4-H Steps for Showing Chickens in Showmanship

4-H Steps for Showing Chickens in Showmanship
by Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | June 25, 2024
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Showing chickens in 4-H was my life for 8 years. Being homeschooled, 4-H was my extra-curricular activity that I devoted all my time and talents to. I credit my chickens and 4-H experience with being the inspiration for wanting to become a modern pioneer. What makes the 4-H Poultry Project so exciting is that not only are you raising animals, but you get to show off your skills with that animal in the show ring! These 4-H steps for showing chickens are the ones that I have studied over and commited to heart for eight years while being a champion in the 4-H poultry showmanship ring!

*Note: The following information is tailored towards youth showing chickens in the 4-H Poultry Project. They are based off of my experience in the Michigan 4-H Poultry Project. These are not the correct steps for non-4-H or professional poultry shows.

a pen of golden-laced Wyandotte chickens at the local county fair

Basic Show Knowledge

One privilege that I had when I participated in the 4-H Poultry Project for eight years was being a Poultry Teen Superintendent. I love teaching other young folks how to show their chickens. I especially like it when they show genuine interest in not only showing their bird, but also caring for it and preparing to bring them to fair.

Here are a few tips that I give first time poultry project enthusiasts:

Use Your Dominant Hand– hold your bird in your right hand if you’re right handed or your left hand if you’re left handed
Proper Holding– there are two ways to hold a chicken for showmanship:
- #1. Position your pointer finger between the bird’s legs, grip the bird’s thighs with your thumb and remaining fingers. Hold the bird with its breast bone resting in your palm and its head facing you.
- #2. Same as the first method but instead of your pointer finger being between the legs you can use your middle finger instead.
Eye Contact– make eye contact with the judge throughout your showmanship examination
Smile– be cheerful and at least act like you are confident and know what you are doing, even if you don’t!
Ask Questions– listen to the judge and if you question whether or not you should do something, just ask them!
Proper Prep– prepare your bird properly for exhibition, check out my post 5 Steps for Preparing a Show Chicken

person showing how to properly hold a show chicken

How to Hold a Chicken for Showmanship

Method #1. Position your pointer finger between the bird’s legs, grip the bird’s thighs with your thumb and remaining fingers. Hold the bird with its breast bone resting in your palm and its head facing you.
Method #2. Same as the first method but instead of your pointer finger being between the legs you can use your middle finger instead.

The picture above shows method #1 for holding a chicken. You can see the pointer finger is between the legs and the remaining fingers are gripping the thighs on either side.

In order to show a chicken, you must hold it in a way that is comfortable for both you and the bird. I mentioned the two most common ways above. These holding techniques make it easier for you to examine the bird during showmanship. By gripping the legs with one hand, you have firm control over it kicking or squirming. It also allows you to place your other hand over the chicken’s wings if it starts to flap.

Holding a chicken with one hand may seem unstable and hard at first. However, this is where working with your bird becomes important. Hold your chicken like this a lot, like everyday and every time you pick it up. Soon it will become second nature for both you and the chicken.

a youth poultry showman teaching another youth the chicken showmanship steps

Chicken Showmanship Etiquette

The 4-H poultry showmanship steps outlined below are the ones that I go through with every young person who wants to show chickens! Be sure to practice these steps regularly with the same bird every time. If you can’t tell your birds apart, put a leg band on the one you want to work with for showmanship so that you can work with the same bird every time.

It’s okay if your bird is squirmy or flaps while you are practicing showmanship. The more you work with the chicken, the calmer it will become. Eventually you will have the steps memorized and your chicken will be a well trained show bird! If your bird acts up on show day while you are showing, just stay calm and pick up where you left off with the examination. Most judges will overlook the occasional mishap unless it is obvious that you did not work with your bird prior to showing.

Once you receive your showmanship number, you will wait until it is your turn to enter the show ring. I advise you don’t get your bird until you are the third or fourth individual in line. If it’s really hot out, this will prevent your bird from overheating. Depending on your county, you may enter the ring with several other competitors.

Once it is your turn (or your group’s turn), wait until the judge motions you in, then walk calmly up to the judge and judging table, hold your bird in the proper position in front of you at about waist level. Some judges may want you to introduce yourself, telling them what your name is, your age, what 4-H club you are a part of, the age and sex of your bird and its class, breed, and variety.

