564 POULTRY CULTURE 



shipping birds to customers. These answer very well if only a few 

 birds are to be shipped each season. Exhibitors who send strings 

 of birds to a number of shows each year often have substantial 

 compartment coops made, with two, three, four, or more com- 

 partments for single birds. Even birds that are to be shown 

 together are better shipped separately. The plumage is not then 

 in danger of being damaged or soiled by other birds in transit. 

 For a local show, when the exhibitor has control of the means of 

 transportation, it is well to keep birds at home as late as possible. 

 If they are to be shipped by rail the shipment should be timed to 

 arrive at the earliest hour at which entries are received. Then if 

 there is delay, they may still be in time. If shipments are held 

 back and timed to arrive at the last moment at which they will be 

 received, and delay occurs, they may not reach the show in time 

 to be judged with their class. 



Care of poultry at shows. An exhibitor ought always to look 

 after his own birds at a show, or engage some one on whom he 

 can rely to look after them. Show associations look after exhibits 

 in a general way ; they feed and water the birds impartially, clean 

 the coops, and if a bird is sick, remove it. Those birds attended 

 by owners or others who will take special care of them have a 

 great advantage over competing birds looked after by the show 

 attendants. An exhibitor, or his attendant, should see that his 

 birds are not cooped in a draft or too near steam pipes. If birds 

 are placed in such positions and cannot be moved, he should take 

 proper measures to screen them from heat, or from cold-air cur- 

 rents. So far as the birds are concerned, a cold hall is much better 

 than a heated one. If the hall is overheated, or the birds are in 

 too warm a place, their combs may grow considerabh, and if large, 

 lop badly. Birds will keep in much better condition through a 

 long show if not full fed on grain and if given a little meat and 

 green stuff daily. Most experienced exhibitors prefer to feed their 

 own birds, and thus be sure that they are regularly fed and not 

 overfed. A bird in a coop, with nothing to do, will stuff itself with 

 food if it has the opportunity. 



Returning birds from shows. If the usual quarters of the poultry 

 are cold, and the showroom has been heated, it is often better 

 (especially in very cold weather) to leave the birds there for a day 



