Selection and Preparation of Fowls for Exhibition. 5 
PREPARATION. 
Training and conditioning.—Boys and girls should realize that the 
bird that has been properly trained and prepared will stand a better 
chance of winning a prize than another bird equally good, but which 
is wild or easily frightened, or whose plumage is soiled or dirty. 
The birds selected should be removed from the rest of the flock 
and each bird placed in an exhibition coop for at least a portion of 
each day. Fowls so confined will become accustomed to the coop. 
Handling them—that is, removing them from the coop each day— 
will have the effect of making them tame. In handling the birds and 
I'ic. 2.—A club member examining the undercolor of a Rhode Island Red pullet. 
removing and returning them to and from the coops, move quietly 
and handle the birds gently so as not to frighten them. When 
handling fowls, hold them as shown in figure 2. Examine the 
plumage so that the fowl will become accustomed to such movements 
when being handled by the judge. Likewise, attempt to compose 
the bird by smoothing and stroking the wattles gently; this seems 
to have a soothing effect on the fowls, and when done frequently 
and properly they come to look for it when one approaches the coop. 
Those that are to be exhibited should not be confined to the exhi- 
bition coops for too great a period, as long, continuous cooping may 
cause them to get out of condition and therefore unfit for show. A 
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