# Ohio National 2020 Virtual Show update



## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

So they ended up with 1,100 entries, 450 in the junior show and 650 in the open show.
They had entries from 42 states, Alberta & Ontario Canada, plus Australia, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand. I was surprised that they had that many entries. The judging will be announced on Saturday, November 14.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Wait, go back for a moment. Other countries entered? Was this a thing with the in person shows? I get Ontario but not the others.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Oh, I think when they started this one, they were worried they weren't going to have any entries.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

How the heck is this going to work? Other countries have different breed standards, how can they be judged equitably?


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

They are using APA and ABA.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

But the birds in other countries do not follow our standards. They have their own. Silkies in Europe are ratty compared to what you see in the US.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

I should have entered some photos of village chickens here!


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Biring said:


> I should have entered some photos of village chickens here!


If they feel this first virtual show was successful, they may do another.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> But the birds in other countries do not follow our standards. They have their own. Silkies in Europe are ratty compared to what you see in the US.


Ah, but what about Japan? Every country is slightly different and they all have their own poultry governing bodies for judging. The EU is much more uniform now. When I lived in the UK and Ireland, (early 1980s), they did not have much positive to say about U.S. APA Standards. Also the antique breeds have to be much older in Europe. I mean, it makes sense, the United States is a fairly young country in the scheme of things. Judging in Japan is by far the toughest though, just my humble opinion.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What I'm getting at, is how can any country that entered possibly win if they have different standards for the bird's conformation?


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

Who cares who wins? People just want to show off their birds.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That winning part is cut throat. You'd have to go to one of the American shows to get an idea of how very competitive it is.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> That winning part is cut throat. You'd have to go to one of the American shows to get an idea of how very competitive it is.


Yup!


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Biring said:


> Who cares who wins? People just want to show off their birds.


That's a big part of it. It's also like free advertising for your birds if you are a breeder.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> What I'm getting at, is how can any country that entered possibly win if they have different standards for the bird's conformation?


They were judged by U.S. APA and ABA Standards. By entering the show, regardless of what country you are from, you agreed to be judged by the U.S. Standards. However, we will see how this goes. I am very intrigued now because I communicate with some of the EU judges as well as the U.S. judges. Plus, remember, the birds are judged by two photographs only! The consensus is with you Robin. Nobody really wants the virtual shows but they are trying to figure it out in case they have to do more.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> That winning part is cut throat. You'd have to go to one of the American shows to get an idea of how very competitive it is.


So, now that I'm retired, I would like to leave that part behind. I don't really want to be around aggressively competitive folks. Like Biring said, it should be about a chance to show off your birds. In that case, maybe virtual shows won't be that bad. They could be more of a fun and educational thing, like what we try to do for 4H and FFA.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Wishful thinking, JP. It's not just the winning, it's being able to put a high price on the birds they sell. Even if the quality doesn't meet breeder standards.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> Wishful thinking, JP. It's not just the winning, it's being able to put a high price on the birds they sell. Even if the quality doesn't meet breeder standards.


No seriously, I'm retired, I refuse to be negative, and you and I have seen some negativity over the years. I never felt good about how some of the bigger shows were run. A thousand birds in person, it's really not humane in retrospect. This is my hobby now. Hard core exhibition is not fair to the birds. I do not have to be part of any commercial aspect of the exhibition business. If Fossil Ledges is able to do a charitable educational show in 2021 it will be an open show geared toward fun and education only! I'm beginning to think a virtual show might be okay. We would get a lot more entries than we used to with our Trumbull County shows.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Do you know I never showed any of mine? That little girl in my avatar was near perfect but she would come unglued when I would just sit her on the seat in my truck. I couldn't do that to her and decided that none of the others needed to go through it either.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> Do you know I never showed any of mine? That little girl in my avatar was near perfect but she would come unglued when I would just sit her on the seat in my truck. I couldn't do that to her and decided that none of the others needed to go through it either.


And when you were a show secretary you saw poor behavior at the shows, rude callous breeders and shyster exhibitors who didn't care about their individual birds. The current circumstances have forced us to embrace more technology to communicate with each other. I would like to see it have a positive impact on more humane treatment of our birds.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You're right. But I did see many who worried over their birds. The women more than the men. They would travel with water from home so the birds' system wasn't shocked by foreign water. That kind of thing. 

And truthfully? I hated being show secretary. Hated it. I don't think I was cut out for any kind of serious bird shows. I had more fun at swaps.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

That's why we always tried to teach the kids good exhibiting habits. Being a show secretary is usually a thankless job. Being a judge isn't much better, you are always dealing with a few mental health folks.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Poultry Judge said:


> Being a judge isn't much better, you are always dealing with a few mental health folks.


Giggle.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

But you took their entry and checked them in. Then they come at me like a Honey Badger!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

One of the things I never did was approach the judges. If they were introduced to me, fine. But if they didn't approach me again that was fine too. I felt they were already being crawled all over by exhibitors so just leave them be.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

It's a squeaky wheel driven system, we hardly ever meet the nice entrants.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

You can tell exhibitors modus operandi very quickly, whether it's about the birds or not.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

As Robin said, regrettably some folks only see the birds as commodities. Those are most often the folks hitting you with either flattery or being straight up menacing.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

And regrettably, in the States, there are a few methods, (not many), to game the rules of the system. A careful reading of the APA appeal rules demonstrates a few.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Just put me in the same column, hobby.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Good point! There's really not an organization geared toward education and the hobby. Maybe, that's part of our role.


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