Organising A Poultry Show

Janice Houghton-Wallace explains about what is involved

- Janice Houghton-Wallace

The hobby of keeping poultry and showing birds is increasingly popular. Exhibiting poultry is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years and the Victorians took great delight in showing off their prize birds to the hundreds of people who flocked to the big London shows.

Today, there are poultry shows almost every week of the year in some part of the UK and Wigtown Poultry Show is just one example of a show in Scotland of which I am Secretary. Organising Wigtown is great fun and very rewarding but it is also a lot of hard work and you cannot do it alone.

The first thing to do is gather together a committee of enthusiastic people willing to undertake various tasks and attend some meetings. Support and enthusiasm are essential and allow twelve months planning for your first show.

Shows can be held in community halls or under canvas at agricultural shows. The hire of the location will not be cheap but if the poultry show is at an agricultural show then the society usually provide the marquee. They will probably want the poultry show to cover itself financially though, so sponsorship, donations and fund raising will be a priority if you need to feel confident with outgoings.