they had was contagious. The shows I've been to were very strict about signs of disease.
Honestly, my birds have never really seemed to be in bad spirits after a show. Sometimes they're a little shell-shocked on the first day, but they adapt quickly. Ducks seem to be more affected by the stress, and after a couple of days will spend most of their time sleeping. Kids poke chickens. Kids get pecked. One of two outcomes occurs: A: parents over-react and call all chickens vicious animals who should be killed and eaten. B: parents yell at the kids and point to the signs over and over.
going to chicken shows is a lot of fun, especially with some of the stranger breeds. You get to debunk myths and correct stupidity. (one girl thought that my silkie was a rabbit!!! of course, she also thought you had to get a shot if a chicken "bit" you)

 

[chickenannie]

Thanks Frizzlefreak. I really enjoyed getting to see all the breeds and be able to compare them to each other. I just assumed any sick birds would not be allowed entry. That's why I was suprised to see 2 or 3 (out of 600) that appeared unwell. And the comb frostbite was very visible. It's unfortunate, but why would someone enter their chicken with frostbite?

Are the shows usually open-ended? Can anybody typically enter, do you know?