Red River Bantam Club Show Results

[Paul]

 An Ameraucana Breeders Club meet was held at the Red River Bantam Club (RRBC) poultry show in Gainesville, Texas (my home town) on Oct. 1, 2016.  History was made as the first Ameraucana bantams (since we were involved with Ameraucanas-1999) were shown!  Thirty-two head of them!  It was a great site to see Ernie Haire’s white hen on champion row, as she won reserve AOCCL!  The RRBC only sets up champion row for the bantams, as it is primarily geared for them, even though large fowl, water fowl and guineas are part of the show.  Ernie showed 7 whites, with his hen BV and cock RV.  Blacks were the largest class with 10 head being shown by Max Strawn and Ernie.  Max won BV on a pullet which also won RB.  The RV was a cockerel also shown by Max.  Four blues were shown with Max winning BV on a pullet and Ernie RV also on a pullet.  Two blue wheaten pullets were shown by Max taking BV & RV.  There were 7 self blue (also incorrectly called lavender) shown with Ernie winning BV on a pullet and Max RV also on a pullet.  The self blue are now in the process of being recognized by the APA in large fowl-hopefully bantams will get the process started soon.  Max showed two splash wheaten cockerels to BV and RV.  The ABC has several breeders working with the splash wheatens to get them recognized, hopefully with both large fowl and bantam with the APA.  Sarah Meaders is working with this project.  Anyone interested in helping get the splash wheaten recognized should contact Sarah at sarahmeaders@live.com to get involved.

  There were not any Jr. bantams shown-but that will change as they come available!  Ameraucanas dominated the Jr. large fowl show with 12 being shown by 3 Jr. exhibitors.  Craig Rounsaville judged the Jr. show.  Clarabelle Galbraith won BV black on a hen which also won BB and Jr. Champion large fowl.  Matthew Smith showed a black cockerel into RV, RB and Jr. reserve champion large fowl.  Matthew showed a pair of blue with his cockerel being BV and pullet RV.  A pair of blue wheaten were shown by Jessica Reeves with her pullet winning BV and cockerel RV.  A pair of white were shown by Matthew with his cockerel being BV and pullet RV.  Matthew also showed a pair of buff with his pullet winning BV and cockerel RV.  The buffs were purchased as day old chicks from Christine & Will Kitsch.  Thanks Christine & Will for providing a good restart of buff, since we ceased raising buff about 10 years ago.

  Jim Crain judged both the open bantam and open large fowl Ameraucanas.  There were 37 head of Ameraucanas in the large fowl show.  There were 8 head of blues with Max Strawn winning BV & RV on two pullets.  Two blue wheaten pullets were shown by Max to BV and RV.  A pair of buff were shown by Paul & Angela Smith.  Their pullet won BV with the cockerel being RV.  Three self blue pullets were shown with Shannon Rowe winning BV and Paul & Angela RV.  Shannon also showed two self blue cuckoo pullets to BV & RV.  One splash pullet was shown to BV by Paul & Angela.  Three wheatens were shown with Max winning BV on his pullet and RV on his cockerel.  Six head of whites were shown.  Paul & Angela won BV with their cockerel.  Ernie Haire won RV with a pullet.  Blacks were the largest class with 10 head.  Max won BV with his cockerel which also won BB and Best AOSB.  Paul & Angela won RV with a pullet which also won RB and Res. AOSB.

  The State Fair of Texas in Dallas should have more Ameraucanas than the RRBC show, as it is a few weeks later, and most of the Ameraucanas shown needed a few more weeks to be in prime condition.

  Photos of all the BV and RV will be posted ASAP.

[Ernie Haire]

Thanks for the nice report, Paul. I know that you and Mrs. Smith spend most of your time at the shows working to keep track of everything that is going on. It is always great to see you, your family, and all of our Ameraucana friends at the shows.

We are blessed to live in a country where we have the freedom to spend our time doing what we enjoy with the people that we enjoy being around. We have spent most of our lives showing cattle, dogs, rabbits, horses, and goats. Only in the last few years have we shown poultry. I have to say that the poultry people have been some of the best to work with both by sharing their experiences and genetics with us. I can only hope that we are able to help others as much as our CHICKEN FRIENDS have helped us.

We Are Blessed,
Ernie Haire
Poultry 2XL
Arp, Texas

[Don]

Thanks for the quick and complete report Paul.  Sounds like it was a really nice show and I am sure the fellowship was a bonus too.  And its great to see the Bantams moving above the Best of Breed wins. It will be encouraging to see more of this happening around the country.  I think Texas is gearing up to be a great source of bantam Ameraucanas to share with other regions. Congratulations to all the winners. 

[Ernie Haire]

Don,

There are several of us in Texas who are working to establish a gene pool of Bantams in this area. The biggest problem that we have all faced is finding nice breeding stock to work with. Because they were so hard to find, we all started with small numbers. We selectively bred what we had last year and were blessed with good hatches. I think that all of us hatched more males than females, but we did add to our breeding flocks. Maybe in a year or two, we will be able to share our genetics with other people who are interested in Bantam Ameraucanas. I know that we have breeders working with Blacks, Blues, Splashes, Whites, Wheatens, Blue Wheatens, Blue Wheaten Splashes, Silvers, and Chocolates in limited numbers. I am happy to see more people working with Bantams because I am afraid that if there aren't more breeders to work with, our birds will start to be too tightly bred.

Max Strawn and his wife had a nice set of Bantams at the show in Gainesville. Peggy Taylor has a nice set of Bantam Ameraucanas as well. She was not able to attend that show, but she will be competitive at the shows later this fall. She started with a nice set of birds, has added to them, and had good hatches this year.

Ernie

[Paul]

Open Bantam Class photos of winning birds.

[Paul]

Open Bantam Class photos of winning birds.

[Paul]

Junior large fowl winning birds

[Paul]

Open large fowl winning birds

[Paul]

Open large fowl winning birds

[Paul]

Judges for the Red River Bantam Club

[Birdcrazy]

Once again another great reporting job on the Red River Bantam Club Show. Super detailed reporting on show results but again great pictures to go with the results. Thank you Paul!

[Paul]

Thanks Gordon!