Sdwd

[Serrin]

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Ok, I gotta ask this......Who is our other "Amy" here? Cuz I know this conversation that you refer to Nella, didn't happen between you and me. Did it? Did it and I've just suffered through yet another brain fart and don't remember? Please! Please! PLEASE!! Tell me it didn't happen between you and me!! I don't want it to be a case of another Brain Fart!!!! I've had enough of the Brain Farts lately!!

 

[NellaBean]

that is apparenty an Amy my brain made up. LOL whoops. I meant to say Cetawin........I know too many Amy'ss and Lori's. Help.

I have an excuse for my brain fart. Today is my last work day until next Tuesday. Flying out to Vegas with mr man tomorrow. Whoooo hooooo.......

ETA: there is an Amy aka HappyMtn in TN and an Amy aka Nadine in SC. Plus you. Plus others. Surrounded by Amy's. Help.

 

[Serrin]

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**Pat-pat** There, there dear NellaBean! We'll try not to overwhelm you!

Have a great time in Vegas, win a big old pile of money and then come home and decide just how crazy you want to go on your coop upgrades!

Oh my heavens! What I couldn't do out there if I just had the time and the money!!! **sigh**

Don't forget to take lots of pictures Nella! Pictures, or it didn't happen!

 

[NellaBean]

Coop upgrades? I'm trying to downsize woman! That is precisely why I am going to drive down to Alabama weekend after next to pick up a cochin trio. Sigh. Really love those feathered footed crazies though.....2 blue girls and a mottled boy that is nicer than my backup mottled boy. Can't beat that. Then i can sell my backup.....LOL.

The next sale I can make is 9/18 and I am bringing another 10-20 birds. Going to try bringing some extra bantam roosters again, a pair of gold laced cochins (the hen is SO FAT, eating me out of house and home) all the "baby boys", and any other pairs I can part with (probably my large fowl silver laced cochins). I got a few extra off-colored bantam cochin hens from Amy in SC....purposely to pair up with my extra boys so I can sell them. But the girls are so fricking adorable and sweet. I want to keep them all. This cannot bode well!

I have a big 16x24 rooster pen with a little 8x8 offshoot on one side. It currently has a whopping 9 bantam roosters. 9! That's it! Awesome. I am taking 4 or 5 out of this pen to the next sale. Hoping to get enough sold to be able to toss the rest into the yard with everyone else or a tractor.....A rooster pen is GREAT to have, but I'd rather just have fewer roosters

 

[Cetawin]

Nella, don't sell that boy just yet please. Let me try to get my pens situated before your next trip to Lexington...next month right? If I can get everyone's pens done, I will take him for Hera...plus I will have a better idea of if she is going to grow anymore...as she should be laying in a few weeks. So..tentative sale on him...Hera will decide in a few weeks.

 

[NYREDS]

The funniest oops to me was a trio of bantams someone brought in. 2 hens and 1 roo. They disqualified all three for "saddle feathers" on the roo. Now what the heck does that mean. What Roo doesn't have saddle feathers? And he did have them. Huh?

Sebright & Campine males should both be hen feathered. Long pointed saddle feathers in either breed is a disqualification.​

 

[NellaBean]

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No problem....he is on the hold list for now anyways. I'm trying to whittle down my list of boys, but I have a partridge, 3 gold laced boys and 2 extra blacks that are split to lav and millefleur, plus a golden campine...all on the list ahead of him. And apparently an extra mottled boy LOL. I like him personality wise as he was very good about staying with the young "kids" at the back of the yard when he had the run of the place....once the girls started nearing maturity he was in hog heaven and that is when all the boys went to the rooster pen.

I think there will be a lexington trip in October.....last one until next year! We might do Berea instead, but that will still get me a lot closer than I am now LOL

 

[kathyinmo]

OMG, I woke up to a downpour this morning. From 97* degrees yesterday to mud and standing water today.

The last of my meaties (12 CornishX) go to be processed in the morning (11 wks old). YAY! ! ! Sad, I found one dead this morning. Darn it, I thought I was gonna make it without losing any. Next appointment with a processor is middle of Sept, and that is when I will take about 25 roos in. They are about 5 months old, and will have to be slow cooked meat, if I understand correctly.

Gonna have a housefull of company over the holiday weekend here. Any of you have plans? I am thinking we will break out the BBQ grill and try some of the chicken from the freezer that were processed a couple weeks ago. Any advise or good recipes? I have never made chicken on the grill before.

 

[NYREDS]

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Yes, there's a "judge's book" it's called the American Standard of Perfection.
The "bit of studying" involves a minimum of a 2 year apprenticeship with 10 different judges. Reccomendations from those judges that you be allowed to take the exams. Then there's a comprehensive written exam & an equally comprehensive show room exam. It's a bit more involved than you make it sound.
The last part of your comment is true though. People buy a chicken at the feed store, name it Fluffy, take it to a show & can't believe it when they don't win a prize. Then they come on a board like this & make disparaging comments about poultry judges & poultry shows.

Well as we have already demonstrated in another thread there is a major problem with that book in several areas...you would think with all this "training" and so forth, there would be more knowledge of breeds being judged and there would not be mislabeled birds with ribbons hanging on the cage...case in point...the Light Brahma hen marked and ribboned as a Columbian Rock which happened here at the State Fair just recently. How can you expect to judge poultry on a book that has such inconsistency? If you are curious, read the SOP for the Delaware and then read the SOP for the Delaware Bantam. That is ONE example.

