Showing chickens at the fair, help needed so they stand on a table.

[15shenyl]

I just got back from showing! I had a grate time. I did really well too! I got 3 first place blue ribbons, a champion purple ribbon for showing, and a grand champion ribbon for my rooster! I showed my roo, Yogurt, and the judge just fell in love with him! He got me a showing pin, the champion ribbon for showing, two blue ribbons, and the grand champion ribbon! I was so proud of him, he love all the attention when he was up on the table, he stood there and was perfect! My Dorking hen got the other blue ribbon.(my roo is a Salmon Faverolle). I can still win a ribbon for my record book, informational poster, and I can do poultry judging and have a chance to win a free bag of food. Also someone from the press came and took pictures of me and a 4H kid, than he told me to put him back on the table to take single pictures, will have to see if we end up in the paper. Thanks to everyone who wished me good luck, it really payed off!

 

[Narragansett]

Actually in 4H it's only the very young children [Cloverbuds] who get an award for just showing up. Othere age levels are competitive. I was a 4H member as a child, have been a 4H club leader & judge 8 or 10 4H poultry shows each summer.
The purpose of posing the bird on a table is to illustrate that the child actually has spent time caring for the birds as opposed to catching one the morning of the fair. It's only real world application would be to present a tamer bird in the show cage, something many exhibitors ignore.
For my money 4H is a good program. It gets young people away from the TV, computer & video games & it also teaches what are in my mind positive values. In addition 4H does address that disconnect from understanding where our food comes from by affording children the opportunity to actually raise food in a number of forms. One of the 4H shows I judge provides the participants with a dozen broiler chicks to raise at the beginning of the year. Theyare required to show a pen of 4 of these birds & the birds are auctioned for meat at the end of the fair.

I'll agree to disagree with you as well on this. In my area examples of the base ignorance of the poultry 4h leaders are endless, not only about poultry husbandry, breeds, exhibiting, Standards, etc, but also regarding the life lessons that they are teaching the children. One of many failures of the 4h system is that there is very little consistency from club to club, few national standards (one that they do have is the ridiculous ruling that Cloverbuds cannot participate in livestock shows) and no qualifications needed to be a leader. Here, it is not only Cloverbuds which are rewarded just for showing up, it is everyone. In a few years I'll be hiring the product of that kind of liberal mentality, and eventually be firing them as well, when they find out what the real world requires, something that their soft hearted 4h leaders misguidedly thought they were protecting them from. Those employees who will stay are those whose parents realized the foolishness of the 4h mentality, and taught their children the right way, that hard work and doing a good job results in rewards in the real world, that you don't get rewards just for showing up, and worrying about getting your feelings hurt is not the problem of your employer or college professor.

 

[Aschenfire]

I'm guessing Narangassett must have had a bad 4-H experience. I was in 4-H for years as a kid growing up in southern Ohio. The members and their families were farm people. They knew their animals and they were serious about raising, showing and caring for them. There was no froo froo pampering and coddling of any of the members, even the littlest ones. Yes, everyone gets a participation ribbon, but those are more for appreciation of the HARD WORK these kids put in all season on their projects, be they livestock or other types. Giving a kid a ribbon as a token reward is not setting them up to be a welfare mooch or a useless slob.

Teaching your birds to stand on a table is not a horrible thing to teach them. Really? Teaching them to stand there for a few moments quietly for judging is "against their nature"? I am not in 4-H and I am raising Seramas and Modern Game Bantams for show. They HAVE to learn to stand up and pose. My birds (especially the 5 1/2 week old Seramas) seem to enjoy the interaction with me. They stand at the door to the cage, awaiting their turn with Mom. I don't see any signs that they hate the training time. If they did, they'd be cringing at the back of the pen, avoiding being taken out.

I applaud the 4-H program and it's leaders and kids, as well as FFA. Good job, too, to shenyl! You did really well with birds that got a crash course in being show chickens!

 

[4hchickmama]

I just got back from showing! I had a grate time. I did really well too! I got 3 first place blue ribbons, a champion purple ribbon for showing, and a grand champion ribbon for my rooster! I showed my roo, Yogurt, and the judge just fell in love with him! He got me a showing pin, the champion ribbon for showing, two blue ribbons, and the grand champion ribbon! I was so proud of him, he love all the attention when he was up on the table, he stood there and was perfect! My Dorking hen got the other blue ribbon.(my roo is a Salmon Faverolle). I can still win a ribbon for my record book, informational poster, and I can do poultry judging and have a chance to win a free bag of food. Also someone from the press came and took pictures of me and a 4H kid, than he told me to put him back on the table to take single pictures, will have to see if we end up in the paper. Thanks to everyone who wished me good luck, it really payed off!

Congratulations! I'm glad you had a great time and that you did so well! My girls learned so much from their first show and now they are really excited about the next one in September. Let us know if you and your roo end up in the paper. Salmon Favorelles are so pretty and eyecatching!

