What breed of bird should I get for show next year?

[Bleumoon]

I am a 4-H er in Ohio and I compete in the Canfield fair. I am ordering my birds early this year from Myers Hatchery. What breed should I get? Here is what I need in a show bird:
-Calm
-Smart
-Friendly
-Not huge
-Pretty
-Patient
-Not loud
-Can be a medium sized bird or a bantam
-Fine with being in a cage for about 3 hours at a time during the day and all night

If anyone has any suggestions let me know! (I used Black Australorps last year and it worked ok)

well if you’re going to show a bird, and are wanting to meet APA Standards of Perfection, you won’t want to get a bird from the mass hatcheries, as they usually are not the greatest of the breed. Look for a breeder that specializes in a breed you want from the APA website.

 

[elmo]

 

[EggWalrus]

Nice looking rooster!
RJF?

 

[elmo]

Nice looking rooster!
RJF?

Does "RJF" mean red jungle fowl? No, we think he's a Dutch Bantam because of the white earlobes. His buddy (brother?) who was hanging out with him when we first spotted them had much whiter earlobes. Poor little guy got killed by a hawk, which is why we stepped in to rescue this one. We suspect someone ordered chicks from a hatchery, then dumped the roosters.

Dutch bantams have an interesting history, and it's not surprising that they are so similar to red jungle fowl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Bantam

 

[EggWalrus]

Does "RJF" mean red jungle fowl? No, we think he's a Dutch Bantam because of the white earlobes. His buddy (brother?) who was hanging out with him when we first spotted them had much whiter earlobes. Poor little guy got killed by a hawk, which is why we stepped in to rescue this one. We suspect someone ordered chicks from a hatchery, then dumped the roosters.

Dutch bantams have an interesting history, and it's not surprising that they are so similar to red jungle fowl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Bantam

Yep. Red jungle fowl. He looks similar but smaller. I think rjf originally all had white earlobes, but now, because of interbreeding, only about 20% still have white in India.

This was one I was sold years ago as arjf but I don't know if he was pure. He was the flightiest birds I ever had though.

Your boy is a good looking bird!

 

[elmo]

Yep. Red jungle fowl. He looks similar but smaller. I think rjf originally all had white earlobes, but now, because of interbreeding, only about 20% still have white in India.
View attachment 2002662
This was one I was sold years ago as arjf but I don't know if he was pure. He was the flightiest birds I ever had though.

Your boy is a good looking bird!

So is yours! Gorgeous.

How is his personality? Ours is a darling, both to us (the humans who care for him daily) as well as our flock of elderly bantam hens. In fact, we had an issue with him when we first integrated him into our flock. He wasn't eating, he was giving all the food to the hens. He was losing weight, and we had to feed him separately for a while. When our old biddies went out of lay, he started eating food in their presence so we were able to discontinue his separate supplemental feedings.

Fred (our rooster) is also noticeably calmer than our hand raised hens when we pick him up, and our hens are quite tame. It's pretty incredible, since when we caught him to rescue him he was wild and hand shy. We had to lure him into a capture cage and it took almost a total of eight hours split over three days. Once we had him home he became tame over a matter of a few weeks.

My daughter adores him now, more than any of our other chickens and birds.

 

[EggWalrus]

So is yours! Gorgeous.

How is his personality? Ours is a darling, both to us (the humans who care for him daily) as well as our flock of elderly bantam hens. In fact, we had an issue with him when we first integrated him into our flock. He wasn't eating, he was giving all the food to the hens. He was losing weight, and we had to feed him separately for a while. When our old biddies went out of lay, he started eating food in their presence so we were able to discontinue his separate supplemental feedings.

Fred (our rooster) is also noticeably calmer than our hand raised hens when we pick him up, and our hens are quite tame. It's pretty incredible, since when we caught him to rescue him he was wild and hand shy. We had to lure him into a capture cage and it took almost a total of eight hours split over three days. Once we had him home he became tame over a matter of a few weeks.

My daughter adores him now, more than any of our other chickens and birds.

My wife named him Pretty Boy Floyd after the gangster.
He was the flightiest chicken I've ever had. Had a really weird crow. And anytime you walked into the pen, he would dang near kill himself trying to get out. He was a wild one, if there ever was one!
I had to put him in a hen pen because all the roosters in the big pen kept trying to kill him. After 2 months I let him out of a girl pen to free range with the other chickens and he only stayed around a few days before he took off across the creek to the swamp. I heard him crowing over there for nearly a year and then the swamp went quiet. A few days later, the girls he coaxed over there came back home. At least he lived his short life on his terms and without getting beat up every day.
May he rest in peace.

 

[Alderidgefarm]

I'm thinking about maybe Cochins or Silkies, what do you guys think??

I second cochins a variety of colors and absolutely docile from what I’ve seen of the breed

 

[elmo]

My wife named him Pretty Boy Floyd after the gangster.
He was the flightiest chicken I've ever had. Had a really weird crow. And anytime you walked into the pen, he would dang near kill himself trying to get out. He was a wild one, if there ever was one!
I had to put him in a hen pen because all the roosters in the big pen kept trying to kill him. After 2 months I let him out of a girl pen to free range with the other chickens and he only stayed around a few days before he took off across the creek to the swamp. I heard him crowing over there for nearly a year and then the swamp went quiet. A few days later, the girls he coaxed over there came back home. At least he lived his short life on his terms and without getting beat up every day.
May he rest in peace.

Wow, your Pretty Boy Floyd sounds more like a red jungle fowl like the ones imported into Georgia in the 60's.

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/november-december-2014/stalking-wild-ur-chicken

 

[EggWalrus]

Wow, your Pretty Boy Floyd sounds more like a red jungle fowl like the ones imported into Georgia in the 60's.

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/november-december-2014/stalking-wild-ur-chicken

I bought him and the hen from an old guy in GA! He said he had been raising them since the 60s or 70s over there. Since he didn't have white earlobes, I figured he wasn't a pure bred. But who knows? He just might have been. He didn't act much like your typical chicken, and I never had a chicken as crazy as he was, that's for sure!