The Chattahoochee Valley Poultry Association in Newnan Georgia

This show is held mid February. Lots of people who love showing chickens and plenty of rare birds can be seen here. It's a big show.

Here's the link. www.cvpa-newnan.org/

The Chattahoochee Valley Poultry Association or CVPA is located in Coweta County Georgia and holds an annual poultry show at the Coweta County fairgrounds. Plenty of sponsors, vendors, food drink, a sale area for birds and a little homemade stuff for sale too. Wear shoes that are good for walking grassy areas as some of the birds are in large professional tents. Dress in layers. Pun intended!

This year it is on Feb. 15th & 16th 2014.

Now who is coming? What are you bringing to sell?

 

That's great!

 

You are right! It does vary between birds. Some are hard feathered, modern game , Cornish some are soft feathered, ameraucana, Cochin, and everything in between!

The softest are silkies they need to be done right before the show to make them extra fluffy and clean. Get a hair blow dryer, and watch them to be sure they stay clean. My moderns I never washed. They have a hard sleek look. They were kept in clean bedding all the time (no one likes a stinky dirty bird) and any poo is cleaned off. I put a little pink show spray on a towel and wiped them once. Really their feet are the biggest worry cause they might step in poo at the show. Trim toenails and make sure they didn't lose a nail.

Combs, wattles should be cleaned and buffed up. Make sure not to use anything against the rules.

I have never shown those breeds except for Marian's. I did not wash mine and the highest place I got was third at a show to try to get the breed accepted. If they were dirty I would have washed them. Any white or light color bird is way more likely to need a wash.

Get three big buckets of warm water. Put the most gentle dish washing soap you can find in the first bucket till it's a little sudsy. Gently rub the feet, vent and plunge the bird in a few times but not the head! That should be plenty of washing if you keep their pens clean always unless it's a silky. The next two buckets are for rinsing. Watch their heads to make sure they don't dip into the water. I use my hands and a towel on their heads. If the water is too hot they will go limp. I use big thirsty towels to dry them off and a hair blow dryer. Before you ask, I do this all inside my house. Not in the garage, I use my hair blow dryer, move it around a lot to not hurt the birds. Some of them really love this. If it's freezing cold where you live don't do this. It's too much trauma to expose them to such vastly different temperatures. If you must wash in the cold then u must keep the clean bird in a heated house afterwards. I've used my garage as a intermediate step between the cold outdoors and my house. It's way better to not wash the bird if it's cold out. You could kill it.

There are lots of ideas about what to add to the rinse water and what to put on the combs. I will stay away from advising anything. Find what works for you that obeys the rules of the apa.

Go for the fun of it. You already know because you show dogs that not all judges are the same. Also sometimes the best animal there shows poorly. Same thing happens with chickens. Hope I helped!