ontheblog – VJP Poultry

What To Expect at a Poultry Show

November 4, 2017May 21, 2020 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

A poultry show is usually a three day event. The first day is spent “cooping-in”. This is when you arrive and place your birds in their show cages. The second day is when the judging takes place and other events. The third day is very short and it is known as “cooping-out” or cleaning up and taking your birds back home.

Leading up to this event you will have sent in your entry form to the organization that is hosting the show. You will need to declare how many birds you are entering in each breed and whether they are pullets, hens, cockerels or cocks. Pullets are females up to one year of age. Cockerels are males that are up to one year of age. Cocks are male roosters over one year old. There is a small fee for each bird that you enter. You will also need to have each bird pullorum tested and have that paperwork sent in along with your entry form. There will be a cut off date for getting your entry forms completed and mailed in.

Leading up to the show, you will need to keep your bird in condition with high protein food. Practice handling and cage training your bird. A week before the show you will need to clip toenails, beaks and bathe your bird. You may also want to do some reading on primping your bird for the show.

Friday evening is coop-in time. You will need to to load your birds into your car or trailer. Use poultry carriers or cat carriers to transport your birds. One bird per carrier space is preferred so that they do not poo on each other’s feathers.

When you arrive you will check in and locate where your show cages are. They will not all be together, especially if you are bringing more than one breed of poultry. These show cages are very small. There will be some pine shavings already in the cage, but you can bring your own from home to add to it. Set up your feeders and waterers. If you are showing silkies, you will want the pop bottle waterer. I use mini bungee cords to secure the waterers instead of the springs that come with them. I bring jugs of water from my own home that has electrolytes added to it.

In my cage cups I put a wild bird seed mixture. This will help to keep their poo firmer and not make such as mess in their cages. Each cage has a card attached to it. Read the card carefully. It will say the breed, color (variety) and sex of the bird that should go into that cage. If the information is not correct then you need to find someone in charge and get it corrected.

You can then start to unload your birds from their carriers and into their show cages. As I do this, I carefully wipe clean their feet with baby wipes or citrus hand cleaner. Look around to see where the outlets are located in the building. You will need to be able plug in your hair dryer in the morning. I also put a little Vet Rx on the comb to help their immune system since they are in a new environment.

You can zip tie or lock your cage before you leave, but understand that the zip ties and locks must be off before the judge can inspect your bird. Then it’s off for a good night’s sleep and an early start the next day.

On Saturday morning you will want to arrive as soon as the doors are open. Check your birds for water and then remove the food from their cage until judging is over. You do not want your bird to have a full crop when it is being judges. Then get out your showbox supplies and plug in your hair dryer. Carefully check each bird for messy feet or feathers and try to clean it with a baby wipe. If it is a larger mess, use Cowboy Magic or Citrus hand cleaner.

After they are cleaned up, I spray a cloth with Show Sheen and rub it all over the bird. I use the hair dryer to dry the show sheen and fluff up the silkie feathers. Use a slicker brush or a fine tooth comb to tease and back comb the fail feathers to make it look as fluffy as possible. When satisfied with the look of the bird, put it back in the cage and await judging.

Keep your cage as clean as possible and remove any poo or eggs as they come. You are not allowed in the judging aisle while the judge is there. I do like to observe from several aisles over white the judge is going over my birds. It helps me to understand my scoring card later.

Learn to read a cage tag and interpret the judges markings prior to your arrival. The birds are first judged against others that are the same color, sex and age. For example, all the white silkie pullets are judged against each other. They will be given a ranking or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for the top five birds in this group. This is written or circled on the card. Then they will judge all the white hens, then all the white cockerels etc. until all of the white have been ranked. Then the judge will award BV (Best Variety) and RV (Reserve Variety). This is like first and second place. All of the other colors (varieties) in the breed are judged this way. When that is completed the judge will then decide BB (Best of Breed) and RB (Reserve best of Breed). This is based on all the colors (varieties) that are represented by the breed. The Best of Breed silkie is then judged against other winners that are in the Feather Legged category. Again, that winner will go to Champion Row and then compete for Best Bantam and Reserve. The winner of Best Bantam goes on to compete for Super Grand Champion of the show against the Grand Champion Large Fowl and Grand Champion waterfowl.

