Showing Question

What does BB, BV, 1, 2, 3,etc. and Reserve all mean? Also, I saw things like "legs" , "comb", "Tail" written on the cage tags at the RedDeer show. What is that in reference to? Is it disqualification reason?

BB = Best of Breed
RB = Reserve Breed
BV = Best Variety
RV = Reserve Variety

1st 2nd's 3rd's are how they placed in the age group in thier variety.

Anything written on the card like tail or comb means there is a problem with it.
Most times it is a DQ but if they still have a placing it can be something the judge is pointng out for you to keep an eye on.

Dark Wing Duck wrote:What does BB , BV, 1, 2, 3,etc. and Reserve all mean? Also, I saw things like "legs" , "comb", "Tail" written on the cage tags at the RedDeer show. What is that in reference to? Is it disqualification reason?

BB-Best of Breed
RB- Reserve Best of BReed
BV-Best of Variety (meaning the 'barred variety of the plymouth rock, or the buff variety of orpington)
The 1-3s etc are the judges placing of each group, such as #1 hen, #1 Kockeral, #1 Rooster, #1 Pullet. The judge then compares the best of all those together and picks the best one for the 'best of breed' So baisicly if your hen has a #1 on it, then its the 1st hen of the judges choice in its variety (aka color) and breed) For instance my 1 Partridge Chantecler Hen was #2, and one was #3, another was #5. So I had the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th best partrdige chantie hens there.


Now as far as things like 'tail', 'twisted feathers' etc, that is the judge disqualifying the bird, and stating the flaw. A cochin should have a little cushion bum, it it has a big chantecler tail, well it will not be right. Just like a Wyandotte having a single comb, thats a no go.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! That makes sense, but what does "reserve" mean?

Dark Wing Duck wrote:Thanks! That makes sense, but what does "reserve" mean?

That means if the winner cannot fulfill their obligations then the reserve will take its place

reserve is reserve best of breed or best of variety. Theyre the 2nd best one. so if for some reason the champion died or something horrible, the reserve would take its place. But its more or less just a 1st, and 2nd place system

Felix wrote:

Dark Wing Duck wrote:Thanks! That makes sense, but what does "reserve" mean?

That means if the winner cannot fulfill their obligations then the reserve will take its place

Oh now you have all the answers! When we were at the show you didn't know what that meant! The wife must of answered that for you! LOL!!!!

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How to read a Coop Card at a Show

It was mentioned that many new exhibitors and visitors do not know or understand the information typed or written on the cards and what it means. It is something that many exhibitors and judges take for granted and think that everyone should know and understand it. After thinking about it for awhile I realize that it does need some explanation and clarification. Below is typical Coop card found at Poultry and Pigeon shows. All the information on the Coop Card is taken off the Entry Forms which the exhibitors fill out and send in to the show secretary. This information is either entered by hand or via a computer by the show secretary before the show starts. Once the all the information is entered the Coop Cards are sorted and arranged according to classes, breed, variety, and sex.




Entry No. CHB1-1 Sex P


# in Class 18 Band No. 3

Junior "X"
Champion Large Chicken

Class American

Breed Plymouth Rock

Variety/Color Barred

Exhibitor John Showcase

Address 123 Anytown




1.The Entry No. is the number that is assign to an exhibitor for that show by the person taking the entries so the computer and/or show secretary can track the results without the exhibitors name showing. Example CHB 1-1, CHB1-2, CHB1-3. In this example the CHB is just the show name, exhibitor #1 with 3 entries.

2. Sex, refers to the age and sex of the bird. The category is C, H, K, and P. “C” is for a male bird which is one year or older and is known as a cock. “H” is for a female bird which is one year or older and is known as a hen. “K” is for a male bird which is one year or younger and is known as a cockerel. “P” is for a female bird which is one year or younger and is known as a pullet. The exhibitor enters the sex of their bird on the entry form.


