Bird shows: standards, classes and the judging scale
A bird entered in a show is not compared with the others on the bench but with a written standard, an ideal model describing its breed or mutation, and the judge awards points while justifying that judgement in writing.
The standard comes before the bird
Every breed, every recognised mutation has a standard: a text describing the expected size, position, plumage, colour and bearing. The judge does not express a preference, they measure a deviation from that text.
The World Ornithological Confederation has set itself the goal of studying and publishing these standards in order to arrive at a single international description per species. That is what allows a canary judged in one country to be judged on the same criteria in another.
The scale, and what it implies
Judging follows the scale of the World Order of Judges. The thresholds are explicit: a minimum average of 89 points is required for a bird to carry forward to the following year, 90 points to be eligible for a medal, and 360 points in a team, harmony points included.
Two practical consequences follow. First, the gap between a good bird and a medal-winning bird comes down to a few points, sometimes to a single one. Second, the team, that group of four birds shown together, adds a demand for consistency: four good but dissimilar birds count for less than four even ones.
What breeders wish they had recorded
A show result only means something in context: which bird, which class, which judge, which year, and above all which bloodline it came from.
It is by cross-referencing several seasons that a breeder sees which of their pairs regularly produce well-scored birds. That information already exists in the record books, but scattered between prize lists, clutch notes and memory.
What this changes in AviarySoft
Each entry attaches to the bird shown: event, town, date, class, score and placing. The history stays on its record, and results naturally trace back to its parents.
Show types are configurable, because a regional show, a national championship and a world show are not comparable, and because software has no business imposing a hierarchy that varies between federations.
What types of exhibitions can I manage with AviarySoft?
The Results module covers two disciplines, in two separate tabs. The Shows tab is built for beauty shows judged against a standard, with an individual score per bird. The Races tab is built for racing pigeon events: liberation site and time, distance to the loft, clocking time, velocity and placing. The Races tab only appears if the Racing pigeons species is active in your configuration.
How do I create an exhibition?
From the 'Exhibitions' page, click the add button. Fill in the exhibition name, date, location (the field suggests towns), exhibition type and number of subjects entered.
Can I customize exhibition types?
Yes, in the Configuration page, Statuses tab (“Exhibition Types” in “Filter by type”), you can create your own exhibition types with a name, icon and color. Default types can be modified or deactivated.
How do I register birds for an exhibition?
From the exhibition's detail card, add results for each bird entered. You can link the result to an existing bird in your farm (breed, color and gender are auto-filled) or enter the information manually. To enter several at once, tick them on the Birds page, then choose 'Add to a competition'.
Can I add several birds at once to an exhibition or a race?
Yes, from the Birds page, in all three views and on a phone too. Click 'Select', tick the birds, then 'Add to a competition': choose the type, exhibition or race, then the event, most recent first, with a search by name; if none exists yet, the window offers to create one. For an exhibition, each bird gets a result line pre-filled from its record (ring, breed, colour and sex); the age class, score, title, judge and cage are left to complete in the results. For a race, each pigeon is basketed, without a placing, and the line is completed later by hand or by importing the sheet. Only racing pigeons can be entered in a race: the window names the birds to remove from the selection. Every status is accepted, so you can record afterwards the results of a bird that was sold, loaned, lost or has died, but a bird without a ring cannot appear in results. Birds already on the event are skipped, and the closing message says so. Offline, the addition is sent when the network returns.
What fields are available for each result?
For each registered bird: ring number, breed, color, gender, age category (juvenile or adult, chosen when entering the result), individual score, entered on whatever scale the show uses, and global result (free text: prize, certificate, etc.).
How is the age category determined?
It is chosen by hand, 'Juvenile' or 'Adult', when you enter the result: each exhibition has its own rule, and AviarySoft does not guess it.
What does the exhibition detail card show?
The card displays: number of subjects, results entered, progress percentage and average score. Charts show the breakdown by breed, gender, age category and score distribution. A ranking (palmares) lists the top results.
How do I find a bird's exhibition results?
All exhibition results for a bird are visible in its history. They also appear in the family tree as colored badges with the score.
How do I search and filter my exhibitions?
You can search by name, location or exhibition type. A year filter lets you navigate between seasons. Sorting by date (most recent first) is applied by default.
What statistics are available for exhibitions?
