The Pips 'n Chicks virtual show is a completely free online poultry show, open to everyone in the United States and internationally. It is designed for beginners and experienced breeders alike to show in a competitive arena, meet other top breeders, and learn more about breeding towards a standard together. We run both youth-led shows--which are open to youth, judged by youth, and run by youth-- and open shows, which are judged by APA, ABA, and ACBA-sanctioned judges. The goal of the virtual show is to promote poultry showmanship, education, and excellence in a way that is accessible to everyone. Thank you to everyone who enters, shares, promotes, sponsors, or helps with the show in any way. This show would not be possible without you.
Virtual Poultry Show
General Information
There are six separate shows: Open Largefowl, Open Bantam, Open Quail, Youth Largefowl, Youth Bantam, and Youth Quail. Each show is judged completely separate from the rest, and there are separate plaques and ribbons for Champion and Reserve of each show. We are looking at bringing waterfowl back for the 2024 show. If this is something you would like to see or would be interested in, please let us know! All open shows are judged by qualified individuals defined by the APA, ABA, and ACBA, respectively, and all youth shows are judged by the top three qualified youth that apply.
Entries are anywhere from 1-5 photos of a bird, and are judged completely online. You can see all of the live judging and feedback from last year's show here. Judges were able to move the photos in order, and give live feedback on each and every bird.
The shows are broken down into classes as per the APA for Largefowl and for Bantam, and the ACBA quail standard for coturnix. There are sponsored premium awards for all class champions (in 2023, all class champions received a rosette and certificate), and awards for champion and reserve overall for each show (these were plaques and another rosette). Class sponsorships will be $25 for 2024, and $40 for champion/reserve of show. The classes will be broken down further: best of breeds will be available for any breed over 5 entries, and best of variety for any color within a breed that gets more than five entries. There are no premium awards for these, but Add-On awards can be sponsored for any class, breed, or variety. Add-On awards will be $10 for a rosette, and cash awards from any amount can also be added on.
We also offered an impromptu showmanship in 2023 that we are hoping to bring back for 2024. It worked out wonderful, with 11 participants total. Next year we are looking to expand and include different age divisions and awards. You can see the champion and reserve champion showmanship sessions from 2023 here.
Open judges are paid $50 each, and youth judges are paid $35. If you are interested in judging for the 2024 show, please use the chat button below.
Entries:
Entries for each chicken show will consist of a single picture of the bird standing profile. The bird should be as close to its natural stance as possible. Comb, eyes, beak, wattles, and feet must be visible.
Entries for the Quail shows are slightly different. A single collage must be entered for each bird, consisting of three or more pictures: a least one standing profile picture that showcases the stance and legs, a frontal picture that showcases breast patterning and face, and a wingspread picture that showcases the back and wing plumage. Photocollage.com is a free collage maker that works well. Quail will be judged according to the standard published here.
Birds may only be entered a single time, with the exception of Youth Shows. The same bird can be entered in both youth and open shows to get more feedback from the judges as well as increase the chance for awards.
Photo requirements:
Any photograph that clearly breaks requirements will be disqualified before judging, and any photos can be disqualified at the judge's discretion.
Some current requirements:
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Picture must be clean and clear (no blurriness or bird movement)
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Bird must take up at least 1/3 of the frame
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Background should be a solid color or minimally distracting
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File size should be at least 100 kB and no bigger than 500MB–the average photo from a phone camera is 2MB, which is fine.
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No color distortion, filters, or photoshop is allowed– this is grounds for immediate disqualification and ban from the show.
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No personal identifications are allowed in photos
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This is to include watermarks, people/faces, farm names, entry tags, names, etc.
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No people should be visible in the photos. This includes hands (with the exception of quail), faces, background, etc.
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There can only be a single bird in focus in the photo. No other birds should be in the foreground or identifiable in the background.
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No previous awards, judging, feedback, or evaluations are allowed in the photo
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This is to include ribbon/trophies, fair entry tags, previous show banners, etc.
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For the full list of entry requirements and disqualifications, look here.
See Rebecca Lynch's livestream on some great poultry photography techniques (geared specifically for quail, but applicable for all birds and for the poultry show): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3brqj8uvDI
ENTRIES ARE CLOSED FOR THE 2023 VIRTUAL SHOW. No late entries are accepted.
Good entry examples from the previous show:
