What age can/should you start showing a pullet or cockerel?

[WallTenters]

I haven't seen any really young birds at shows, so I was wondering. I've never shown before but will be attending my first as an exhibitor in April. I'll hopefully be taking one of my pullets and one of my partner's cockerels to see what the judges think of birds we've selected for breeding purposes anyway.

So here's my silly question

. What is considered an old enough age to show? We have Dominiques if that helps, and the bird in question is a pullet, though there's a cockerel in there I had thought about as well, both from late October hatching.

Any advice?

 

[TheReidHomestead]

They need to be old enough to match the standard written for that breed. If they are too young, they cannot be judged against the standard.

 

[Illia]

Exactly as WA4-Hpoultrymom said.

I would probably recommend 6 months or older, although some breeds, such as in the American Class, I'd recommend to show them at 10 months and older, as they're often quite the slow growers, and look pretty funky for a while.

 

[WallTenters]

Lol k... well, she's pretty nice looking, if she was a little bigger she would be closer to the standard than any of my other hens, so where does that leave me? She still has two more months to grow - by the time of the show she'd be almost six months old.

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Take her and see what happens! The experience of going counts for something even if you don't take home a ribbon. And have fun!