378 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



Shipping. A good many birds lose their chance of winning 

 by poor shipping in transit to the shows. Inspect the coops 

 to see that they are high enough that the bird can easily stand 

 upright ; also see that no sharp nail points are exposed on the 

 inside, which may tear the bird's comb or otherwise damage 

 him. 



For the ordinary show where competition is not very strong, 

 perhaps all this preparation is not absolutely necessary. It 

 is possible that you might just pick some birds off the roost 

 the night before, and get away with it; but it is a good plan 

 to always show your birds in their best possible condition. 

 The more earnest effort you put into the poultry business, 

 the better your standing will be with the poultry fraternity, 

 and the more pleasure and ultimate profit you will get out of it. 

 (M. L. C.) 



CHAPTER III. 



SHIPPING TO SHOWS. 



Considerable attention should be given this, one of the 

 necessary steps in showing fowls. Though it is but a single 

 step and a short one compared with the number and length 

 of time it takes to grow and to condition exhibition fowls, 

 yet it is fully as important as any of the previous or sub- 

 sequent steps in the process because of the dangers involved, 

 due to unusual, strange conditions, such as confinement, re- 

 striction of feed and water, and the inadaptability of some 

 fowls to such changes in the routine of life, to exposure to 

 weather conditions, extreme in either heat or cold, to sudden 

 changes varying from one extreme to the other, as when taken 

 from a heated car in cold weather in which they have perhaps 

 been packed all too closely together, and transferred in un- 

 protected trucks to other transfer points or to the show room. 



Shipments Dependent Upon Three Conditions. From the 

 foregoing it is apparent that three conditions are highly de- 

 sirable. First, that the bird be fortified to withstand these 

 changes of temperature and weather. The best means of 

 fortification against these is to select naturally rugged birds 

 that are in excellent health and conditioned to withstand 

 these changes. This is, however, the subject of another 

 chapter. 



