The weird and wonderful world of poultry pageants

When you just want to show off your beautiful birds ...

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A poultry show in Scotland.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Prize poultry, 1868.
(Image credit: (19th era 2 / Alamy Stock Photo)By some accounts, the first American poultry exhibit was held in 1826 at the Rhode Island State Fair. It was a decidedly small affair — just one exhibitor and)

A Black Castellanas chicken is groomed before the Poultry Show at Crystal Palace, London.
(Image credit: November 1934)

A champion Wyandotte cock gets its nails trimmed before presentation in England.
(Image credit: September 1936)

A White Crested Polish chicken, which won first prize, at the International Poultry Show in London.
(Image credit: December 1963)

A Phoenix cock at the National Poultry Show in Frankfurt, Germany.
(Image credit: December 1965)

A goose is inspected at the United Kingdom's National Poultry Show.
(Image credit: December 1948)

A rooster is cleaned with a cotton ball before a poultry exhibition at a state fair in Alaska.
(Image credit: August 2014)

A young competitor holds his Gold Partridge Dutch cockerel at the Scottish National Poultry Show in Lanark, Scotland.
(Image credit: January 2011)

A Japanese Bantam at the National Poultry Show in Telford, England.
(Image credit: November 2016)

Junior fanciers compete in the Poultry Showmanship event at the Tanana Valley State Fair in Fairbanks, Alaska.
(Image credit: August 2013)

A competitor holds her entry to the Old English game section of the Scottish National Poultry Show.
(Image credit: January 2011)

A Silkie chicken at the National Poultry Show in Telford, England.
(Image credit: November 2016)

Judges inspect a rooster at the International Agricultural Fair in Paris.
(Image credit: February 2010)

A Belgian Bantam at the National Poultry Show in Telford, England.
(Image credit: November 2016)

The National Poultry Show in Telford, England.
(Image credit: November 2016)

A Call duck at the National Poultry Show in Telford, England.
(Image credit: November 2016)

Poultry fanciers with their entries at the National Poultry Show in Telford, England.
(Image credit: November 2014)

Lauren Hansen
Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.