The Statistics page (Premium and Pro plans) displays: total exhibitions, number of subjects, results entered, average score, score distribution, score trends over time, results by breed, type, location, gender and age category, and a top 10 of the best birds.
Can I export the results of an exhibition or the result of a race?
Yes, with a Premium or Pro subscription, like every export in the app. An exhibition's results export to CSV or PDF from the menu of its record, and also to Excel from the results grid: ring, cage, breed, colour, sex, class, score, title and judge, in cage order. A race's result exports to CSV or PDF from the menu of its record, for the result and age class on screen, with the coefficient to your rulebook's decimals. On a phone, both exports are among the exhibition or race actions; the result exported there is the one at the race's own level. On the Free plan, these entries carry a padlock and present the subscription. Both exports are also in the exhibition's menu, by right-click or three-dot menu.
How do I delete an exhibition?
Via the three-dot menu, context menu (right-click), or the delete button in the detail card, with no confirmation at this step: the exhibition goes to the trash, with a “... is in the trash” message and an Undo button. All its results go with it to the trash and come back with it if you restore it within 30 days; they are permanently deleted together with it if you don't. Before a permanent deletion, the confirmation tells you how many results will go with it.
How do I record a pigeon race?
Open Results, go to the Races tab and add a race: its name, date, liberation site and level (club, federation, combine, national...). Also fill in the liberation time and your loft distance if you have them: those are what let the app work out velocities from your clocking times. You then enter results one by one, or import your organiser's sheet. The levels offered are those of your configuration: in the Statuses tab, choose “Race Levels”. As with exhibition types, you add your own there (Federation, Derby…), hide the ones you don't use and mark a level as a training toss, which ace pigeons and statistics leave out.
Where do I place my loft, and what is it for?
Under Settings, 'Racing pigeon loft' section. The map opens on your loft if it is already placed, otherwise on your town: drag the marker onto the loft entrance, or tap the map at that spot, then 'Save the position'. You can also type the official coordinates from your certificate, in decimal degrees or in degrees, minutes and seconds. These coordinates are used to suggest each race's distance, between your loft and the liberation site chosen in the form. Without them, the suggested distance is only estimated from your town: it is marked 'estimated', and the velocities worked out from it are flagged as approximate. The race form and these warnings carry a 'Place your racing pigeon loft' link that opens the setting directly. A distance you type, or that the imported sheet brings, always takes precedence over the suggestion, and placing or clearing the loft does not change distances already saved.
Can I import a result sheet instead of retyping everything?
Yes. Open the race's results ('View results'): the 'Import results' button sits above the entry grid. On a phone it is also among the race actions, behind the round button at the bottom of the race's record, or with a long press on the race in the list. Paste your organiser's sheet as it is, or choose a CSV file. The app shows you what it understood, line by line, together with the bird each line matched, before anything is saved. In that preview you can untick a line, fix a ring number, and carry over to the race whatever the sheet gives and the race still lacks: distance, birds entered, participants, liberation time. Nothing is written until you confirm. No organiser's sheet? 'Download a template' gives you a blank spreadsheet with the column headings in your language: fill it in, save it as CSV, then import it.
Does the import understand my federation's format?
It does not recognise a particular format but the nature of each column: a time looks like a time, a velocity like a number with decimals, a ring like a long identifier. The fixed-width sheets used by Belgian and French societies work, as do CSV exports separated by semicolons or commas, with decimals written with a comma or a point. Anything that could not be read is listed separately rather than guessed, and you can always fill it in by hand.
How long can an imported sheet be?
A whole national sheet goes through: up to one million pasted characters, and 4,000 result lines read. Beyond 4,000 lines, the app keeps the lines naming your birds first, then the others in order, and the preview tells you how many lines were not read; then import the sheet in several goes, or paste only the part that holds your pigeons. A sheet of more than one million characters is refused before it is sent, with the same advice. In the preview of a long sheet, the lines of other lofts fold away behind 'Show the N other lines': they stay ticked and are saved with yours. Headings repeated at the top of each page and page footers are not taken for results.
How does the import recognise my pigeons on the sheet?
