Egg Judging contest

[angora831]

You have fed and bred and hatched and culled all year to bring super birds to Sedalia.  Why not show off the best that your birds have produced for you by entering the ABC Egg Judging Contest.  If you look at the home page for the ABC you will see some shining examples of what I am talking about.
So check out the nest boxes this week and bring the best that your girls have to offer and see how they stack up against others in our club.  Maybe you will be the one to take home the bragging rights this year!

Ken Olsen
Manhattan, KS
 only in the Land of Ahs...............

[Schroeder]

Are there rules to follow?  A full dozen?  What kind of container?  Is "enhancing" permitted such as spraying oil or something of the sort?

[angora831]

I hope that this will answer any questions about the contest.  To start with no "enhancing" of the eggs is permitted.  We want the eggs as natural as possible.  Eggs will be judged both for external qualities and some internal.  An entry is 6 eggs and the containers are up to the contestants.  You want to help with the presentation of your eggs so plan accordingly.  Kind of along the lines of "the clothes make the man" idea. The eggs will be judged for shell texture, shell quality, shell shape, cleanliness, shell color, freshness and interior qualities (free from foreign spots or other inpurities,yoke size proportionate to size of eggs). Two of the eggs will be broke open to determine interior qualities.
Some disqualifications may include evidence of artificial coloring, eggs having been boiled or otherwise preserved, no evidence of blue shell pigmentation, etc.
Let me know if there are any more questions out there and I will try to find the answers.

Ken

[Mike Gilbert]

Ken is correct.  Uniformity and egg shape are also important.     Shape is important, as eggs need to be stored  with the pointy side down for subsequent incubation etc..   Therefore they need to be "egg" shaped, not round.   You need to be able to tell which end is which.   Shell texture is important, as porous shells allow more bacteria to migrate inward, and that can affect embryo mortality.    In the past some enties did not win simply because the eggs were not very clean.    Presentation is important.   Would you purchase dirty eggs to eat in a grocery store?     The exact shade of color only counts for up to 30 points on a 100 point grading scale.  All else being equal, size is also a criterion.  I'm working from memory here;  maybe somebody could post a copy of the scoring sheet?  I don't have it saved on my computer.

[angora831]

I have one stored as a .jpg on a thumb drive, but can't seem to get it in a response here on the Forum.  What is the process of posting an image here?

Ken

[John]

Ken,
After you type in a Reply you can click on the "Attachments and other options" link, just below the white text box that you type into.  That link will open a "Browse" button under "Attach:" where you can navigate to the find the file you want to attach.  I believe it has to be under 150kB, so you may have to compress it.

[Paul]

Egg Judging sheet.

The judging will be 6 hen and 6 pullet eggs. 

They may ask what variety but I don't think it matters.

[Mike Gilbert]

Click on the form to enlarge it to reading size.

[John]

The judging will be 6 hen and 6 pullet eggs.

Four classes (categories) to compete in with a display of 6 eggs in each...
1. Bantam Pullet Eggs
2. Bantam Hen Eggs
3. Large Fowl Pullet Eggs
4. Large Fowl Hen Eggs
In the past there were awards for Best and Reserve in each class.

[Mike Gilbert]

Just to amplify a comment by Paul (Thanks for posting the form Paul):   You will be asked to list a variety, or specify "various."    It would only become important if you want to use egg judging results to promote your special variety or line of birds.  Egg color and quality may bear a lot of weight with newer Ameraucana fanciers, and some more experienced ones as well.    So a good placing could be used as a marketing tool.