540 POULTRY CULTURE 



expenses. On this basis most small shows can make a very low 

 entry fee, especially if they give ribbons instead of regular cash 

 prizes. On a show of several hundred birds, with exhibitors fur- 

 nishing their own coops, a fee of ten or fifteen cents a bird will often 

 pay for the judge and for feed for the birds during the show. In 

 these small shows the entry fee is rarely placed higher than twenty- 

 five cents per single bird, and one dollar per pen of five birds 

 (a male and four females). In nearly all shows the payment of 

 regular prizes is contingent on the number of entries in the class 

 being sufficient to make the entry fees pay the prize money and 

 other expenses which the entry fee should cover. If this is not 

 done, shrewd exhibitors can enter just enough birds in many classes 

 to take the prize money, and the show will lose on every such class. 

 When a show association furnishes coops, the entry fee must be 

 high enough to cover the cost of cooping. 



A very small charge for admission usually brings in enough 

 money to pay the rent and the incidental expenses of a small show. 

 At ten or fifteen cents each, several hundred visitors may give as 

 much as is needed, or so near it that the promoters are satisfied. 

 Outside of large cities twenty-five cents is the maximum charge for 

 adults, with ten or fifteen cents for children. On such a modest 

 scale of arrangements and prices a local poultry show is on the 

 same basis as any other local entertainment, and, wherever it is 

 possible to get together some two hundred birds that will pass as 

 representatives of established varieties of poultry, may be made 

 instructive to exhibitors and entertaining to visitors. The profit 

 cannot be large, nor can the loss. This type of show is especially 

 adapted to places where breeders are mostly novices, but may be 

 used to advantage by breeders of considerable experience. A show 

 in a small place is much more likely to be permanent if run on a 

 small scale than if the management undertakes to attract entries 

 from abroad and build up a big show. 



The work of running a show. Usually two or three persons do 

 all the work connected with a small poultry show. Even for a small 

 show the amount of work to be done is much greater than is usually 

 supposed. For a small local show soliciting only local exhibits the 

 promoters have to do a great deal of personal work, — beginning 

 weeks or months in advance, — persuading poultry keepers to 



