showing birds

November 15, 2005

I am going to enter our local show again, last year was the first time I ever showed any birds and I did ok I only showed 6 birds and all of them placed in class I got 6 ribbons and 2 trophys including 2nd best bird in show I want to do better this year I have been invited to show in a much larger show this year but I am not sure that I know what to do or what to pick last year I just went and picked birds by what I thought were better birds 4 were breeders 2 were racers although all were raced this year I am really trying to pick birds that will do well at a higher level I fly my birds a lot they get out every day and have a lot of feed in front of them so they are still pretty close to race form although. a little heavy I am giving them baths once a week I am little nervous about some of the off colors I have a grizzle that is in GREAT shape I am not sure about some of the others is there any thing I should know about what to look for and more importantly are there any absolute musts I should know I have so far learned this much

1. clean feet

2.through moult

3. no feather flaws

in our show there are no points lost for such things as missing toes as the best bird I scored last year was missing part of a middle toe but he easily won his class and the judge said the only reason he didnt win best in show was because he was about 1/2 a point off of not having as good of an eye I want to go and show these birds in Texas but I dont know if I am just wasting my time or if I really have a shot I think I have them in exceptional health but I just dont know enough to decide any help would be appericiated !!!!!!

November 16, 2005

Difficult one to answer in someways... the expression 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' springs to mind.

My experience of shows is that it comes down to the judge's personnal preference at the end of the day.If he's got two birds which are excellent he will tend to favour the one he likes best, hard reasoning might not come into it, it may come down to small things such as the behaviour of the bird in the pen. EG. I had a pied hen which displayed to the judge and cooed at him when he went to take her out of the showpen - she won best in show! Put up your best birds, in the best shape you can get 'em - you know what you like best! go for it - you've got the basics there with your three points, + good conditioning (leave some bloom on them) get them used to handling and being in the pens, excitable frightened birds will struggle to find favour with a judge.

All the best with your show, remember what one judge would pick- another might not.