I thought it would be fun if I enterd some of my birds at the local fair, so I did. I read about it on here and other places, and what I had thought it would be was NOT what it was. At all! From what I read, I would bath my best fullest featherd birds that met the standerd after months of preparing them and bring them to the show for a few days. So I did. (This is just my local fair.) I knew everything about each breed, all of them matched well to the standerd, and all my birds were hand-raised and friendly. The other chickens there were dirty, mean, not at all what I was expecting. The handlers reach in and grab the bird's feet, sending shavings and feathers everywere. One bird broke its leg. There were a few nice birds, and the one that broke its leg was a pretty white silkie. The person didnt care! She looked at the bird, and told some one to "take care of it" so she could get her other one. I dont think any of them had names or anything. They were just stupid chickens. Of course, most of my chickens dont have names, I cant tell them apart. The ones I brought had names. My show bird, Flight, took Best of Show. (of course) And all my birds filled up the highest ranks! These were all hatchery birds. After reading about all of the breeds, I knew that the birds I picked out were good. But I dont think the judge knew the difrence between a BR and a RIR. There was a RIR kind of bird there that had no feathers on her head, back and tail. Talk about SQ. I was out there with my chickens holding them, letting kids pet them and teaching them about the breeds. Half of the peaple didnt show up to show or claim thier birds! Tell me not all shows are like this! I wanted to breed sumatras for show. Not if this is how show chickens are treated.
there is a huge difference between how fair birds and APA sanction show birds are treated. at one fair this summer the duck and turkey cages were sitting on the ground outside of a pavillion for 4 days IN THE RAIN if this was an apa show and breeders were told to do that there would have been RIOTING keep in mind fair shows pay money, APA shows do not.
Find an apa show in your area. YOU WILL ENJOY IT . sorry your 1st experence was a bad one. My NPIP inspector has steered me away from fairs. He said he encouraged all his SHow people not to do fairs. We wanted to do the local and state fair but decided against it.
