While poultry projects can be great projects for first time exhibitors, there is more involved than what meets the eye. There are a few major steps to success in a poultry show. With a little elbow grease and informed decisions, you can be on your way to a blue ribbon. The two major things to consider are, finding the right bird, and preparing for the show.

Stop Number One:

The first step in finding birds is to decide what type, breed, size, and variety you may want to add to your flock. With 71 breeds available in large fowl, and bantam, options are virtually unlimited. Bantams are smaller in size and typically kept for ornamental purposes. Large fowl are larger and kept for ornamental, meat, and egg purposes. Typically, large fowl are harder for younger exhibitors to manage, while bantams are easier to manage due to their smaller size. Local open chicken shows can be a great place to gain more knowledge on purebred poultry.

Stop Number Two:

Purchasing birds from a fancier or breeder can be helpful especially, those that are breeding to meet breed standard. Birds entered in shows are compared to one another using their breed standard written by the American Poultry Association. Poultry shows divide first by size class, bantam and large fowl. Then classes within those two, similar to dog shows they divide by similar breed characteristics such as, Featherleg, Single Comb Clean Legged, and several others. Within the groups, birds are divided up by breed, variety (also known as color), and age/sex (cock, hen, cockerel, and pullet). With this in mind, I encourage exhibitors to familiarize themself with the American Poultry Association “Standard of Perfection”. This is a detailed book outlining the ideals of each breed, including weights, coloration, comb type and much more.

Stop Number Three:

Once you have selected a breed, it is important to decide what your goals are for your poultry show career. If you plan to breed birds, plan to keep at least a small flock of a few hens and a rooster. If you are just looking to add a bird or two to an existing flock, finding a single hen or rooster may prove challenging. To start out, I encourage you to find adolescent to adult birds. Chicks and hatching eggs are no guarantee of a show quality bird.

Before adding any birds to your backyard. Please check with local regulatory authority to be sure chickens are permissible in your area.

Look for Part Two to get more information on how to prepare your bird for the show.

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