National Poultry Show - Lodi, CA  February 5-7, 2021

here is a view of the main building that was used. all the Bantams were in this building. the large fowl and the waterfowl were in an adjacent smaller building. sorry the video is on its side. I'll try to rotate it but not sure how.

Breed - Old English Game Bantam
Variety - Black Breasted Red Class - Old English Game
Male

the males of this breed are required to be dubbed for show. dubbing involves trimming off the wattles, ear lobes and part of the comb to the shape above. it used to be males under 1 year old did not have to be dubbed, but I'm not sure what the current rule is. I have rarely seen a male that was not dubbed at a show. my dad and I raised this breed for 25 years and I learned how to dub as a kid and did all the dubbing until we stopped raising/showing birds. my hands were steadier than my dad's and the blood never bothered me. I used surgical scissors. there are people that fight these birds but we NEVER did. dubbing can prevent freezing and injury from fighting.

Breed - Old English Game Bantam
Variety - Silver Duckwing Class - Old English Game
Male

Breed - Frizzle Old English Game Bantam
Variety - Wheaten Class - Old English Game

Any breed can be cross bred with a "frizzled" (feathers curved against the grain) bird to make a Frizzle breed. the most common frizzled breed is Frizzle Cochin. I was very surprised to see these. Old English Game is considered a hard feathered breed (feathers should almost snap back to the body if lifted), so I would imagine this frizzle breed was very difficult to develop.

Breed - Old English Game Bantam
Variety - White Class - Old English Game
Male

Breed - Silkie Bantam
Variety - Buff (in chickens buff is a color, not a physical condition ;-) ) Class - Feather Legged
Female

It is joked that this breed is chickens crossed with rabbits.

Breed - Silkie Bantam
Variety - White Class - Feather Legged
Female

Breed - Cochin Bantam
Variety - Mottled Class - Feather Legged
Female

with Cochins, the rounder the better. kind of like a basketball shaped chicken. the have feathers on there legs and toes.

Breed - Cubalaya Bantam
Variety - Black Breasted Red Class - All Other Combs Clean Legged (breeds in this class do not have rose combs or single combs)
Male

the male is not dragging his tail. it is carried like that naturally.

Breed - Belgian Bearded d'Uccle Bantam
Color - Mille Fleur (french for thousand flowers) Class - Feather Legged
Female

for some reason, this breed is popular with women who breed chickens. over the years I can remember very few men who had this breed/variety.

Breed - Cochin Bantam
Color - Black Class - Feather Legged
Female

Breed - Brahma Bantam
Variety - Buff Class - Feather Legged
Female

this breed has feathers on their legs and toes.

Breed - Brahma Bantam
Color - Light (in most other breeds of poultry, this color pattern is known as Columbian) Class - Feather Legged
Male

Breed - Domimique Bantam
this breed only comes in this variety (Barred). so if a Dominique is entered, it is assumed to be this variety. Class - Rose Comb Clean Legged
Male

Breed - Sebright Bantam
Color - Golden Class - Rose Comb Clean Legged
Male

every feather on Sebrights is supposed to be laced with black.
this is one of very few breeds where the male is hen-feathered. the feathers on the saddle are short and rounded, rather than longer and pointed as they would be on other breeds.

Breed - Sebright Bantam
Variety - Silver Class - Rose Comb Clean Legged
Female

Breed - Wyandotte Bantam
Variety - Black
Class - Rose Comb Clean Legged
Male

Breed - Rosecomb Bantam
Variety - Black Breasted Red
Class - Rose Comb Clean Legged
Male

typically the better specimens of this breed are black in color. I didn't see any good blacks so this guy caught my eye. I thought he was better than any of the blacks, despite the poor condition of his tail main sickles. the lobe is supposed to be "positive" white and perfectly round, about the size of a quarter. common defects of this breed are off color in the lobe (usually red or yellow) and white in face which is supposed to be red. this guy had a pretty good head. the shape of his comb is near perfect for the breed.

Breed - Cochin Bantam
Variety - White
Class - Feather Legged
Male

Breed - Japanese Bantam
Variety - Black Tailed White
Class - Single Comb Clean Legged
Male

this breed is very difficult to raise. there are so many possible defects that they are prone to. the tail is supposed to carried straight up at a 90 degree angle. they have very short legs so they just about drag on the ground which creates condition issues.

Breed - Wyandotte Bantam
Color - White
Class - Rose Comb Clean Legged
Male

white chickens are very difficult to keep white. you have to keep them out of the sunlight and be careful what you feed them so they don't get brassy (yellowish). this breeder did a pretty good job with this guy.

Breed - Wyandotte Bantam
Variety - White
Class - Rose Comb Clean Legged
Female

in this breed, females especially tend to have "bunny" tails. the main tail feathers are supposed to be straight and look like an upside down V, but they tend to curve in towards the back so the back of the tail looks rounded.

