Poultry SHow, what would make YOU want to come?

So, there is going to be a weekend poultry show within a fairly reasonable driving distance to you. You have no chickens, or were thinking about getting a few chickens, or have a little flock, or have been raising chickens for a while. Maybe you live in the city or on a little acreage. You see the advert and think, hmmm.

What would make you want to attend the show as a chickenless visitor, as a small flock holder or maybe to enter it?

Why would you go?
What would you expect to see?
What would you like to see?
What about families, kids?
What would get you to enter a show?

What if the show was 3 days, and not over a long weekend?

Arcticsun wrote:
What would make you want to attend the show as a chickenless visitor, as a small flock holder or maybe to enter it?

Why would you go?
What would you expect to see?
What would you like to see?
What about families, kids?
What would get you to enter a show?

What if the show was 3 days, and not over a long weekend?

I would go as a small flock owner to promote and share/show off my favourite breeds!
I would expect to see a good variety of breeds, well cared for animals, some information on basic poultry keeping, how to get started, vendors selling poultry, maybe eggs, maybe tractors or other poultry fun things.
For families and kids it would be great to have someone able & willing to give info sessions - how to catch, hold a chicken, how to maintain (trim roo spurs, toe nails, feeding grit, oyster shells), what age they start laying, how to cook heritage roosters so that they are delicious treats.
I would enter a show if the show was not during my exam period at university/during work, if there was a welcoming atmosphere (open to first timer's).....

You mention four different audiences, two (already have poultry) perhaps would be more motivated to go.

Before I had poultry, there used to be shows down at the Stampede grounds all the time and I never went, not the least bit interested.

If it was for someone without birds and not looking to get any,I would think you would have to offer some sort of appeal like learning where you're food comes from, or something more than just birds--interactive for kids, hatching eggs. Maybe other things that are farm or food source related. I can think of is like Aggie Days in Calgary--that is about the whole agriculature experience.

HOnestly, if I wasn't showing I'm not sure I would be interested in a poultry show. BUT if you had small workshops (loads of topics here-health, housing, breeding, processing, genetics), equipment, vendors, maybe vets, discussion groups that would be while the judging was going on, I would more inclined to go.

excellent posts and points.

There are defintiely 4 different groups. A successful show would appeal to more than a small group of people. A successful show would attract people from various demographics to attend. And hopefully the show would be such that it would make people look forward to the next show and want to attend that one.

Keep the great ideas comming!

I think a show has to be well promoted. People who are not on poultry forums would need to see it advertised well in advance. I also think the follow-up is important. It would be great to invite newspaper and radio media people. After the event a write up should be sent to local newspapers emphasizing what a great show it was with a list of all who placed in their categories. Those who didn't take part just might have their interest perked enough to make a commitment for the next one!

Oh - brain wave, advertise at feed/pet stores in the area of the show?

How about having said show here at Barriere in conjunction with the Provincial Winter Fair? The fair has classes for rabbits, sheep and horses, but nothing for poultry. There is a show on Labour Day weekend here, but there is also one at Armstrong on that weekend. I believe there aren't any competing shows on the third weekend which is a long weekend for those attending school here (ProD day). There is an existing building used for poultry shows at the North Thompson Fall Fair so a facility would be available. On the negative side the PWF may move back to Kamloops next year.

Excellent reccomendation!
Everythng is perfect except the part about having it in Ontario....

Keep those good ideas coming!

To me there is nothing more boring and brain numbing than row on row of birds in little wire cages.

When another lady and I put on the Poultry display several years back at a local fall fair, we agreed that OUR poultry display would showcase poultry in their natural state. All the 'cages' were walk in pens, a full 8 feet high and varying sizes. We walked right in to feed and water, to gather eggs, to sprinkle grit and eggshell. This gave us a chance to explain to fair goers what we were doing. We set bales of hay covered with blankets and encouraged people to sit and watch. Watch a hen preen her feathers, scratch in the bedding, fluff around in a dust bath and if you were really lucky, one would lay an egg! There were roosts, covered nest boxes, feeders and watrerers.

Several different breeds were represented. There was a mother hen with 8 day old chicks that popped in and out of her feathers to the utter amazement of people who could NOT believe that 8 chicks could hide in that hen! We had half grown meatbirds galumphing around in a pen and tow roosters who strutted and crowed and genrally carried on. We even contemplated setting up and incubator with eggs timed to hatch...but in the end we didn't as we felt the styrofoam models might not stand up to children's pokey fingers.

We had posters up talking about the different uses for eggs, not just for food but in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry as well. And we didn't stand there looking bored and indifferent. We started conversations with people. In the end, we were told by the fair adjudicator that they had never, in all their years of judging fairs, seen such a poultry display.

Birds in wire boxes are boring. There has to be a shot of the dynamic to get uninterested people, interested. YOu have to find a way to make this a family event and make it a place where people can linger and watch. We heard over and over how people "didn't know chickens do that!". Get them OUT of those cages and find a new way to display our fine, feathered friends.

Brilliant! Love it!!!

