State Fair - Waterfowl

[newbyduckmom]

Just a curious question. Went to our state fair this weekend, and as I have for several years had to check out the poultry show. This year the number of waterfowl entered in the fair seemed drastically reduced and limited to calls, harlequin, cayuga, a few runners, and few blue swedish. In prior years it seems there have been a wider variety of breeds and more entries. Was going to check out all the other breed options I haven't got yet, but can't "window shop" if there are no windows on display. Just curious whether it seems other locations have fewer entries as well.

 

[dwhite]

You just saw what was entered in the 4H class, the open class which has the most ducks is the 30th to late afternoon Sept 2nd.

 

[Lund Poultry]

numbers at our shows in our area seem to be down some as well. I think with the gas price and the overall feed price people have cut back. Also, at most shows the entry fees seem to be up. Just my thought!

 

[desertdarlene]

We only have county fairs in my area and the one closest to me has no waterfowl at all. They only have a few chicken breeds and one type of turkey. Most of the shows concentrate on goats, cows, and rabbits.

I'm sure there's a state fair somewhere in California, but not near me.

 

[newbyduckmom]

Thanks for the responses. Dwhite, guess I will have to go back and look again on Sept 2 and 3 when I am there. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Our fair had some really nice ducks, but not every breed was represented.

Pekins, a surprisingly large number of Saxony, East Indies, Spotted Australians, Runners, 1 Cayuga. There were a couple more, but my mind doesn't seem to want to dredge up the breeds. Only 2 breeds of geese, 4 Chinese and my 1 Pomeranian.

This was my first year showing. I had been urged to enter to help boost the number of waterfowl entered. I hope the nice lady who talked me into entering wasn't too disappointed that my Pomeranian beat out her nice ducks for Grand Champion Waterfowl.

I've heard that all over the country, the entries for large breeds just keep going down. There were only 3 turkeys at our fair. I thought there were more large fowl chickens than banties, but not by much.

The number of 4-H duck entries was small compared to the chickens, and I was surprised to see only 3 pens of commercial chickens, because those guys got to go into the 4-H auction. You'd think more 4-Hers would be interested in that.

 

[dwhite]

The duck displays close at 5 pm on Sept 2nd.

 

[PtldChick]

Quote:
I think it's in the Sacramento area...

 

[newbyduckmom]

Quote:
I think it's in the Sacramento area...

It is in Sacramento, used to live there and go to the fair every year.