Poultry in motion: Feathered contestants vie for Nova Scotia's fanciest fowl

The big thing about a chicken show is it's a beauty pageant. And may the prettiest bird win. The Nova Scotia Fall Classic is an annual poultry and pigeon show. Run by the Nova Scotia Purebred Poultry Association, it's a chance for farmers to show off their finest fowl. Where we kind of all kind of congregate together with exhibitors from all the maritime provinces and show our birds and see who can come home and come out on top with best in show. The event offers the chance to feathered friends of all kinds to strut their stuff. Ducks, chickens, geese, and turkeys are all on display. Merle Watson had one of his birds make it to champions row, but that's only the beginning. Different classes of bantams, and there's different classes of largefowl, and then there's different classes of ducks and different classes of geese. So you get all the champion class champions, and then they compare all the class champions together. But how exactly do you decide who is the prettiest bird? John Miles Jr. came all the way down from Virginia to offer his judgment. We have a standard. We look at condition, type is the main, is the most points. We look for condition, comb types, make sure there's no disqualifications, defects or defaults. And then it's basically like a best condition, cleanliness of the birds, the correct type. They meet the standard of what we're looking for and everything. Madeline Hollis finds it nerve-wracking to prepare her birds to the judges' standards. She says it's a good stress. And regardless of how she places, it's worth the effort to be here and see all the animals. That it's just like the birds, like there's just so many different varieties. There's something for everyone, honestly. Like if you like your big birds, if you like your small ones, big tails, small tails. But it's like there's something for little kids or something for older people who don't really want to like have a whole flock, but they want a couple of little ones or something. But there's really just something for everyone. Not everyone can win, but the camaraderie created means even the losers go home without too many ruffled feathers. Colin North, CBC News, Truro.