By the identity of the ring rather than its exact spelling: the country is optional, the year counts on two or four digits and leading zeros in the number are ignored. '378866 2022', 'FR-2022-378866', 'FR 2022 378866' and '378866-22' therefore name the same pigeon, and the Belgian number '405761225', which runs the year onto the serial, finds the ring 'BE 25-4057612'. A country written on both sides must however match: 'NL 2022-378866' is never 'FR-2022-378866'. If two of your birds could match, the line is linked to neither rather than to the wrong one: correct the ring in the preview. The same rule applies to entry in the grid and to basketing. A ring without a recognisable identity number, such as a canary's 'A152/24', is only found when written identically, give or take spaces and punctuation.
What happens if I paste the same sheet twice?
Nothing harmful: a ring already recorded on that race is updated, not duplicated. The preview even tells you how many lines will be replaced before you confirm.
My sheet is in yards per minute, what do I do?
Pick the sheet's unit in the import preview and the conversion is done for you. Velocities are stored in metres per minute and shown in the unit chosen under Settings, 'Pigeon races' section: metres per minute, yards per minute, kilometres per hour or miles per hour. The same section sets the distance unit, kilometres or miles. It appears as soon as the Racing pigeons species is active in your configuration.
What about a ring on the sheet that is not in my loft?
The result is still saved, and the preview tells you the line matched no bird. That is deliberate: a sheet often lists other fanciers' pigeons and you may want to keep the line. It simply will not appear on any bird's record. If it is a typo, correct the ring straight in the preview.
Can the assistant enter my race results?
Yes, if assistant actions are enabled on your account. Dictate your lines or paste the sheet: it shows you a confirmation card listing everything it is about to record, and nothing is written until you approve it. It can also create the race itself, and answer questions about your past results. Like all its actions, this entry is reserved for the Pro plan.
Does the app work out velocities and placings?
It works out velocity when you do not supply it, from the liberation time, the clocking time and your loft distance, and the coefficient from the placing and the number of birds in that result. These computed values, in italics in the grid, follow your corrections: change the clocking time, the placing, the liberation time, the distance or the number of birds, and they update on their own. A velocity or coefficient you type in, or that an imported sheet brings, always takes precedence over the calculation; clear the field to go back to it. The app does NOT, however, establish any placing of its own: your organiser's result is the one that counts.
Can I record several results for the same race?
Yes. A single liberation often produces several results, club, entente, provincial or national, each with its own number of birds. Above the results grid, choose the 'Result' you are entering, then fill in its 'Birds in this result': a pigeon can thus have one line per result, with its own placing and coefficient. The result matching the race's level takes the number of birds entered on the race itself. When importing, set the 'Result of the sheet' before reading it. A ring appears only once per result.
How do I record basketing and birds that did not come home?
Entered pigeons are chosen on the Birds page: click 'Select', tick them, then 'Add to a competition' and choose the race. From the race itself, 'Enter pigeons', above the results grid, on the race's detail page or among the race actions on a phone, opens the Birds page in selection mode with that race already suggested. Each pigeon becomes a line without a placing, which the result sheet will complete later; pigeons of every status are accepted, so you can record afterwards a pigeon that was sold, loaned or has died. The nomination order is then entered in the grid, in the 'Nominated' column ('Nomination order' on a phone). With the Pro plan, the assistant can also enter your pigeons when its actions are enabled on your account. A pigeon that does not come home is ticked 'Not home' on its line; if it is linked to one of your birds, the app offers 'Mark as lost'. The 'Lost' status takes it out of the active flock while keeping it in the history and pedigrees.
How do I enter a two-day long-distance race?
The small 'D+0' button to the right of the clocking time moves it to the day after the liberation by switching to 'D+1', and up to 'D+3'. When importing, the flying day is taken from the sheet when it prints one; otherwise a time earlier than the liberation moves to the next day, and every line of the preview has the same button. The app works out no velocity when the clocking falls on a different day from the liberation, because it does not know your federation's night-time neutralisation: copy the official velocity from the sheet, or import a sheet that carries it. That velocity takes precedence, and the coefficient is still worked out.
What is a race's distance category for, and the young birds one?
