Our ABC national meet was held in Caldwell, Idaho on November 5th & 6th. Eric Kutch judged the national show. There were a total of 76 large fowl shown by 11 exhibitors, with blacks being the largest class with 25 shown by 6 exhibitors. The BV was a cockerel out of a young trio shown by Jerry DeSmidt. The RV was a pullet shown by new Jr. member Athena Balderas. Athena purchased her start as a box of day old chicks from Max Strawn, and another box from Paul & Angela Smith. The Jr. birds showed with the open. Then the top Jr. winners received special awards from the IBBA show association. Nine blues were shown by 4 exhibitors with Paul & Angela Smith winning BV and RV on two cockerels. Six blue wheaten pullets were shown by 3 exhibitors with Angie Shingler winning BV and RV on two pullets purchased as day old chicks from Paul & Angela Smith. Angie Shingler also had RV on a wheaten cockerel and her son, Aiden Shingler, won BV with a wheaten pullet in the class of 7 wheatens shown by five exhibitors. Angie has a very good start of wheaten and blue wheaten which I can highly recommend. Paul & Angela Smith showed the only two buff with their pullet being BV and cockerel RV. These were purchased as day old chicks from Christine & Will Kitsch. Thanks Christine & Will for the restart of buffs. Paul & Angela Smith also showed three self blue with their pullet winning BV and hen RV. One splash pullet was shown by Athena Balderas into BV. Athena purchased this chick in a box of day old black, blue and splash from Paul & Angela Smith. Athena has an excellent start of blacks, blue, splash which I can also highly recommend. The BV splash pullet and self blue pullet competed for the best AOV Ameraucana with judge Eric Kutch selecting the self blue pullet BV and splash pullet RV. Twenty-three whites were shown by two exhibitors. Jerry DeSmidt won BV on a pullet which also won BB, Res. Ameraucana and Best AOSB. Jerry also won RV on a pullet out of his young trio, which also won RB and reserve AOSB. The Arne Schmidt Memorial award was won by Jerry DeSmidt on his BV white pullet. Jerry has won the Arne Schmidt Memorial seven times! Now it is filled and his to keep. Athena Balderas black cockerel was selected best Jr. large fowl and reserve Jr. bird of the show.
Forty-six Ameraucana bantams were shown by 2 exhibitors. Eight blacks were shown by 2 exhibitors with Connie Jean Ribbeck winning BV on a hen, and Jerry DeSmidt RV on a cock. Three blues were shown by Jerry with his cockerel winning BV and his pullet RV. Twenty blue wheatens were shown by 2 exhibitors with Jerry DeSmidt winning BV on a hen out of an old trio and RV on a cockerel. Jerry’s blue wheaten hen also won RB. A splash hen was shown into BV by Jerry. Five splash wheaten were shown by 2 exhibitors with Jerry winning BV on a cockerel and RV on a pullet. Four wheatens were shown by Jerry with his cockerel winning BV and his pullet RV. Jerry also showed 3 whites with his cockerel winning BV, BB and Champion Ameraucana and his hen winning RV. Connie Jean Ribbeck showed two self blue with her hen winning BV and cockerel RV. The BV self blue hen, BV splash wheaten cockerel and BV splash hen competed for the AOV awards with the self blue hen winning BV and the splash wheaten cockerel RV.
Three displays were shown by Jerry DeSmidt. Jerry’s blue wheaten bantams scored 96 points, large fowl whites scored 114 points, and his large fowl blacks won best display with a score of 117 points.
The egg show had some good quality eggs on display. Jerry DeSmidt and Connie Jean Ribbeck exhibited the only eggs as we forgot to get ours out of the refrigerator when we left. Jerry won all four of the egg classes.
A brief ABC meeting was held. The Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Connie Jean Ribbeck. Awards were distributed to the winners. The Idaho Bird Breeders Association, the hosting club held a banquet at a Chinese buffet. Most ABC members attended. Everyone was given the option of cooping out after the banquet on Saturday evening or early Sunday morning.
Eric Kutch did a good job of placing the birds for our national, however these double judged shows prove it’s one judges opinion, as Heather Hayes chose several different birds for the BV and RV of the classes. The large fowl blacks BV was a cockerel shown by Athena Balderas and the RV was a pullet shown by Jerry DeSmidt. The BV blue was a pullet shown by Athena Balderas and the RV was a cockerel shown by Jerry Dancer. The blue wheaten class stayed the same with Angie Shingler’s pullets winning BV and RV. The buff class stayed the same with Paul & Angela Smith’s pullet BV and cockerel RV. The splash class stayed the same with Athena Balderas’s pullet BV. The wheaten class stayed the same with Aiden Shingler’s pullet BV and Angie Shingler’s cockerel RV. Jerry’s RV white pullet was the same one and also selected RB. The BV white pullet was a different one which was also selected BB.
The changes in the bantam classes were: Blacks BV was a cockerel out of a young trio shown by Jerry and RV remained the same, Jerry’s cock. Blues remained the same, Jerry’s cockerel but the RV was changed to Jerry’s hen. Blue wheaten BV was a hen out of Jerry’s old trio and the RV stayed the same cockerel shown by Jerry. Wheaten BV stayed the same cockerel but the RV was changed to a cock, both shown by Jerry. Splash wheatens the top two were swapped with Jerry’s pullet being BV and his cockerel RV. All the other varieties shown remained the same with the exception of a different blue wheaten hen being BV and RB.
A lot of effort was put forth to have a very successful sealed bid auction for donated Ameraucanas, hatching eggs and other items, to fund our national ABC meet at Hutchinson, MN. the end of October 2017. A special thanks to everyone who contributed to make it a success!
