Ameraucana Northern National, by John W Blehm, for Poultry Press, December issue.
Our Ameraucana Alliance places national meets almost a year in advance to give members plenty of time to schedule hatches and plan to attend. Last year we placed national meets with show clubs in Michigan and Missouri, but due to COVID-19 both shows were cancelled. As bad as that may sound this allowed me to propose putting on a private Ameraucana only national meet for our Alliance members and their families only, in my backyard, in Michigan. Our breed club put on our own chicken show to host our own national meet. Members down south followed suite and gave us our second backyard national in Missouri a few weeks later. Comments were all positive, like “I really enjoyed the private meet” and “I actually prefer this intimate setting instead of the big venue hustle”.
Fowl Fest was to host our meet, but with their show cancelled we sanctioned ABA and APA meets for our private Alliance show the same second weekend in October. Michigan Poultry Fanciers loaned us the show cooping we needed and their show secretary, Matt Boensch, volunteered to process our entries and supply us with PDF files of judge’s sheets and coop cards to print. Lewis Cunningham, from Ohio, came up to judge our little show. After judging he commented on the birds and answered questions to the exhibitors gathered outside the show barn. Dustin Bonner didn’t have any entries, so he volunteered to clerk with Lew and enjoyed the education.
We had sunshine and highs in the 70s on Friday and Saturday. This was more like a half day show than a one day show when it came to judging, but many cooped in on Friday and cooped out on Sunday morning allowing us the time to really enjoy the fellowship we look forward to at our national meets each year. My wife, Kathy, put on the meals in our enclosed pavilion and with a barrier-free restroom in the backyard everyone could feel right at home. There was also plenty of time for fun and games, like taking a barrel train ride, playing badminton, riding the Ranger and more. We picked each other’s brains about chickens and had plenty of time to share our experiences. I have a sign on a building, in our backyard that sums up our show and meet…”It just doesn’t get much better than this”.
Several members and businesses donated to our silent auction and raffle and together they brought in over $700!
Our annual Ameraucana egg contest garnered many entries. Russ Blair, of MI judged and Stacy Melton, of VA clerked. Amy Jensen, of WI had Best & Reserve Bantam Eggs and Robert Rennolet, of SD had Best & Reserve Large Fowl Eggs.
In junior competition William Vila, of VA had BB & RB with his bantam white hen & cock and Daniel Cook, of MO had BB & RB with his large fowl black cockerel & pullet.
With 10 exhibitors we had 84 bantams and 59 large fowl for a total of 143 birds competing. The average payout for awards was over $150 per exhibitor for wins with birds and eggs.
In bantams the largest variety class was 22 blacks with wheatens and lavenders tying for second place with 11 each. The other varieties represented were blue, blue wheaten, brown red, buff, silver, white and red shouldered. Best of Breed was a wheaten cockerel by Michael Gilbert, of WI. It was also Champion Ameraucana Overall! Reserve of Breed was a brown red cock by David Blair of MI. It was also Reserve Ameraucana Overall!
In Large Fowl the largest variety class was also blacks with 24. Blues and lavenders tied for second place with 9 of each exhibited. Blue wheaten, brown red, buff, silver, wheaten and barred were the other varieties in the show. Best of Breed was a black cockerel by Daniel Cook, of MO and Reserve of Breed was a black pullet by John Blehm.
Four Neil Townsend memorial plaques, sponsored by Russ Blair and Mike Gilbert, were awarded by Donna Townsend, of PA. These commemorated the 40th anniversary of the ABA’s recognition of the Ameraucana breed, with the first two varieties being bantam wheaten and white. Mike Gilbert & John Blehm had BV & RV bantam wheatens, respectively and William Villa & Russell Blair had BV & RV bantam whites, respectively.
This was a special show & meet that no one, that was there, will forget. “Thank you” to all that had a part in making it a memorable event whether they attended or not. Many more photos, along with complete meet reports are on our Ameraucana Forum. For information about our Ameraucana Alliance please go to Ameraucana.org.