How do you think kids get into poultry? You think they all use their allowance to buy an incubator, breeder hatching eggs and choose the best one to take to show? No, most get hatchery stock and take their PET to a show. They start out crawling then they walk and run. That is where breeders come from...starting out at the bottom and working their way up, the same holds true for experts....they start with little or no knowledge and gain knowledge and experience/training to create the expertise.

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Yes frankly it is amazing that Beth or anyone else would want to LEARN. Why should anyone need to do such a thing when there are so many wonderful experts out there already who cannot tell the difference between a RIR and NHR but are judging poultry entered? Again, there is that rude, self induced superior expert opinion again and the pompous attitude I posted of earlier.

You have probably never seen the back scratching mentality because you do not care to notice it. It happens in every other area of showing...Horses, cattle, swine, etc etc etc. Since you are at a loss regarding political decisions that are non-governmental I shall endeavor to help you understand. It is when one makes decisions based on reasonings having nothing to do with fact or good cause but merely on what can be gained or avoided by making the decision. Example - hiring the incompetent nephew of the boss because he is the nephew and it keeps you from loosing your job to hire the useless slug and doing so when there are better qualified candidates for the job. Handing out a blue ribbon for a chicken that looks like death warmed over, has many faults etc etc just because the chicken was entered by the Fair President's daughter and said Fair President decides on who the judges will be...so the ribbon is given so that said judge can return to judge and keep his/her reputation as an expert/judge intact.

Understand better now?


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Nor do your number of posts make you an expert, nor does your training, nor does your signature. How do you formulate your opinions? I would hope that they come from what you have seen, read, done, etc etc which is no different than what any of us have made our opinion from. I have yet to see, in person, a poultry judge that knew what the heck they were doing, which is what my statement was based on....they are PRIMARILY idiots. I gave room for the benefit of a doubt that there were a few good ones by not saying they are ALL idiots. However, even that may change real soon solely based on your responses here, giving the benefit of a doubt is looking more and more like an error on my part.




Thank you Braclin...you are very kind. How is the incubation going? Are there new babies yet?

Apparently you've had a lot of bad experiences with judges & judging. I can't speak for all judges obviously but I can speak for myself.
I have placed birds at the top of a class or show when I knew who the owner was because the bird deserved it.
I have disqualified birds when I knew who the owner was because the bird deserved it.
At a recent fair show that I judged I disqualified a few birds that belonged to the show superintendent because they deserved it. He's the guy who hired me & who handed me the check. I pointed out the reasons for my decisions to him & apparently he was ok with it because he asked if I'd come back to judge again next year.
As to birds being mislabeled & still getting ribbons this may well happen at fairs as many fairs have a local chicken expert judge rather than a licensed judge. I very much doubt that there's a licensed judge out there that can't tell a Columbian Rock from a Light Brahma.
I know what political decisions are I just am not aware of t he occurring in poultry shows. Maybe they do & maybe you're right & I choose [unconsciously} not to be aware of them. I do know that I've talked about claims of this sort with a lot of other judges & with a lot of people who show & the consensus has been "it's just a chicken show", why would anyone get that invested in it. Again, from my own experience I can honestly say that for the most part people who show are very supportive of each other in a positive way. I show Bantam Rhode Island Reds. Obviously I know most of the other people in this region that show bantam Reds. When one of my birds loses to one of theirs the first thing I do is congratulate them. The converse is also true.
In response to this entire thread I would like to apologize openly for my part in letting the discussion get too emotional. The moderators of this site removed a number of posts, some of mine among them. They were right to do so. As chicken shows are "just chicken shows" this is just a chicken website.
The only thing I would add to this is to encourage people not to paint with a broad brush. Just because you saw one judge make a questionable decision that doesn't prove that all judges are incompetent.
Judging is harder than it looks. A judge has at most a minute or 2 to evaluate each bird. In that short period of time he has to call up a memory of what the standard calls for, rate the bird against that standard & then compare that bird against the rest in the class. Even that sounds easier than it actually is. To critics of judges I always have the same suggestion: get in the apprentice program & get your license. The fancy can always use another good judge.

 

[trilyn]

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And I think about you too Kathy!

And Cyn & Cetawin, Beth & Nella, Germain, Scott and Tim, Gloria Jean and Trish [if she'd ever get her hiney in here!

] All y'all are on my mind, all day long, and well into the night.

Y'all have become rather an extended family to me now. And I can't imagine what I would do without ya some days. Just knowing that you're all out there, spread across this great nation of ours, gives me a sense of companionship and camaraderie that I've never found anywhere else. Long live BYC! Long may we be friends! And may all of your girls lay nice big beautiful eggs!

OK, it's midnight in my neck of the woods. I'm heading for bed y'all. Have sweet dreams and a fabulous day tomorrow....or, is that today, now that we're all on the morning side of the first of September???

I would, but I always feel so far behind you all!

I read and get caught up, but then I'm not sure where to jump in first. I'm very shy.

LOL So, I log in and read and am entertained and warmed by your obvious camaraderie. I've got Mr. Tim running scared, because he thinks I'm stalking him. I told him I could read his posts by clicking on his user name, never say that to an ex-postal worker!! LOL

I have to say you all would be invited to my house for a bbq anytime!!!