Listen for what the judge wants you to do next, they may ask you to pose your bird on the table, or in the cage, pass them your bird, or have you examine your bird.

youth poultry showmen practicing posing their chickens in a cage

How to Pose a Chicken in a Cage

Open the cage door.
Turn your arm so that the bird enters the cage head first.
Rotate the bird once it is in the cage so that it is facing you.
Set the bird down and pose it (you should pose your bird in the correct position for your breed of chicken).
Close the cage door and take a step back, keeping your arms at your sides.

If your bird takes more than 3-4 steps while it is posed in the cage, you can open the cage and repose it. Also, if you come up to the cage and the door has been left open, close the door before opening it again to pose your bird inside. When the judge tells you, you can remove your bird from the cage.

Open the cage door.
Put one hand under the bird, gripping its legs using the proper holding techinque, and place your other hand on its back.
Take the bird out head first.
Close the cage door.

When you are putting the bird into the cage and taking it out of the cage, make sure none of its feathers touch the edges of the cage and make sure you do not drag its toenails. Also, when posing the bird on the table, make sure you do not drag any of its toenails across the table.

How to Pose a Chicken on a Table

Some judges will ask you to pose your bird on a table. Here are the steps for posing a chicken on a show table:

Place the bird on the table so that it is facing the judge.
Pose the bird just like you would if it were in a cage.
When the judge indicates, pick up your bird like you would when removing it from the cage.

Whenever you are posing the bird on a show table, make sure the bird is facing the judge no matter where the judge is standing. However, when posing the bird in the cage, the bird will always be facing the cage door. Judging methods vary depending on the judge. Some judges have you pose your chicken on both the table and in the cage and some judges have you only do one. Also, some judges may have you pose your bird before you examine it or after you examine it, or sometimes both!

If that’s not enough, some judges will have you pose your bird in the cage, ask you a few questions, then ask you to remove your bird from the cage! Practice, practice, practice with your show bird to get it to stand still for as long as possible.

How to Pass a Chicken to a Judge

Some judges will want to handle your bird. Here are the steps for properly passing your bird to the judge:

Hand the bird to the judge with the bird’s head facing the judge.
When the judge returns the bird to you, the bird’s head should be facing you. If it’s not, politely ask the judge to turn the bird so it is facing you.
Slide one hand underneath its breast to grab its legs properly and place your other hand on the bird’s back.
Look at the judge to signal that you have control of the bird.
Once you receive the bird, fix any feathers that got ruffled during the process, then look at the judge.

As I mentioned earlier, judging processes vary, so always listen to the judge. Talk to your 4-H Poultry Superintendent or contact your local 4-H Extension office for information about your county’s 4-H Poultry Showmanship techniques.

two youth learning how to show chickens in 4-H

How to Examine a Chicken for Showmanship

The judge will ask you to examine your bird at some point during the showmanship process. During the examination, you will want to tell the judge what you are checking for and either touch or point to each body part you are examining. Examine your bird in this order:

Overall look your bird- tilt the bird slightly from side to side to look over its body type
Check the eyes– blindness, bleaching, and color
- point at each eye with your pointer finger and wait until the bird blinks
Feel the comb– texture and abnormalities
Feel the wattles– texture and abnormalities
Examine the head feathers– molting
- pull back a few head feathers around the comb
Feel the beak– abnormalities and check for the correct color of the beak
Check the earlobes– color for the breed standard and bleaching
- point at each earlobe
Feel the neck– smoothness and check for molting
- run your hand down the bird’s neck and pull back some feathers to check for molting
Check the back– length and width of bird, molting, skin color, abnormalities, and size
- run your hand down the back
- pull back some feathers to check for molting and skin color
- run the breadth of your hand down the back to check for size
Check the tail feathers– molting and feather condition
- fan the tail feathers out with your fingers
  