3.# in Class, this normally computer generated and is used by the clerk to inform the judge how many are in class so the judge knows what he is looking at for numbers. The exhibitor does not enter any number on the entry form for this.

4.Band No. is a requirement in some large poultry shows in order to keep the birds straight and to match up with the judging sheets. It can also help out in a small show when an exhibitor has lots of birds of the same sex, variety and color. If two birds from the same breed, sex and variety are removed from the cage and placed in a different location for final placement and examination and then returned to the same original cage location they can easily put into the wrong cages. With band no. this can be prevented. In the pigeon show it is a requirement because every bird is removed from its cage and brought to the front for examination, then returned to its original cage. Band no. will keep them straight. The exhibitor enters the band number of their bird on the entry form.

5.Junior “X” refers to weather the exhibitor is considered a junior exhibitor or not. When an “X” appears on the coop card it’s a junior entry. Show will vary how they handle junior entries.

6.Class. This is probably the hardest one to understand. I’ll just talk about the APA classes in this explanation and touch on ABA later. In the large chicken there are six different classes. They are American, Asiatic, English, Mediterranean, Continental and AOSB (Any Other Standard Breed). In Bantam Chickens there are five different classes which are Games, SCCL (Single Comb Clean Leg), RCCL (Rose Comb Clean Leg), Feather Legged, and AOCCL (Any Other Comb Clean Leg). There is also Guinea Fowl class and a Turkey class. The large chicken, bantam chickens, Guinea Fowl and Turkey make up the Landfowl class. The Waterfowl class in made up of Geese and Ducks. In the ABA there is no large chicken class, no geese class, no guinea fowl class and no turkey class. The ABA classes are Games, SCCL, RCCL, Feather Legged, AOCCL and Bantam Duck Class. The exhibitor must enter the bird class on the entry form. The classes on many show catalogues will have a number referring to the class. The exhibitor enters the class or number referring to the class for their bird on the entry form.

7.Breed. The class is further expanded into breeds, for example the American class is expanded to Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Java, Rhode Island Red, Rhode Island White, Jersey Giant, Lamona, Holland, Dominque, New Hampshire, Delware, Chantcler, and Buckeye. The Asiatic class is expanded to Cochin, Langshan, and Brahma. And that goes for the rest of the classes. Each class has many different breeds. Again the exhibitor would enter the breed or number but matching the number from show catalogue onto the entry form.

8.Variety/Color is a further expansion of the breed to separate the different variety within the breed. The exhibitor again would write the number or variety onto the entry form matching the number from the show catalogue. If there no variety for the bird you have in the show catalogue, it would then be entered as AOV, standing for Any Other Variety.

9.Exhibitor and address is self explanatory.

Now that we understand what the typed information on the card means let’s go through the steps a judge goes through when he/she judges and writes on the card. I will go through the steps of judging the large chicken American Class Plymouth Rock class.

We would start with variety/color of the Plymouth Rocks. I will give an example to make it easier to understand, hopefully. For this example let’s say we have White, Barred, and Blue Plymouth Rocks with four in each sex section. Let's say the judge starts with the White Cocks. The judge places them 1 to 4 according to his opinion and marks the coop cards accordingly. The judge then will do the same with the White Hens placing them and marking the cards. The same process is repeated for the Cockerel and Pullets. When the judge is finished with the placing of the White Plymouth Rocks he will then pick the best and reserve (second)best White Plymouth Rock and mark the coop cards with BV (Best of Variety) and RV (Reserve of Variety). The judge then will move to the Barred color and repeat the same process with the Barred Plymouth Rocks and select the BV and RV of the Barred Rocks. The process is repeated again for the Blue Plymouth Rocks and so on until all the Plymouth Rocks colors are judged. When all the Plymouth Rocks are judged, the judge will select from all the BV and RV the best overall Plymouth Rock and mark the card BB, which means Best of Breed. The second best Plymouth Rock will be marked RB, meaning Reserve of Breed. The RB can come from any remaining BV and the one RV bird who variety won the BB.

