POULTRY EXHIBITIONS 551 



but most of the coops are bare except for the entry number, a rib- 

 bon if the bird has won a place, and perhaps the card of the owner. 

 The rule prohibiting distinctive marks on coops ought everywhere 

 to be abolished. If this were done, and a uniform style of combina- 

 tion shipping and exhibition coop adopted (in standard sizes appro- 

 priate for the various sizes of birds and classes), and exhibitors 

 required to furnish their own coops and allowed to decorate them 

 as they saw fit, the regular competitive exhibits at shows would 

 soon become more attractive ; for much can be done, in the way of 

 showing off birds, by the very simple device of painting the back 

 and sides of coops in shades which contrast effectively with the 

 colors of the birds. 1 At most small shows, exhibitors furnish their 

 own coops, and such shows might well inaugurate the practice of 

 using a standard style of individual coop and making efforts to dis- 

 play each variety separately. This method of cooping would also 

 make it practicable to carry out a suggestion often made by exhib- 

 itors that, after judging, the birds in a class be arranged in order of 

 merit, thus enabling every one to make direct comparisons. 



Ring judging, a common practice in live-stock shows and in 

 the pigeon departments of poultry shows, may easily be made an 

 attractive feature of judging in small shows, though conditions in 

 the larger shows often prohibit it. In this form of judging, the 

 competing specimens are displayed and judged by classes, on a 

 large table before the audience, each specimen being in charge 

 of its owner or attendant. The practice has been used in a few 

 poultry shows with satisfactory results. 



Suggestions for special displays. A statement of a few of the 

 special poultry displays that have proved very attractive to visitors 

 will indicate something of the possibilities of development of this 

 line of attractions. 



An exhibitor showed a Barred Plymouth Rock cock and hen with 

 over a hundred chicks hatched from her eggs in the preceding season. 



1 This would not be the only advantage of the exhibitor owning his own coops 

 and using them at all shows, large as well as small. There would be no handling 

 of the birds in transferring from the shipping to the exhibition coop and back 

 again at the close of the show, and less opportunity for birds to get lost. The 

 responsibility of keeping his coops clean and sanitary would rest with the exhib- 

 itor, and he would not, as now, run the risk of having his birds placed in exhibition 

 coops that have been occupied by diseased specimens from other flocks. 