Education, interaction and eye candy! Who would not want to attend that?!

We have a few cool things that we are mulling over for the December show. Hopefully some of them could be implemented.

uno wrote:To me there is nothing more boring and brain numbing than row on row of birds in little wire cages.

When another lady and I put on the Poultry display several years back at a local fall fair, we agreed that OUR poultry display would showcase poultry in their natural state. All the 'cages' were walk in pens, a full 8 feet high and varying sizes. We walked right in to feed and water, to gather eggs, to sprinkle grit and eggshell. This gave us a chance to explain to fair goers what we were doing. We set bales of hay covered with blankets and encouraged people to sit and watch. Watch a hen preen her feathers, scratch in the bedding, fluff around in a dust bath and if you were really lucky, one would lay an egg! There were roosts, covered nest boxes, feeders and watrerers.

Several different breeds were represented. There was a mother hen with 8 day old chicks that popped in and out of her feathers to the utter amazement of people who could NOT believe that 8 chicks could hide in that hen! We had half grown meatbirds galumphing around in a pen and tow roosters who strutted and crowed and genrally carried on. We even contemplated setting up and incubator with eggs timed to hatch...but in the end we didn't as we felt the styrofoam models might not stand up to children's pokey fingers.

We had posters up talking about the different uses for eggs, not just for food but in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry as well. And we didn't stand there looking bored and indifferent. We started conversations with people. In the end, we were told by the fair adjudicator that they had never, in all their years of judging fairs, seen such a poultry display.

Birds in wire boxes are boring. There has to be a shot of the dynamic to get uninterested people, interested. YOu have to find a way to make this a family event and make it a place where people can linger and watch. We heard over and over how people "didn't know chickens do that!". Get them OUT of those cages and find a new way to display our fine, feathered friends.

Amen to that !! The only poultry exibits I have ever seen were at the Brandon Winter Fair when I was a kid and they really turned me off. The boringness, the overwhelming smell...

Since I have become more seriously interested in poultry I have sometimes thought it would be nice to have a local, OUTDOOR exibit. And to have the birds in open pens where people can watch their normal behavior.. it would be just like what I spend way too many hours doing at home! They're just so danged interesting!

Uno articulated what I was hoping for in regards to the information and education part! It's wonderful

I do think that in some cases, wire cages are necessary ie: selling chicks, or juvenille's that aren't in the right frame of mind to be housed in a walk in pen.

Excellent reccomendation!
Everythng is perfect except the part about having it in Ontario....

Arcticsun, Barriere is not in Ontario. If you left Edmonton by 9 AM you would be at Barriere in time for supper. Much shorter than a trip to Colorado.

Uno idea of a poultry exhibit is great. The poultry producers have a travelling display in a small trailer, but they leave off the real world situation of living in a tiny cage.

If you were putting on a large show with poultry exhibitors, it would be impossible to cage all birds in the large display that my dear Hubby built (all out of # 1 clear cedar, the aroma was divine!)on the perimeter you could still have the traditional caged birds grouped by breed, for example. But in the centre area, a large set up that people could wander through and around, make parts of it viewable from all sides, that would be doable. Set bences or bales, invite people to sit. Maybe have some ducks or geese mucking about in a kiddy pool somewhere. Peacocks, guinea fowl. Have a cooking demonstration, "101 Ways to Prepare an Egg". Have fun!

Have a table where kids can dye eggs. Give moms a little piece of paper with an egg recipe on it. Give dads a pat on the back for being dragged along to a chicken event. Oh...and promote the bejeebers out of it. Don't call it a poultry display. Call it the Wild West Chicken Eggstravaganza! Eggscellent family entertainment for Poultry minded People! Who'd want to miss that?

What would make you want to attend the show as a chickenless visitor, as a small flock holder or maybe to enter it?

Why would you go?
What would you expect to see?
What would you like to see?
What about families, kids?
What would get you to enter a show?

What if the show was 3 days, and not over a long weekend?

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I know someone who clicker trains chickens so I'm sure that would interest most people. If I had chickens to show, they'd be going but two days would be long enough. The reason I like dog shows is the socializing and "dog" shopping. Short seminars are always interesting too.
Cheers,
Carol

i also have to say 2 days is long enuff, i think to draw people in there has to be events for the whole family like the petting zoo ect, and lots of sales of not just poultry you get the crafts ect in there people love that...
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triplejfarms wrote:i also have to say 2 days is long enuff, i think to draw people in there has to be events for the whole family like the petting zoo ect, and lots of sales of not just poultry you get the crafts ect in there people love that...
i

I agree with Triple J. To do it a 3 day event is very difficult for anyone travelling any distances. Hotel rooms, kids in school, etc, makes the trip much more difficult than showing up on Friday night and leaving Sunday.

I think the idea of a petting zoo, seminars, and sale booths would be a huge draw for most people.

The December show should have a really good turn out for pigeons, I am really looking forward to that.
Im hoping we can beat some records with chicken turn out. I think I might bring some geese.