The category is chosen in the race form: sprint, middle distance, long distance, marathon, or young birds for races of the year's youngsters. The app never deduces it from the distance, since each federation draws its limits elsewhere. Depending on your federation, it decides two things: the cap on entries in the coefficient, which varies by category with the FCF (2,500 for young birds), and the criteria suggested for ace pigeons, the young birds category keeping only pigeons of the year. It also serves as a filter in the ace pigeons window. When the cap depends on a category the race does not have, a line says so under its results: fill it in so that the coefficient is exact. Categories are configured in the same tab, by choosing “Race Categories”; a category you add is outside the scales, and no per-category entry cap applies to it.
How is the coefficient worked out, and what is 'My federation' for?
The coefficient is the placing multiplied by the base and divided by the number of birds in the result: the lower it is, the better the result. The rest depends on your federation's rulebook, chosen under Settings, 'Pigeon races' section, 'My federation' option: FCF (base 1,000, entries capped by distance category, from 1,500 in sprint to 10,000 in marathon, coefficient truncated to three decimals), KBDB (base 100, no cap, rounded to four decimals), PZHGP (base 1,000, cap of 5,000 birds except in marathon, two decimals), FCI or NPO (base 1,000, cap of 5,000 except in marathon, three decimals), or Custom, where you set the base, the cap, rounding or truncation and the decimals yourself. Until you choose, the federation is suggested from your account's language and time zone, then saved when you create your first race. The coefficient shows your rulebook's decimals everywhere, exports and PDFs included. Changing federation updates every computed coefficient; those you entered or imported stay as they are.
How are ace pigeons ranked?
The 'Ace pigeons' button on the Races tab ranks your birds over the chosen year, using your federation's criteria for the distance category filtered: number of results counted, age class, prized results or within the prize ratio, minimum entries per race, minimum total distance, one result per weekend. For example, the FCF counts in sprint the 4 best coefficients of pigeons aged one year and over, within one prize per 4 entries, in races of at least 200 birds, one per weekend, for at least 600 km in total. These criteria can be changed in the window, and 'Back to the FCF criteria' restores them; the rule applied is written out there in full. A pigeon counts only one result per race, its best, and training tosses are left out. The ranking adds up coefficients, the lowest total winning; with the NPO, it adds up the sheet points, entered or imported, the highest total winning, as the app does not work out NPO points itself. With a custom rulebook, it simply counts the N best coefficients. It is a ranking built on the races you have entered only: it does not replace your federation's official championship.
How is a racing pigeon's age group determined?
As in the sport, by the year of its ring compared with the year of the race: young bird in its ring year, yearling the following year, old bird after that. The year is read from the ring number, in the formats of the main federations; when it cannot be read, the age group stays unknown. It is not entered: it shows in the grid and in the race's placings, where the 'Age group' filter singles out one group.
Where do I find a pigeon's race record?
On the bird's record, the 'Race record' section lists its races with placing, birds entered, velocity and coefficient, and counts its prized results. Its best results, chosen by coefficient and leaving out training tosses, also appear in its box on the family tree, in the preview that opens when you hover over its name, and on the PDF pedigree certificate. The PDF export of its record offers a 'Race record' section, the one you hand to the buyer of a racer.
What statistics are available for races?
The Statistics page (Premium and Pro plans) has a 'Races' tab, shown as soon as the Racing pigeons species is active. Like the other tabs, it follows the period, the species and breed filter and the comparison with the previous period: number of races and total distance, entries, prize rate, losses, birds entered and prized race by race, best and average velocity, prize rate by distance category, by age and by nomination order if you nominate your pigeons, most prized pigeons, a table of the races in the period and the list of pigeons not home. An entry is one pigeon in one race: placed in the club and the federation result of the same toss, it counts once, and it is prized if one of its lines is. Training tosses are left out of everything except losses, and velocities are shown in the unit chosen under Settings. The tab exports to PDF and CSV.
Can I record a pigeon's microchip and print a vaccination certificate?
Yes. A racing pigeon's form has an optional 'Microchip' field for the number of the chip paired with the ring: it shows on the record, is found by the search and can be added to list exports. For vaccination, enter the vaccine and its 'Batch number' in the health record: its detail card then offers the 'Vaccination certificate', a PDF listing the keeper, the vaccine, the batch, the date, the vet and the vaccinated birds with their ring and chip, with room for signatures. It is the document federations ask for with the yearly vaccination against paramyxovirus (PMV-1); anything missing from the health record is left blank, to be filled in by hand. The same document is in the health record's menu, by right-click or three-dot menu.