Backyard Poultry Forum

My fiancée and I were looking at some birds yesterday owned by a Junior who is a member of BYP and we thought to ourselves that this kid is really keen about showing his poultry but their birds are of poor quality. But because they are so far away we cant be of much help. That's what lead me to think of a way to help Juniors in Australia who are keen on Showing Poultry. There are plenty of people here on BYP who show poultry and who have good birds, and birds of all different breeds. I think if we ( we as in all of those that fit the description of showing poultry and having good birds ) could probably get together and form some sort of organisation of sorts to help these kids out. To qualify for help though they must be a member of a club and be an active member ( if time and distance allows them ). Be prepared to learn about the breed they like and limit their breeds to one or two. Must have adequate pens and space to look after them properly.

The only way I can see this working is by sending setting of eggs or maybe getting poultry club apart of this as well and have local breeders help out.

I will do what ever it takes to help juniors and nothing annoys me more when people give them cull birds to show and breed with and when they never do any good they get disheartened and give up.

As we all know the future of our hobby lies with the juniors.

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Lawton Park Poultry Stud

There is plenty of merit in your ideas there Daniel. My daughter is a junior and loves to show her pekins, next year she will be showing our indian game (bantam) as well as her pekins. We don't have a poultry club close to us which would exclude her and most likely alot of other potential younger members interested. Could you perhaps start a club/website that the juniors could become involved in? Is there room on BYP for a junior board?

Just some thoughts, if you need help with website set up my hubby may be persuaded to lend a hand.

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"Frog Song" Windera, our little slice of heaven.
http://www.mysmallfarm.com

All ideas will be taken onboard. I just hope others are just as willing to lend a hand to juniors.

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Lawton Park Poultry Stud

Sounds like a Great idea, Lets hope it gets in place, more clubs needs to Hold days to Help the Younger Members to Learn stuff, But they just chose not to.

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Cheers Ben Walkom - Breeder and Exhibitor of Partridge Wyandotte (Bantam) and Blue Partridge Wyandotte (Bantams)

hey daniel,
i am very interested in this, but i live in far north QLD so am very limited.
i am very interested in langshan bantams, wyandottes, D'Uccles and pekins. i will chose two of the four breeds and breed as many chicks as i can this year.


one question, i am going to breed sussex cross RIR and new hampsire reds for selling at local maekets etc, i would not be showing them at all but woundered if this counted or not, its just i would prefer to sell chickens then go and get a job somewhere for 7-8$ an hour at least if i breed chooks i'm doing what i like.

regards

youri.

Dan your an ideas man.
Top work mate i hope a lot of the top show men get on board with your idea ....

I was at sydney show on the friday and i won't mention the name of the breeder but he will know who he is .. A young girl came along and ask this top breeder of a certain bred some questions about his birds like what was different with his birds that won and the birds she entered. It was great to see this guys face light up and show this kid what she needed to know I would hope there are a lot more breeders out there that would do this.....

He spent at least 30 mins with this girl and showed everything she was asking about...

cheers squeak1

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breeder of GOLD & SILVER CAMPINESBuff Leghorns LargeGrey Silkies and working kelpie sheep dogs.
http://www.getitdunworkingdogs.blogspot.com

There is plenty of merit in your ideas Dan. I too want to see more Juniors on the scene> I fear that thes days far too much importance is being placed on competition tho. I would like to see poultry clubs adopt a more family based approach where outside show season family get togethers are arranged to get the whole family involved. The club I was involved in from approx 16yrs old used to arrange 10 pint bowling nights as a social event and had a bbq each year with of course a traditional game of cricket complete with the tennis ball and the rubbish bin stumps. We had Mums Dads and Grandparents and uncles all involved. You have no idea how much this sort of involvement helped when it came to working bees and helpers at shows. We need to get back to a stage where poultry is part of the reason we attend Shows.

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Geoff
http://www.qagppbp.yolasite.com

Great idea Danial let me know if there is anything I can do to help

I was up at Maryborough on Friday picking some pekins up from Geoff and Sandra Edards and I was talking to Geoff about my idea. He said it was a good idea. It would be good if i could get people onboard and give me a hand with this.

If your a breeder and would like to help send me a PM please.

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Lawton Park Poultry Stud

Great ideas Dan.

Some of the kids really do put their heart into breeding, preparing and showing birds and some guidance and a few good birds in the right direction will not only encourage them but ensure quality bloodlines make it through to the next generation.

My daughter has been diligent with a backyard of randoms for a couple of years and I am now happy to invest in some purebred fowls of her choice.

I agree, Frawley, a juniors section would give them a place to chat and show off their birds and I'm sure alot of us adults would drop in to encourage them.

Since my daughter Kayla_Ann got her own username, I have been watching how the kids themselves on BYP are so active, both chatting to each other and getting involved on many parts of the forum. Sometimes it's a little hard to see them put in their place by members who may not know they are children though.

I think this is a wonderful idea Daniel. Having twins already starting to show with 2 more young ones wanting too show, we have found people few and far between willing to share show knowledge with the kids.
We have however been lucky in finding a handful of wonderful people though who have given time, advice and quality stock for my twins to get them started, which we have been very grateful for.
And Chris was proud to be able to give back some very nice young birds he bred to one of his mentors, who was equally pleased to recive them. This just boosted Chris's interest ever more.
Chris showed his muscovies this weekend in Alexandra and we found the people so friendly and willing to chat to him and talk to him about his birds. He learnt more about showing in this one day than he has in the past 12 months.
Will watch with interest to see how this develops and to see how I can get the kids involved if it gets off the ground.
Good Luck.
Cheers

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Jode.
Maremma's looking after Wyandottes, Lrg Frizzs, Sussex, Araucanas, Orps, Muscovies, Turkeys, geese, peafowl, guinea fowl, Minature ponies and 4 x 2 legged kids.

I am a junior and I would love it if more juniors could get on BYP and share our ideas.
It would be good if we had our own section to talk and share what we have learned.
Would this be a good idea?

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Podgie. HAM AND EGGS - A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a pig.

i think thats a great idea podgie! although i do think there is a juniors thread already but you could start another one.

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indian Game, Polish and Querky (a danver x dorking hen)

do we really want to segregate the juniors? I think we try to be inclusive here, to everyone, I think making a section just for juniors could be considered ageist

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JAPS ARE REAL CHOOKS (DON'T BELIEVE THE KNOCKERS)

I think this is a great idea daniel, I am a junior myself and I know how hard it is to be considered a 'good' breeder/shower. Juniors are limited to what they can have and where they can keep chooks. We would really appreciate something like this to be done for us. We love showing and we would love to have good enough poultry to be considered one of the 'big boys' in the poultry exhibition industry.

Ta, Neil x