This process is repeated for all the remaining American class birds. When all the BB’s have been selected from the American class, the BB’s then compete against each other to see who will become Champion and Reserve Champion American. The Reserve Champion American can also be chosen from the RB of the breed that won Champion American. So let say for our example the Barred Plymouth Rock Pullet won Champion American. On her coop card she would have the following information written on it. BV, BB, Champion American.

This process is repeated for all the classes. Once we have the all the Class Champions the next process is to select Champion Large Chicken, Champion Bantam, Champion Guinea, Champion Turkey, Champion Goose, and Champion Duck.

To select our Champion Large Chicken, all the class champions from the American, Asiatic, Mediterranean, Continental, and AOSB classes compete for Champion Large Chicken. Again let’s say our Barred Plymouth Rock Pullet wins Champion Large Chicken, her coop card would be marked according. Some shows will not mark the coop card with the Champion Large or Champion Bantam because they would like to announce it at the banquet or when the awards are handed out.

Now let’s keep going and on the awards. Of course the same process is repeated for Champion Bantam, Champion Turkey, Champion Guinea, Champion Duck and Champion Goose. Once we have the Champion Large, Bantam, Guinea and Turkey, they compete for Champion Landfowl. The Champion Goose and Champion Duck will compete for Champion Waterfowl. Again let’s say the Barred Rock pullet won Champion Landfowl, her card would be marked with this information. The final step is Show Champion. Show Champion will come down to the best bird between the Champion Landfowl and Champion Waterfowl. Once the Show Champion is selected the Reserve Show Champion is selected. The Reserve Show Champion can also be selected from the Reserve of the Show Champion group. I’ll explain by using an example. Again let’s say the Barred Rock pullet won Show Champion the second best Landfowl is eligible to compete for Reserve Show Champion. If for example a Black Old English Game Cock was Champion Bantam and Reserve Champion Landfowl, it can compete for Reserve Show Champion.

Now that we understand how the coop cards are filled out and the step how a birds is placed and works its way to the top. I would like to inform you about some of the notes and writing the judges make in the cards besides the BB, RB, and BV and so on. Of course the numerical number means the placing of the bird compared to others in its group. When a judge makes notes on coop cards, he wants the owner to know why he/she did not like the bird. Other marks you might see are a √ (check mark) or more than one. This signifies the judge likes this bird. The more √’s the better. The first √ normally refers to type. Judges may use "+" beside a letter, indicating a good point. Example would be Cd+, meaning very good Cd (condition), Cr+ means very good color. A minus beside the letters means not as good, i.e. Cd-, or Cr- means poor condition or color. Other notable letter arrangements are: WS or NS meaning wouldn’t show or not showing; DQ means disqualified. When a judge marks the card with any of the following it means the bird is incorrect with that part of the bird; like LC means poor leg color; WC means poor wing color; EC means poor eye color; E/L or Earlobe means poor earlobe color; Comb means poor comb type or wrong comb type; Sz means poor size, either too small or too large; S/P wing means split wing, W/W means weak wing; S/S means side sprig; Stubs means feather stubs on birds legs or toes where none should be; T/F means twisted feather; ST means squirrel tail; WT means wry tail; Age meaning the bird is too young to be shown; C/K or CBB means crooked keel or crooked breast bone; V/H means vulture hocks when it should be there. You might also find a judge not marking a first (1) on card even if there are birds in the class. If a bird is not worthy of a first or second it will not get that mark. These are just a few of the more common abbreviations that judges use.

Hopefully this helps and now at next show when you look at the Coop Card and say “I know what that means” or “I understand what the judge doesn’t like or what the judge likes

Thank you very much! That explains every thing. Even things I thought I new, but I guess I was wrong.
Maybe this reply can be placed as a sticky for future reference! Mods?

I have copied your entry Rico and put in on it's own post in Standard of Perfection as a sticky and locked it so it stays clean.