Breed - Lakenvelder Bantam
Class - Single Comb Clean Legged
Male

This breed has a nice color pattern. In the past, whenever I saw this breed, they tended to be in poor condition. The breeder did a nice job with the conditioning.

Breed - Leghorn Bantam
Variety - Light Brown
Class - Single Comb Clean Legged
Male

his tail should be carried a bit higher but he was in very nice condition. in Leghorns, the male's comb is supposed to be straight, while the female comb is supposed to lop to one side near the back of the comb. you don't see females with lopped combs (in bantams) very often because you have to "double breed" for it. you'd have to have a male and a female with lopped combs to get chicks with lopped combs.

Breed - Leghorn Bantam
Variety - White
Class - Single Comb Clean Legged
Male

the face should be more red, this guy was pale, which is common in this breed. he was in very good condition and has a nice comb so he caught my eye. his wings should be carried higher so it threw off his shape a bit. the Light Brown male in the previous photo has good wing carriage, you can see his upper leg.

Breed - Naked Neck (for obvious reasons. aka Turken)
Variety - Black
Class - Single Comb Clean Legged
Male

I always thought these were ugly and I don't know why anybody would want to have them. to each his own I guess. they are unique.

Breed - Rhode Island Red Bantam
Class - Single Comb Clean Legged
Female

they have such a deep red color. it's shinier on the males. they also comb with a rose comb that follows the contour of the skull. the rose comb variety is not as common.

Breed - Plymouth Rock Bantam
Variety - White
Class - Single Comb Clean Legged
Male

there's a guy in Central California that has had these for probably 30 years and they always look great at the show. I didn't check to see if this was his but I'd be surprised if it wasn't. he posed perfectly for me.

Here's a judge picking best of breed in the Modern Game Bantam class. He had each best of variety bird next to each other. the tables were at about waist level so he got down on his knees to give them a good luck. He was also using a judging stick (looks like a telescoping antenna). breeders are supposed to train the birds to not get spooked by the judging stick and reach up to poke at the tip of the stick so they pose and show their proper shape.

Breed - Modern Game Bantam
Variety - Black Breasted Red
Class - Modern Game
Male

Modern Game males are required to be dubbed like Old English Games, but the comb is cut down all the way to the skull. they have very long legs and very long necks which would show more if I could have gotten him to pose. this is one of the many varieties I had when I was breeding bantams.

Breed - Modern Game Bantam
Variety - Lemon Blue
Class - Modern Game
Male

I had these at one time and they were one of my favorites. The Black Breasted Red in the previous photo is a "duckwing" variety which means that they have a contrasting color on the primary and secondary wing feathers. Lemon Blue is a "crow wing" variety which has a solid color all the way through the primary and secondary wing feathers. they also have lacing on the breast feathers.

Breed - Leghorn
Variety - Light Brown
Class - Mediterranean Large Fowl
Male

Breed - Spanish
Variety - White Faced Black
Class - Mediterranean Large Fowl
Male

the face in this breed is supposed to be completely white along with the elongated ear lobe. they also come in blue and white varieties but you rarely see those.

Muscovy Duck
not sure of the variety

Muscovy is a heavy duck breed and the more barnacles on the head the better. they get more barnacles as they get older.

Breed - Leghorn
Variety - Silver
Class - Mediterranean Large Fowl
Male

Breed - Cubalaya
Variety - Black
Class - All Other Breeds Large Fowl

at first glance I thought this was a Sumatra, but when I looked at the judging card on the coop it said Cubalaya. the main difference between the breeds that I know of is Sumatras have multiple leg spurs.

Breed - Cubalaya
Variety - Black Breasted Red
Class - All Other Breeds Large Fowl
Male

Breed - Australorp
Variety - Black
Class - English
Male

there is another English breed called Orpington. Australorp is a combination of Australian Orpington. Probably bred from Orpingtons crossed with another breed for different characteristics.

Breed - Polish
Variety - White Crested Black
Class - Continental
Female

the crest is supposed to be rounded. kinda looks like they've been to the beauty parlor, which isn't far off. the crests do need to be washed and then blow dried because they get dirty easily.

Breed - African Goose
Variety - Brown
Male

Breed - Cochin
Variety - White
Class - Asian Large Fowl
Female

Breed - Buttercup
Class - Mediterranean
Male

the breed is named for it's cup shaped comb.

Breed - Leghorn
Variety - White
Class - Mediterranean
Male

I believe this guy was best of breed. Large fowl are difficult to keep in good condition. this guy looked great.

Breed - Call Duck
Variety - White
Class - Bantam Duck

this little guy came up to the front of the cage to meet me so I got a close up. all the others were laying down in the back of the coops.

Breed - Black East Indie
Class - Bantam Duck

this one was best in the Bantam Duck class which is unusual. best is almost always a Call Duck.

Breed - China Goose
Variety - Brown and White

sorry I was bounced around with my phone.

cat tax. Lucy cuddling with her woobie.