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How old does a chicken need to be to show at fair?

My chicks hatch the 23rd, is there enough time to show them at this year’s honest (July 26ish)

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Posted by admin on May 8th, 2010 and filed under Pets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

1 Response for “How old does a chicken need to be to show at fair?”

  1. Araucana says:
    May 8, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    It really depends on the breed- what sort of chickens do you have? But I’m thinking that no, your birds are certainly going to be too young- they’ll only be 2 months.

    When you enter a young bird in a pullet or cockerel class, they really look their best when they are close to laying (so their comb has excellent color) but not really laying yet. Many people deliberately try to breed so that their pullets are likely to lay their first eggs around the show date for this reason. So depending on the breed- an early maturing breed may be ready at about 4 months (Leghorns for instance) but a slower maturing breed (like some of the heavier birds) might not reach maturity until 8 months or so. You want them full adult size, but not necessarily at their adult weight yet. Some breeds don’t present their best at a young age, like Spanish or Japanese, so breeders will try to avoid showing them until they are at the very upper limit of the pullet/cockerel classification (1 year ancient) because they know they will compete better.

    I wouldn’t show anything under about 6 months generally, while taking the above into consideration. It gives me a excellent amount of time to handle and prepare the bird as well.

    Aim to place this years chicks in the hen/rooster classes next year.

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