Showing pigeons?

[cheyfrie26]

I want to show some of my rollers. This kid down the road showed two of his chickens and he barely takes care of them. So I don't think that my county's fair checks for anything wrong in the birds. I mean I don't have anything to worry about but if he won, then I know I have a good shot. But what all do you do when you show pigeons?

 

[nzpouter]

you need to know the standard for the breed, pen training is also important if you have birds that need to stand properly/ perform in the show cage.... and most importantly... never bring a sick/ parasite infested bird to a show.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Showing at the county fair level, just make sure they are clean and healthy looking. They pick the prettiest birds usually, unless there are breed judges in your area. I put in my Indian Fantails and a couple grizzles and ended up with two first places. My fantails are not perfect by the standard, but they are very pretty. And my homers were off my flying team so they were in good shape, and the nice colors helped a ton. County fairs around here don't appear to be too keen on the chicken breed standards either, but the ribbon winners did look pretty good. Nothing compared to a real pigeon or chicken show, where there is a qualified judge for every breed.

As far as checking for things wrong with the birds when entering them....my pigeons didn't have to be checked for anything, but my chickens were banded with those metal crimp-on bands and I think they took a blood sample or something to make sure they didn't have a serious virus.

 

[cheyfrie26]

Mary, you alwwaaayyyys help me! Do I need any bands, can I have a single birds (or does it have to be pairs?), and are they flown? Cause my rollers are lazy and roll maybe twice in every fly. But I saw this kids chickens and i've seen better. So looks is fine with my hen bird.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

They don't have to be in pairs, nor do they have to be banded...at the show I entered, anyway. Different counties may have different rules. My fantails weren't banded, and some of the other people's birds didn't have bands either. At our show, each class was split into cocks and hens. We could only put one per gender per class. I think for the pigeons ours had a class for just homers and then a class for all other breeds together. So I entered a bird for each. They just sit there and look pretty, so flying ability doesn't matter

Edit: Well, they have changed it this year. Last year I KNOW I saw other breeds, there were Kings and some others there. This year, the classes/contests for pigeons are: Homers (cocks/hens), Rollers (cocks/hens), Fantails (cocks/hens). POOP I MISSED THE ENTRY DATE BY ONE DAY.
http://www.cabarruscounty.us/government/departments/Fair/Documents/2011 Department G Poultry.pdf

So there's an example of how our fair works. Unfortunately the county I live in (right beside that one) doesn't even have a poultry/pigeon show. Just cows and sheep. Broiler breeders as well but since I graduated, I can't do that with the FFA anymore.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Luckily I found a better pigeon show that I still have a chance of entering!
http://www.dcfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/poultpigeons.pdf
They have a lot of classes for pigeons. I'll be entering all my breeds except the Figs. It's sad they don't have a class!

 

[Towman72gmc]

http://npausa.com/ This is the national club for showing pigeons.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
50 cent entry fee? I need to show in NC!! The shows I've been to were $2-$3.50 per bird.

 

[cheyfrie26]

Same thing I was thinking.

 

[Towman72gmc]

Quote:
50 cent entry fee? I need to show in NC!! The shows I've been to were $2-$3.50 per bird.

have you seen the entry fee for the grand national? $5.50 for NPA members, 6.%0 for non-members.