Sooo disappointed at the county fair

[klf73]

I went to the county fair tonight, was looking forward to seeing the poultry. So many EE were labeled Araucana, not a true Araucana in sight, many of them were called Ameraucana too. A LOT of them had blue ribbons, sad thing is there was 1 pullet that looked like it may have been a silver Ameraucana (not good lighting in there at night) and it got 2nd place. Most of the EE's had blue ribbons. They were pretty, but mutts none-the-less. I thought about entering next year but don't want to bother if the judges have no idea. There was a silkie with a single comb with a blue ribbon too *sigh* . I think I would just get frustrated if I entered my birds, especially since I made sure I got GOOD stock, and CORRECT to the standards....
Krista

 

[momofdrew]

Which fair in Maine???

 

[Reinbeau]

Probably the Cumberland Fair, it ends tomorrow. But I'm just guessing. Someday I need to get to that fair!

 

[redoak]

I think I would just get frustrated if I entered my birds, especially since I made sure I got GOOD stock, and CORRECT to the standards

But you might win if you had a cross-beak chick with an extra toe.​

 

[klf73]

Yep, Cumberland, we haven't missed a year since we moved here. So we went in the rain

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, if it is a county fair, and alot of the people entering are kids or just community folks, they probably are very loose on the judging because what would it be like if someone went to have fun at the fair to see that 80-90% of the birds are disqualified? Going on 4h day and open class day also might make a difference, since kids are there for the learning, while open class can be a rough competition croud.

That said, if you want to see show birds at their finest, probably have to go to a real poultry show.

 

[klf73]

Yeah, will have to find a real poultry show, think I missed this year though

 

[ams3651]

we went to the poultry barn at our local fair this week and it was kind of a let down this year. My grandmother used to say "ignorance is bliss" In past years it was always ohh and ahh, look at that one. This year the mystery was lost as I knew too much.

 

[jossanne]

I entered chickens in our county fair a couple of years ago, and came home very disgruntled. My 6 purebred (hatchery-quality) birds brought home one 3rd place ribbon. The grand champion was a "white leghorn" roo with red ears... not a leghorn. A lot of the birds that ribboned were labeled as mixed somethings. The judge must have done her work based solely on her preferences.

And to top it all off... when I went in on the 2nd morning of the fair to feed my girls, someone had gotten in the poultry building and let all the birds out. There were people running all over (outside, clear to the trees all around the creek) with chicken hooks catching birds, and then popping them into a few random, very full cages. I had to go through and find all 6 of my chickens and put them back in my assigned cages.

It made me laugh when I got to this year's county fair this afternoon, and the County Extension office was handing out posters, cups, etc., all about biosecurity and the backyard flock. What do they think of wire cages all neighboring each other full of chickens from who knows where with not even paperwork to prove vaccinations or health??? I don't think it had even crossed their minds...

One of the blue ribbon birds this year is a WCBlue polish with almost his whole crest plucked out! And two of the prettiest blue birds were labeled "gray cochins."

On a brighter note, though... I got to see my first, real-live seramas, and now I need some of those LOL. Whooda thunk seramas in podunk, NM???

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Maybe you could vol. to be a judge next yr. Take your ASP book with you and teach others. One judge who is informed could change the whole system and set higher standards in the future.. I hate that so many hatcheries sell mutts under the names of Ameraucanas and Araucanas--leaving many well meaning folks believing they have good stock..

Another route might be to contact the local 4h/FFA programs and help from there..Dixie