"I reach in and put my hand across the shoulders and grab them by the legs, restraining their wings and their legs," he said.
The 61-year-old, of Ashburton, was one of the judges at the Dunedin Poultry, Pigeon and Cage Bird Club show held at Forrester Park, Northeast Valley, at the weekend.
He "always had poultry as a child" and began breeding them at home before exhibiting them in the 1980s.
"Some people like dogs, some people like cats, some people like poultry. I guess I like poultry," he said.
At one point, Mr McCormick would hatch 4000 purebreds a year.
He advised anyone thinking about taking up the activity to "get a big cheque book" as it could be expensive.
However, having poultry was different from other animals as "they are more expendable".
"You can eat your failures." As for becoming a judge, "you need to have a had a really good dose of poultry fever when you're younger".
"You just have to have an eye for poultry."
Birds were judged against the New Zealand standard of perfection on a range of qualities including feather and eye colour, and size.
Club secretary Charlie Wilson said there were fewer entries than usual in the 35th annual event - about 700 - which he put down to increasing travel expenses.
However, the standard of breeds was "very good".
The Dunedin show precedes the national show in Invercargill in July.
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