What Chicken for Showing?

[coonriver]

We are looking for a few different breeds to show at the fair for 4-h and open class,what breeds are good for showing besides silkies? would it be a good idea to get some now to get a head start on them or would it be allright to wait untill late winter early spring to get some,we will be getting from a hatchery unless we can find some at a sale.Thanks!

 

[easttxchick]

It really depends on when the shows will be held when you should get them. Very few hatcheries will ship in the cold months(they usually start shipping again in March).
As far as breeds go, that is absolutely personal preference-Cochins, Brahmas and OEGBs are pretty widely shown, I believe.
Also, this is STRICTLY MY OPINION, but hatchery quality birds are just that-mainly for laying and as pets. I'm not knocking hatchery quality-I have some myself and they are wonderful, but my show quality birds were bought as eggs from breeders, hatched out by me and hand raised by me.
Good luck, whatever you decide to do!

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

Our 4-H likes them to be this year's hatch. We are just learning as well but I think that my kids will just get whatever we have that year. This year it is a Silkie chick (not real sure that it is big enough).

 

[poltroon]

My daughter has bantam Brahmas, and these have been great birds for her. The females are very pleasant and docile, yet active enough that they'll walk well. Our males have sometimes had a difficult teenager phase but they mellow out once they mature.

A lot of kids around here show Old English Games or Mille Fleur D'uccles. Bantam cochins are also popular. You're looking for a small, docile breed. It makes showmanship much easier, especially for a younger child.

I think it's worth getting chickens from a breeder source rather than the basic hatchery. You're going to put 6 months of blood, sweat, and tears of a child into the chicken (and then many years after), and it's no fun to get there and see that your chicken is too off type to have any chance of placing. A $3 chick vs a $7 chick... once you've bought the $100 coop and the brooder and the feed and paid all the fair parking and entrance fees... you're going to realize that the cost of the animal is still less than the funnel cakes you're going to buy on Fair day.

There may be local breeders, or there are breeders who work with multiple breeds that might have a range of choices if each club member wants something different and no one wants more than a few chicks each. The only other consideration is that breeders will generally only sell straight run chicks, rather than pullets only.

The older they are for the fair, the better. Four months is about the line... you'll still have the judge comment that it's young, but it's old enough to have some sense of the quality. Six months would be better. Pullets/cockerels are based on one calendar year, so chicks born this fall would still be pullets for next summer's fairs.

Good luck!

 

[poltroon]

If that Sac City location is Sacramento, and you're having trouble finding a breeder, you might want to consider going to the Pacific Poultry Breeder's Association show in Stockton in January. I haven't had a chance to go, but definitely you'll find breeders there and there will be chickens for sale.

 

[coonriver]

Our daughter won Grand Champion Other Fowl with her peacock,Reserve Champ single chicken with her Blue Laced Red Wyandotte cock,Grand Champion Bantam with her Blue Silkie pair,Reserve Champ Bantam with her Duckwing Pair,Champion in Market Pen of Three with her Cornish Cross Broilers,Reserve Champ Chick Growing Project with two Silkies,Reserve Champ with her Egg Layer Project.I got a Champion Open Division with my Eastern Wild Turkey,2nd place with my Splash Cochin,2nd with my White Silkie Pair,my wife got a 1st with her Blue Cochin Hen.some birds came from hatcheries and some came from bird sales we went to.we were thinking maybe Bantam Cochins,Giant Cochins,Lakenvelders,Campines,Sussex,Hamburgs,Butter Cups,Anconas etc for are next chicks.we are in Iowa and it's not a real big fair put this year was the most birds they have ever had entered.our daughter is in 4-h and likes showing them,she also shows our Nigerian Dwarf goats and Pygmy Goats and three of her rabbits.anyone have in contacts for breeders with chicks.

 

[TK Poultry]

me and my sister show Bantam Blue and Black Ameraucanas, Bantam Mottled and Porcelain D'uccles, and Blue and Black Swedish ducks in 4H and Jr. Open Shows they are all great. At the 4H fair we won Reserve Grand Champion Bantam with an Ameraucana Pullet. We also won Champion and Reserve Champion Medium Duck with our 2 Blue Swedish Hens we also won Champion AOCCL with our Blk Bantam Ameraucana Pullet. So these breeds are good for showing and easily handled. Our d'uccles are the MOST FRIENDLY breed we have ever owned.