 

[Bulldogma]

I just got back from showing! I had a grate time. I did really well too! I got 3 first place blue ribbons, a champion purple ribbon for showing, and a grand champion ribbon for my rooster! I showed my roo, Yogurt, and the judge just fell in love with him! He got me a showing pin, the champion ribbon for showing, two blue ribbons, and the grand champion ribbon! I was so proud of him, he love all the attention when he was up on the table, he stood there and was perfect! My Dorking hen got the other blue ribbon.(my roo is a Salmon Faverolle). I can still win a ribbon for my record book, informational poster, and I can do poultry judging and have a chance to win a free bag of food. Also someone from the press came and took pictures of me and a 4H kid, than he told me to put him back on the table to take single pictures, will have to see if we end up in the paper. Thanks to everyone who wished me good luck, it really payed off!

Congratulations! What a wonderful achievement! You should be very proud of your birds and of yourself

 

[Bulldogma]

I'll agree to disagree with you as well on this. In my area examples of the base ignorance of the poultry 4h leaders are endless, not only about poultry husbandry, breeds, exhibiting, Standards, etc, but also regarding the life lessons that they are teaching the children. One of many failures of the 4h system is that there is very little consistency from club to club, few national standards (one that they do have is the ridiculous ruling that Cloverbuds cannot participate in livestock shows) and no qualifications needed to be a leader. Here, it is not only Cloverbuds which are rewarded just for showing up, it is everyone. In a few years I'll be hiring the product of that kind of liberal mentality, and eventually be firing them as well, when they find out what the real world requires, something that their soft hearted 4h leaders misguidedly thought they were protecting them from. Those employees who will stay are those whose parents realized the foolishness of the 4h mentality, and taught their children the right way, that hard work and doing a good job results in rewards in the real world, that you don't get rewards just for showing up, and worrying about getting your feelings hurt is not the problem of your employer or college professor.

Narragansett - This particular thread is not the place to air your negative feelings about FFA and 4-H. This thread is not about you and your feelings - it was started by someone hoping for advice and support. If you can't stay on topic by providing positive advice and support for the thread starter, it does not make sense for you to post here.

Why not start your own thread to state your thoughts on agricultural clubs and even perhaps start a debate there?

 

[NYREDS]

Narragansett - This particular thread is not the place to air your negative feelings about FFA and 4-H. This thread is not about you and your feelings - it was started by someone hoping for advice and support. If you can't stay on topic by providing positive advice and support for the thread starter, it does not make sense for you to post here.

Why not start your own thread to state your thoughts on agricultural clubs and even perhaps start a debate there?

Since Narragansett wants to relate this thread to what ever it is he does for a living I'll do the same. People who have an exaggerated sense of their own importance, lack empathy, are arrogant & believe themselves to have knowledge or insights others lack often can be diagnosed with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. [Offered for information purposes only-not to be interpreted as a diagnosis]

 

[15shenyl]

I got back from the fair, and I took the test to try and win the bag of food(keeping my fingers crossed because I can really use it.) I also got two trophies for my chickens too! Still don't know if I will get a ribbon for my record book or not. I am in the lead for keeping my area of the barn clean(I keep trying to use the official words but auto correct keeps changing them). Also, my and my rooster were on the front page of the news paper today!!! I was so happy! Thanks to everyone who wished me luck and gave me advice on showing

 

[Chris09]

4h is a product of, and just perpetuates the mentality of so many Americans today, which don't understand the basic nature of animals. We have become so far removed from the natural and agricultural world that's it's an embarrassment to thinking people everywhere. As those types of people also are prone to name everything and anything, trying to cubbyhole the entire world into neat little blocks that often don't fit, or don't need to be categorized, I refer to them as suffering from Agricultural Deficit Disorder. I bet that there is a drug for that, a government program paid for by my tax dollars, and a special teacher needed in the schools, also funded the same way, for children who have those "special needs".

Wow you really had very poor experience with 4-H as a kid didn't you?

Chris

 

[Chris09]

I'll agree to disagree with you as well on this. In my area examples of the base ignorance of the poultry 4h leaders are endless, not only about poultry husbandry, breeds, exhibiting, Standards, etc, but also regarding the life lessons that they are teaching the children. One of many failures of the 4h system is that there is very little consistency from club to club, few national standards (one that they do have is the ridiculous ruling that Cloverbuds cannot participate in livestock shows) and no qualifications needed to be a leader. Here, it is not only Cloverbuds which are rewarded just for showing up, it is everyone. In a few years I'll be hiring the product of that kind of liberal mentality, and eventually be firing them as well, when they find out what the real world requires, something that their soft hearted 4h leaders misguidedly thought they were protecting them from. Those employees who will stay are those whose parents realized the foolishness of the 4h mentality, and taught their children the right way, that hard work and doing a good job results in rewards in the real world, that you don't get rewards just for showing up, and worrying about getting your feelings hurt is not the problem of your employer or college professor.

The key word being in your area.



Quote: They may not be able to show in the 4-H show BUT they are more than able to show in any other show including open class.


Quote: I don't know about the 4-H were your are BUT 99% of the 4-H kids here live on a farm and they know what hard work is. They work 8 hours a day on the farm on top of school.



Quote: I find this funny just because so many people that were in 4-H have made names for themselves.
Singers, actors, athletes, coaches, organization presidents, CEOs and politicians, presidents of of the U.S., and even Johnny Carson was in the 4-H.

Chris

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