We ware proud to be Hosting the the 2015 ABA National
Judges: Jeff Halbach, Jamie Carson, Bill Patterson, Steve Beaty, Clell Agler, Jackie Koedatich, Troy LaRoche, & Danny Padgett
We have some great Seminars already lined up including:
David Touchette on Call Ducks.
Eric Nelsen on Conditioning
Dr Darre, Joseph Marquette, and Joel Henning will all be speaking, topics to be determined
More updates will be added throughout the year as available.
JUNIOR CHAMPIONS:
ChampionLarge Fowl Shown by JuniorWyandotte, WhiteP
Ari Katz of Katz’s Bantams
ChampionBantam Shown by JuniorCochin, Black PEdison Cigany
Champion of Ducks, Geese, Guinea Fowl and Turkeys combined
African, BrownGoose CRyan Pullen
2015 Northeastern Poultry Congress Show
Steve Gould
Greetings from New England,
The weekend of January 17th and 18th was a cold weekend in West
Springfield Massachusetts but that did not seem to bother the 270 plus exhibitors who made the trip to show more then 2500 birds.
Every year it amazes me how the people that make up the Congress come together and put this show on. We start planning on it at our annual meeting in March keep in touch throughout the summer and finalize our plans with a meeting at the Little Rhody show in the fall. Our group is made up of people representing all the New England States and New York from a lot of different clubs. The Setup happens the Sunday before with Brian Knox guiding everyone with what goes where. Brian puts a lot of time and energy into the setup and every year it seems to get done a little bit faster and better then the years before. Cheryl Barnaba, our Vice President / Show Secretary puts a huge amount of hours in making sure everyone is going to find out how a big show can be run with as few problems as any show out there. This year Cheryl and Janet Winnett our Congress Treasurer/Secretary were working with a new software program for the show due to the retirement of Edie Rochette who handled our entries for years. I won’t say that the new program was perfect as there were a lot of things that Cheryl and Janet did to make it fit our needs, but overall it worked pretty well for us.
People and birds started arriving Thursday evening and the fun began. A lot of people travel a distance to attend this show every year. We have friends come up from the Carolina’s and all the Atlantic coast states from there up. A large group from Ohio and even farther west make the trip every year to join the big New York and New England Exhibitor group. You see a lot of smiles and people getting together and renewing old friendships and showing off the birds they brought to show.
The Judges started Saturday morning going through the large classes that had been brought out and spent most of their day placing the winners.
With 465 Large Fowl, 1190 Bantams, 236 Ducks, 54 Geese, and 19 Turkeys they had their work cut out for them.
Our junior program started about the same time as the judging of the open. We have a great program led by Alison, Rick and Nate Trojanoski that has showmanship, poultry identification, judging and something new this year, poultry agility. Every year we get a larger and larger group of young poultry enthusiasts taking part in the fun. This year in all of the showmanship classes we had twenty or more kids competing in each division. You think the competition is tough in our open you should see how it is in the junior events.
Saturday there is a lot going on and the people come out to see the show and maybe buy some birds from the big sales area. Come early they go fast. Mark and Lisa Podgwaite greet people at the front welcome table where people can get information about the show and all the events. People come to see the birds take in a seminar or browse the vendor booths selling all types of poultry related stuff. There is also the Chinese raffle and the bird raffle that people took a chance on to help support the show. Thank You Karen, Brenda, Wes and Bob for all you did on these.
Saturday goes by way too fast and then Sunday morning came with an icy drizzle, not a welcome site for the people with a long trip home. The Judges made their final placing and the results were tabulated with the award ceremony a little after 10:00. The Big Winner was Cedar Ridge Bantams with a Quail Belgian D’anvers hen taking Champion Bantam and Super Grand of the show. The Reserve Champion Bantam, Jan Brett’s White Crested Black Polish Pullet took Reserve Super Grand also. Dan Castle came out on top in the Large fowl Classes with his awesome Silver Spangled Hamburg Hen. Reserve Champion Large fowl went to a Black Langshan cockerel from Rebbeca Buffington. Champion Waterfowl was a white Pekin pullet from Rick Hare. David Touchette took reserve Water Fowl honors with a Blue Muscovy cockerel. Top Goose was Karen Macphearsons’s White Sebastapol cock. Erin Thibault took away the champion Turkey award with her Bronze cock. The Trio class is always popular at the Congress. This years winners were Champion Bantam Trio White Crested Black Polish owned by Jan Brett. Champion Large Fowl Trio was Will Kitch’s Black Ameraucanas. The Champion Duck Trio belonged to Shawn Streeter with his Black East Indies. Congratulations to the big winners and to all the class winners it was an impressive champion row.
Junior Show winners were Ari Katz of Katz’s Bantams winning Champion Large Fowl on his White Wyandotte Pullet. Edison Cigany took Champion Bantam on his Black Cochin pullet. Rounding out the rest of the fowl was Ryan Pullen with his Champion Brown African Goose.
2015 was a great show to be at for the birds the people and the experience. Start planning now to attend the 2016 show which will be an ABA national show January 16th and 17th we hope you can join the party!
