Quote: I guess I should elaborate more about our county fair. OUR county fair has always been judged by the standards that the American Poultry Association has set, and all judging follows the APA Standard of Perfection, except in the cases of production hen and broiler classes. There were DOZENS of birds that were better representatives of their breeds that would have made excellent candidates for the Grand Champion Pen. There were several other pairs of OEGB that had just as good type as the pair that won, and these ones were actually dubbed. I don't know if judges withold prizes if there are no birds worthy of placing, however if there is one with an automatic disqualification according to the APA, then it certainly does not deserve Grand Champion. Yeah, sure it's nice that the girl won with her birds, but what does that teach her? What did she learn from it? I would honestly rather be placed according to what my birds are rather than being mislead and thinking they're something they're not. I'd feel sorry for the girl if she thought her birds were so good as to show them in a REAL sanctioned show, only to have her hopes crushed because they were disqualified. This judge knew plenty about judging production characteristics and FFA poultry judging. What she didn't know was how to judge the "fancy" breeds. Yes, some of those productions characteristics do apply even to the fancy breeds, such as the pelvic width and distance from pelvic bones to keel, but there is plenty more to that with these breeds.
