Chickens and ducks and geese – oh my! Poultry judging takes flight on first day of Holmes County Fair
By Jennifer Kneuss
August 8, 2011
402
Summary: There was a great deal of squawking and clucking taking place as chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks were judged on the opening day of the Holmes County Fair.
Chris Shaum was waiting for his children, 12 year old Lauren and 9 year old Luke, to take their fancy breed chickens in to be judged at the Holmes County Fair Livestock Arena.
This is their first year taking chickens. I took rabbits in 4-H when I was a kid, so chickens are a lot different, said Shaum, who admitted that his wife is the one who helped get the chickens ready for the show. Lauren took a Turkin and a brown leghorn, and Luke has a speckled Sussex and a silver lace Wyandot.
I chose a Turkin because it does well in all kinds of weather, explained Lauren of her hen, Helga.
We have twenty chickens at home, said Luke, who is in his first year with 4-H. We had to wash my chicken this morning. This is Silver, and she is about a year old and gives brown eggs. He pointed to the hen tucked under his right arm. I did good at project judging. I got a real good score. I got a 94! he stated proudly.
Judge Gary Overton, who has 35 years of experience judging livestock, took time to carefully examine the 4-H projects, pointing out positive and negative qualities of each bird.
Fair Board director Marty Overholt, is the poultry project superintendent, and noted that the poultry projects are very popular with the 4-H youth.
I believe we have fifty boiler projects this year, he stated. The project is relatively inexpensive, you dont need a large farming operation, and kids can do it in their own backyard. They are easy to handle, and its a short feeding project, lasting about six weeks. This year the kids purchased their birds from a hatchery in Texas, for uniformity, so everyones on an equal playing field to start out. Its all about management and the kids work. We have around seven fancy chicken projects and three duck projects, and thirty market turkeys this year.
Amanda Cottrell, 17, is in her seventh year with a broiler project. But Cottrell does a lot more.
This year Im taking a dairy feeder calf, a hog, sheep, a goat, turkeys, and three rabbit projects as well as my chickens, she said. The hardest thing about raising a broiler chicken is getting them big enough in a short amount of time. I spend a lot of time with my animals.
Cottrell started out with 30 chickens, but only brought three to the fair. She added, The rest go in the freezer!