What sort of competitions or events would you like to see at the event?
Quilt show?
4-H displays and table competitions? Like at Ye Olde Farme Faire type events
Fun stuff?
Kids stuff?

What kind of vendors?

What would attract YOU to go? Be you a bird owner or not.

Unless you have an interest in the animal being shown, a person will likely not go. I have been to a dog show and found it boring. I like dogs but not enough to sit through show. That includes super dog exhibites. Neat to watch but it doesn't really interest me. Same with cat shows. Love cats but not interested in sitting through one or going out of my way to attend one.

As for the displays, poultry caging. You have to decide what you are trying to do here. If you are simply doing a poultry display or casual show, then you could have any sort of caging you like. If you are trying to accomplish a "poultry show" to APA/ABA standards then you will be using caging set by their rules.

If you want to bring the unintersted into a poultry show, petting zoo while good to get the kids to bug the crap out of their parents to take them, it won't solely bring in the money.

You have a poultry show taking place in December, yeah?
Why not use it to your advantage? Make it a Christmas poultry show and Yultide fest?
Vendors who not only sell collectiables but Christmas collectiables. Items from Christmas' past are very popular and sought after. The great thing about Red Deer is that it is a central hub. While I might hesitate to drive 2 hours just to see a poultry show, I have drive more than two hours to go to a good quality antique/collectables show.
I have done that even for a small show.

How about a Christmas themed display? Yesteryear's Christmas showing items from Yultides past.
A mini Christmas tree display. You could even make it a contest. Rather than use full size Christmas trees, maybe the best decorated mini tree. How about best poultry themed Christmas tree? Best Christmas theme item that is non-tree related like candy canes or stocking?

I think bringing in 4H is a good idea. It would be educational not only for other kids but also for adults.

How about a display and information about the urban hen?
Do a couple of panels on the urbane hen, why it is a good idea and educate people that the keeping of poultry if done correctly is not a health hazard. Maybe even back this up with a showing of Mad City Chickens, the documentary of the Return of the Urban Backyard Hen?

How about the other reasons people keep poultry?
Poultry as exotic pets? As companion animals. I even heard that poultry has even been used as therapy animals.

Brilliant!

I have been showing dogs for about 35 years, and the reason I go to many of the shows I do, and some of them take SERIOUS driving, is not to see row upon row of dogs, but for the social aspect, meeting up with friends, and the SHOPPING!

I love the cool booths, the things you cant get elsewhere. The Dec show would be the perfect place for you Hand Crafters to get your wares out. And the timing is perfect, people are shopping and still have some money to spend. Home made, homestead, Ye Olde, organic is hugely popular.

The shows I will travel the farthest for, and enter the most dogs in, are the ones with the fun classes. Where they have the costume class, , doggie dancing (a RIOT), extreme/artistic grooming, Rally, Agility, Futurity, Generations, Halloween Parade (our club did that and nearly doubled our entries the next year, loads of Newspaper and some TV coverage!!!), pug Chuckwagon races, balloon herding, all breed lure coursing, Draft, etc etc etc.

The show is great! But it is the fun stuff that makes that show different from all the others and brings in the crowds. Especially the people who are bored with rows of dogs and are looking for alittle variety, things they can enjoy on thier own level and relate too.

These are also the things that bring in the newbies. Who would not want to try something fun like that.

At many of the Dec. shows they have christmas deccorating. Anything goes, and they can be AMAZING!!! Favurites that pop up every year are the treed covered in dog fur (usually samoyed) like snow. One year someone shaved thier Komodor and saved the cords. They hung them like Icicles! The dog poop, poop scoop, bowl, bone and kibble rope decorations are also at pretty much every display,

I was looking for ideas by checking out the schedule of events for the Royal Winter Ag Fair in Toronto. Get this...they have beer tasting!
Now that is one sure-fire way to entice the husbands to allow themselves to be dragged along to the fair!!
Hehehe!

Beer Tasting!!!!
Home made beer and wine is huge these days! I wonder....

A few years ago the Sled Breed Classic in Camrose was sponsored by Yukon Beer. They had a booth and handed out samples (YAY!!!). They bought one of my old dogsleds from me and they still use it today as a display prop.

Keep those ideas coming people!

CHB is already implementing some of your suggestions, this is going to be great.

At the last sale we put out sidewalk chalks and gave the kids an area on the floor to go crazy. Parents had places to sit for a sec. Catch thier breath, deal with hungry babies, etc.

It was really popoular and according to two little girls, the best part of the event (they were very enthusiastic about it).

What sort of things would work to help give parents a few seconds rest, a chance to deal with little babies, have a coffee, go to a stall without the kids in tow???

We defintiely need more suggestions in this department!

For me the prospect of obtaining good quality birds brings me. And for the December show the prospect of getting my Christmas shopping done at the show! And the hope of learning from the judges. It is VERY important to me that the judges have some time and take the time to explain their assessment. I realize this may not happen but I hope it will.

I just told the DH I booked "us" a hotel in Red deer yesterday. I promised Red Deer has a Princess Auto (it does doesn't it?!?). Beer tasting would help him a great deal.