Competitive or Effective? Focus on What You Control

Ask yourself two questions: How competitive are you in showing poultry? How effective are you in showing poultry?

Factors You Have Little or No Control Over

• The judge’s experience and familiarity with your breed or variety.
• The quality and depth of the competition you are showing against.
• The position of your bird’s cage in the show hall.
• Whether your bird displays itself well when the judge reaches it.
• The time of day your bird is judged.

Recognizing these variables does not mean making excuses. It means understanding that a result is produced by the bird presented within a particular class, under a particular judge, at a particular moment.

Factors You Can Control

• Age: Select birds that will be mature enough, but not past their best, when the show arrives.
• Condition: Present birds in health, weight, feather and physical condition appropriate for exhibition.
• Selection: Decide early which birds justify the time and effort required for a conditioning program.
• Grooming: Clean and prepare each bird carefully without attempting to disguise defects.
• Coop training: Teach birds to remain calm, stand naturally and respond confidently in a show coop.

Turn Preparation into Effectiveness

You cannot choose the judge, the competition or the exact moment your bird will be evaluated. You can choose the bird, build its condition, prepare it properly and train it to display itself.

Effective exhibiting means directing your attention toward those controllable details. The better they are managed, the better chance a competitive bird has to show its true quality when the judge arrives.

This page is a lightly edited presentation of Edgar Mongold’s original educational post. Spelling, punctuation and headings were adjusted for readability. Only Edgar’s original material is included; replies and comments by other people have been omitted.