Showing chickens

[chicklover 1998]

I am located in Iowa, and got chickens last year with the intention of showing. All showing got shut down because of the bird flu last year and the death count on commercial birds was 31 million, needless to say I was not able to start showing my chickens last year. I wanted to start this thread with the hope of getting helpful tips on how to start showing and some precautions I should know, any paperwork I would need to have before showing. Kinda clueless here.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Well it may not be the worst thing that you had to wait.
Have you been breeding your own birds?
My best advice is to start breeding and attending shows. Enlighten yourself as to what happens there. Watch the birds as they're handled by the judges, including what the birds do when they're grabbed out of the cages and put back.
Learn as much as you can by watching and your first experience can be good.

 

[chicklover 1998]

no I haven't but i'm wanting to get two breeding trios of ayam cemani and svart hona sometime next spring

 

[junebuggena]

You can show unrecognized breeds, but you won't win top prizes with them. The best you could do is Best of Breed/Best of Variety.
Both Ayam Cemani and Svart Hona are very recent imports to the U.S. and they are a very long way from getting recognized by the APA.

 

[chicklover 1998]

I know that they are not recognized by the APA. I also have 3 RIR hens and a roo, def. not SOP but will be working on it they are too light and not quite rounded in the chest. As well as the RIR I currently have Ameraucanas as well 1 hen and one roo, as for them they are iffy not quite sure if I want to even bother with them.

 

[junebuggena]

True Ameraucana or hatchery Easter Eggers?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I know that they are not recognized by the APA. I also have 3 RIR hens and a roo, def. not SOP but will be working on it they are too light and not quite rounded in the chest. As well as the RIR I currently have Ameraucanas as well 1 hen and one roo, as for them they are iffy not quite sure if I want to even bother with them.

Since you're starting, you may want to concentrate on one breed. Then you want to get some birds of that breed from a breeder. Starting with generic birds will take many years to get up to show quality.

 

[chicklover 1998]

True Ameraucana or hatchery Easter Eggers?

The person I got them from said ameraucana but I'm thinking they are EE so scrapping that Idea she is a good quality looking one but he is def. EE, which leads me to believe that she is too since they came from the same person.

 

[junebuggena]

Were they sold as a specific color? Ameraucana are always sold with a color variety specified. Easter Eggers have no specific colors.

 

[chicklover 1998]

Quote:
And I get that, that is why I've been looking around for breeders, and I was thinking that if I wasn't able to find any around me I would get some from GFF in 2017.