The judge will often write comments on the cards such as “nice” or “wing?”. What you don’t want to see is a DQ (disqualification) or a blank card with nothing written on it. You will need to find the judge later when they are finished to ask them questions about what was written or why they judged the way they did.

There are other things to do besides watching the judging. Jr. Showmanship will be taking place. It is always fun to watch the kids answer questions about their birds. There will be auctions and raffles to participate in. Vendors are often there so you can look at all the new chicken supplies.

Outside you will find many people selling birds from their cars or from specially marked areas. Food will be for sale as well as a special banquet at night where awards are often given out.

Sunday morning is coop-out time. Awards will be given at that time as well. Make sure that you do not remove your birds until the coop out announcement is made. Then it is a mad dash to quickly take down your food and waterers and load your birds back up in their carriers for the trip home. Before the bird goes in the carrier make sure that you give it a quick spray of Adams Flea and Tick in case they picked anything up at the show.

The best thing about any poultry show is the time that you get to spend with other chicken people. You will see old friends and make some new ones. You will get the chance to talk chicken to your hearts content with other like minded people. Plans will be made to meet next year again at the show.

For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.

Victoria J. Peterson

Silkies For Sale – 11/2/17

November 2, 2017November 2, 2017 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

Collecting Eggs At VJP Poultry

October 25, 2016August 12, 2020 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

Egg collecting is an important activity for any backyard breeder. At VJP Poultry we collect at least two times a day. I collect in the morning when I am setting out the feed and letting them out of the coop into the run. I also collect in the late afternoon when I am changing out the water. If I am around I might do it midday as well. The more often you collect, the less chance you will have of eggs becoming dirty, broke or frozen. I find a traditional egg basket works well to get them safely in the house without becoming squished in my pocket.

Silkies do not usually use nest boxes. They will pick a corner of the coop and all of the hens will end up laying there. The broody hens will steal the eggs laid by others and keep them warm. This is wonderful when it is cold outside and you don’t want them to freeze. I then just check under all of the sitting broody hens and find the majority of the eggs. Wear gloves to keep from being pecked by them. Some may lay a few in the run, so be sure and check there as well.

It is important to keep the bedding in these nesting corners clean. I daily add clean bedding to those spots I know will have eggs. If you let your hens free range, you may want to wait until later in the day to let them out. Otherwise, they will lay their eggs in hidden spots in your yard and it will be difficult to find them all.

I mark every egg to show what color pen the egg came from. You could also write the date on them if you wanted. I just use a regular marker, but not a permanent one. They are then placed in egg cartons, pointy side down, and left in a cool, dry area. I put mine in my basement which stays a consistent temperature of 50 degrees. I tilt the egg cartons in the opposite direction each day so that they are not always in the same position. If you incubate, then you don’t want anything sticking to the sides of the shell.

I usually set eggs every five to seven days. Eggs that are dirty are not incubated but could be fed back to the chickens for extra protein. Dirty eggs cause bacteria to enter through the pores of the egg shell. You can use fine sand paper to scrape off some of the larger chunks. Do not wash eggs until you are ready to cook them as that will remove the protective bloom from the surface of the egg. If you have a question about whether an egg is too old to eat or not you could give it the float test. Place it in cold water. If it floats, it is old.

The environment can effect the frequency of egg laying. As daylight decreases so does egg production. You could set up a timer with a nightlight in your coop to increase the amount of light but I like to give my hens a break in the winter. They do need a dark period or their bodies get out of whack. Twelve to fourteen hours of light is sufficient.

Hens also take a break from laying when they are molting. Additional protein can help them recover from a molt. All the calories and protein are used to grow new feathers, so laying takes a back seat. Gamebird or meatbird food, lean meats, fish, scrambled eggs, BOSS sunflower seeds and flax seed all offer extra protein.

Silkies tend to go broody. When they do they will stop laying attempt to hatch a clutch. It may take several weeks for their hormones to settle down and get them back to laying.

One problem you may encounter is chickens eating the eggs that have been laid. In this case you need to hide the eggs from the view of the other silkies. A separate nesting box with curtains for privacy can do the trick and keep the other broodies from stealing the eggs.

Once you have eaten farm fresh eggs, it is hard to go back to grocery store quality. Silkies lay a medium sized, cream color egg. They will lay every day depending on the time of year and whether they are broody or molting. Hope you enjoy cooking and baking with your fresh silkie eggs.

Victoria J. Peterson

VJP Poultry