Another poultry show - my second, at Stevenson, Washington. This is the first time I have been able to go in the fall, because they moved the date up from November to October. In November there is usually black ice or snow or some other weather problem in the coast range that I have to drive through to get to Stevenson. I don't drive in hazardous conditions anymore. I just stay home.
The problem with October though, is that the chickens, not just mine but most, were molting, and so the chickens that I had picked out to put in the show were in no condition to go
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The one beautiful hen that I thought I would enter appeared in the yard about two weeks before the show with a baby chick. That was a surprise. I thought I might separate her from the chick in time for the show but she screamed so hard when I tried to remove her from the cage that you would think I was torturing her by pulling off her appendages, so I gave up. To this day both she and her chick have labeled me as THE ENEMY. So she stayed home. I picked out a superb rooster, but he was crazy afraid of me when I brought him in and put him in a cage, also he was heavy, or 19.2 ounces, which is the maximum weight. But I thought I could tame him down and maybe bring his weight down. But that didn't happen. So I thought I would bring Bug, my little golden rooster, who is semi-tame but then I remembered he was too small and didn't weigh enough. The bottom weight for acceptance is 12.8 for a rooster. So again, about three days before the show I went out in the yard and found a small black and red young rooster and I thought I would take him. He was remarkably tame. But he was still in the process of growing out new neck feathers. And I also took Honey, my hen that was tame, for the Table Top contest because I knew she would not fly away. I also picked up a hen from the yard after deciding she might just be the right shape. She was in the right weight range. I did not have any great expectations.
At this show was a real Serama judge, and TableTop Judging. Most of us Serama owners were not familiar with the judging process for our chickens and it was a real learning experience. It was also fun. There were a lot of beautiful Serama there.
The cage judging is for ABA. The judge looks at all the chickens in the cages and if they come in from first to fifth, he writes the number on the card attached to their cages. White earlobes mean disqualification, as do over or under weights, green legs. wry tails, and etc. you can check with your ABA book. Some things like wrinkled ear lobes or squirrel tail are defects but not disqualification. I thought white earlobes meant the white enamel ones on some chickens but it only means a little or a lot of white on a red earlobe. So my rooster and my hen Honey were disqualified right away! Surprise! But the other hen received a mark of 4, which I thought was very good since there were so many chickens there and lots that didn't get any number at all.
For Table Top judging the only disqualification is over or under weight. So that meant I could put Honey in as I had planned. Table Top Judging is where the judge sits at a table with a little piece of carpet in front of him. You come up to the table with your chicken and when the judge is ready you toss your chicken in the air just a little bit so she has to flap her wings twice before she lands on the table. Usually this puts the chicken on alert and it can show its form better.
To qualify for the finals your chicken has to earn 70 or more points. I decided not to enter Honey and entered the other hen that came in fourth in ABA. She earned a 71 in TableTop and qualified for the finals but did not make it to the top in the finals.
So I have to say it was really worth going, I learned a lot, talked to a lot of people, sold a few chickens, traded one for two. I enjoyed myself and was glad I went.