  Flip the bird upside down with its back against your chest
Find the vent– check for mites and lice and bleaching
- the vent is located right before the fluffy feathers of the abdomen begin and the where the long tail feathers end
Check the ‘handling quality’– thickness or thinness
- roll a little bit of the skin right below the vent between two fingers
Feel the pubic bones– thickness and flexibility, indicates laying ability
- the pubic bones are the two pointy bones on either side of the vent
Check the abdominal capacity– laying ability
- see how many fingers you can fit inbetween the pubic bones and see how many you can fit between the pubic bones and the end of the breast bone
Feel the abdomen– hardness or softness (hard would mean that the bird is not laying) and check the feathers for feather condition and molting
Feel the thighs– meat content
- the thighs are the part of the leg that you grip when you are holding the bird
Examine the shanks– cleanliness, scaly leg mites, and bleaching
Spread the toes out– examine for number of toes, condition of the toenails, defects, bleaching, and straightness
Feel the foot pad– defects and check for bleaching
Feel the breast– straightness and length, check for breast blisters, other defects, and meat content
- run your fingers up the breast bone
- pull back some feathers to check for breast blisters and defects
- run your fingers up either side of the breast bone to check meat content
Open up one wing– blow in it to check for molting and mites and lice
- open the wing by grabbing the boney part of the wing close to the wing shoulder
  
  Move the bird to your other hand
Pull out the other wing– blow and examine, then switch back to your original hand
Feel the crop– for abnormalities
- the crop is located on the breast and is used for storing and grinding food
Tilt the bird back upright– fix any feathers that got ruffled and stand at attention

If you are showing a rooster you will want to skip steps 12-15 because you do not need to check the laying ability of a rooster. You may want to make mention of this to the judge when you skip those steps during the examination. Also, do not examine for bleaching either if you are showing a rooster. Bleaching is the loss of skin color in hens as the xanthophylls is used to color egg yolks instead of the skin.

Showmanship Quiz Tips

At some point during the 4-H chicken showmanship process the judge will ask you some poultry questions. The judge may even take your chicken from you and ask you to label some body parts of the chicken.

The questions will range in difficulty depending on if you are a junior, intermediate, or senior. Juniors will want to study facts on chicken anatomy (inside and out), incubating and raising chicks, and other basic poultry terms. Intermediates will need to study a little bit more in-depth poultry facts about hatching and raising chicks and caring for mature poultry. They may also want to study some common poultry ailments and diseases.

Seniors will need to study poultry diseases and ailments (symptoms, how to treat them) and they should also know their chicken breeds (what breeds have crests, beards, five-toes, etc…). They need to know a little bit of information about other poultry species too, such as turkeys, geese, or ducks.

Every showmanship individual should know a lot of information about the breed of chicken they are showing. They should study its breed standard and know what defects and disqualifications would dock off points in a professional poultry show. You may want to study some cool and interesting facts about poultry too. To get you started, be sure to check out my post on 10 Crazy Chicken Facts!

two youth doing a presentation on how to show chickens in 4-H

4-H Poultry Showmanship Tips

My advice is always study more information than you think you need to know. Tie breakers do occur and that’s when the harder questions come out! Some simple and easy ways that I have found to study include making flashcards, reading poultry books and taking notes, attending poultry workshops, and learning from experience with my own flock!

Judges may also try to trick you to see if you are paying attention. Here are some tricky things a judge might do to test you:

ruffle your birds feathers to see if you will quickly and quietly fix them
place litter on your bird’s back to see if you will quickly and quietly brush it off
hand the bird to you with it facing the wrong direction to see if you will politely ask them to hand it to you facing the right direction
stand across from you when you are posing the bird on the table to see if you will pose it facing them
ask you a tricky question, such as “What variety is your duck?” knowing that you are showing a chicken, or “Tell me something I don’t know.”

a row of poultry cages at the local county fair with award ribbons

Showing chickens in 4-H (and even in professional shows!) is a great activity to participate in and is very educational! I loved showing my chickens at the county fair every year. The process of working with my chickens, studying poultry facts, and perfecting the showmanship steps was how I spent a majority of my spring and summer. With consistent practice and diligent studying, showing chickens can be rewarding too!

I have found that some breeds of chickens are easier to show than others! Check out my Show Chicken Breed Reviews to find out how I rank several chicken breeds based on ease of 4-H exhibition. Also, don’t forget to become a modern pioneer with us! If you’re a 4-Her, then you will find practical tips for raising chickens as well as some inspirational ideas for 4-H projects!