So Many Birds!

Like Tilly’s Nest, Scratch and Peck, Terry Golson aka the Hencam Lady, and many many others. I too went to the Northeastern Poultry Congress on Saturday. It was big fun. I arrived around noon and started in the sale room. ( I know I promised not to buy anything.) It was kind of a weird set up to me. The birds were in cages lined up on the floor with handwritten tags of a name, entrant number, or phone number of the bird owner, a price and sometimes what type of bird it was. The seller wasn’t usually there, you had to find them. It might have been the time I showed up, but it still seemed odd to me.Give me a swap where the people are set up with a booth or a tailgate or something and are there with the birds so you don’t have to hunt them down. I held out and didn’t buy anything.

Then, I moved into the big room and was bombarded with sound. The roosters! Oh the roosters! I am not complaining. After a bit, I was used to it. They were at the peak of their manliness and were showing it off. I just have all girls, it was a new noise to adjust to. The area was huge. Huge. There were ginormous cochins and little teeny tiny banties.  Here are some new friends I met.

     This pair is apparently a type of bantam chicken. They looked like pigeons to me, but what do I know. The man next to me said they were the poultry version of Phyllis Diller :D

I spent some time in the Langshan area. They were all friendly when I came up to the cage to say hi. There was a particularly talkative black hen that I had a long chat with. Her owner just happened to be behind me and witnessed our conversation. He let me know she was for sale, but part of a trio. I have to report that I was tempted for a milisecond. It would never work though, especially bringing in a boy with alpha hen Betty. So I thanked him and politely declined. >sigh< 

    

Unfortunately, some cage neighbors just couldn’t get along. I love his dirty look.

So pretty and she knows it. Posed all pretty for me after a spin so I could see all angles.

Auracana “hi!”

“Devil Chicken”

After perusing the poultry, I entered in the raffle. They had all kinds of useful and decorator items that were chicken related. I entered for some practical items such as food, egg cartons, and there was a neat nest box. Unfortunately, I didn’t win a thing. Oh well, maybe next time. Next to the raffle were vendor tables with everything you could every need for  your bird. Feed, feeders, a man who sold chicken tractors, and an artist that made pottery shaped like farm animals. Eggcartons.com was there with a plethora of stuff. Anything you could every need or not need was there. There was also a photographer there so you could have your picture taken with your bird. Or just your bird’s picture taken.

Before taking my place at the Backyard Chickens table, I attended a class by Mr. Don Nelson, APA ABA judge and breeder of Rhode Island Reds from Rhode Island. He was very personable, friendly and open to questions. It was  about judging and what judges are looking for. The class started off with trios and what judges are looking for in a trio. A trio is two girls and a roo of the same breed. He had two trios as samples and showed how the judges go through the thought process of choosing the better group. He also had tips on how to choose the birds from your flock for your trio. It was very interesting.

He then went into the points process and the “display” calculations. Which was also incredibly interesting and complicated about the whole points per place and depending on how many birds in the category and so on.

I learned a lot and the only thing I would say was missing was the whole judging process for a single bird and how it would vary from a trio and what they are looking for. Overall, I really enjoyed it and learned quite a bit in a short time from a professional judge and breeder.

The rest of the day was spent at the BYC table acting as good will ambassador answering questions, chatting about chickens, and introducing people to the website. I met some very nice ladies from BYC and had a nice time. I didn’t knowingly meet any bloggers, I did spot Tilly’s Nest several times, but every time she was surrounded by people. Ok we will call it engaged in conversation. Or, you know, hanging out with a large white crested black polish roo on her shoulder :D

I will definitely be returning next year.