Hartwood Days Festival- Our Youth Poultry Show Results

It's that time of year again!  Show season is upon us and we're getting started in the right direction with our first Poultry Show of the season.  The kids participate most years in the local, Hartwood Days Festival's Youth Poultry Show.  This year's show was even more fun since many of the kids' friends participated with thier birds.  There are always other animals at the show and since we were picking up four NEW Lionhead Rabbits at the show, we went ahead and entered those as well!

It was a tough decision on who to take this time, as you've read in our post on deciding who to take to a show, you always want to take the bird that is the best representation of the APA and ABA Standards of Perfection (SOP).  For us, it was difficult because most all of our birds over a year are molting.  Our choices were to either take birds that were molting and hope everyone else's were also or take younger birds that hadn't quite filled in yet. 

Alyssa chose to do both.  Alyssa decided to take Clover, her recently acquired Bearded White Silkie from Kippen Paradys Silkies.  Clover is still young, not fully filled out but she's already a beauty.  She came from Paint breeding and has one tiny little black spot at the base of her crest in the back.  We thought she might be too young to place but since the older hens were molting, Clover it was.  Much to our surprise, the judge, Tom Roebuck, seemed to really like her.  Clover was the star silkie of the day!  She ended up bringing home- Reserve of Show, Reserve Bantam, Best Featherleg (class), Best in Breed, AND Best Variety as a white Silkie!  We were thrilled with her results. She's definitely the newest princess on the block!

Since she's not only gorgeous but sweet as pie, Alyssa also used Clover for her showmanship bird.  Alyssa was confident with Clover and is so famililar with the silkie breed, she managed to pull out a 2nd Place Win in the Intermediate Division of Showmanship!

Alyssa also took Rico, our handsome Bearded Calico/Porcelain Silkie Rooster.  Rico won 1st place Silkie Rooster and even better, Best AOV (Any other Variety) of the Show which is the highest he's able to win since his color isn't recognized! 

Alyssa's third bird was Red John, our BBR Phoenix rooster.  Red John also brought home a ribbon, winning Best in Breed!  The judge spent some time speaking to Alyssa and I both about him and even though Red John is in a current molt, he was quite pleased with his feathering and commending her on his tail length and quality. 

Next up was Chance.  We all knew who Chance was bringing to the show.  Blue & Splash Bearded Silkies are his forte and his passion.  The challenge for Chance was that his very best were either molting or broody.  What to do?  After careful consideration and some bathing and blow drying, Chance chose to pull three hens off of their nest. 

Mama Sassy is his oldest and probably most spoiled bearded Blue Silkie hen.  Her name is Sassy but she's earned the term Mama Sassy for her tenure and the amount of gorgeous chicks she's produced here for Chance.   Mama Sassy didn't let us down, she brought home Best Variety of the Blue Silkies. Even coming off of a nest full of eggs she's been on for a couple of weeks now!

Although Blueberry was bred as a Blue bearded Silkie, has shown at the state shows as Blue, and from her offspring, we know she is genetically a Blue, the judge insisted she's a Black as far as showing.  Her coop tags were changed from a Blue bearded Silkie to a Black bearded Silkie.  That's okay!  It's just another opportunity for a win for us in the Black variety and Miss Blueberry took full advantage of it, bringing home Best Variety for the Black Bearded Silkies AND Reserve of Breed overall of the Silkies, next in line to Clover!

Jade was the bearded Splash Silkie hen he chose to bring, as usual.  Jade is one of Chance's favorite birds and she's just stunning.  Even coming off of the nest for the day to attend the show, she showed like a true professional.  Jade won Best Variety as well.  Chance also used Jade for his Showmanship bird and they brought home FIRST place in the Intermediate Division in Showmanship!! He knows his birds, especially his Silkies!

What I loved about the three ladies above is, when Chance brought them home from a long day of being beautiful at the show, they drank a little, ate a little, and silkie swayed thier way back up into the nesting box, moving the other hens out of the way to hop back in the pile up on top of thier eggs! Those are some real hens!

Briana, of course, is our Partridge girl.  She's been working on her Partridge now for some time, if you remember, she won Best Variety and Jr. Champion Featherleg last November at the State Show with her Partridge hen, Toffee.  Her Partridge never let us down, thanks to the mentoring and blood lines she's obtained over the years from such greats as Sandy Thompson from Bat Cave Silkies.

 Our Partridge are in TERRIBLE condition right now, however.  Their pens look like they've been having pillow fights each night with the molting and feathers dropped, not to mention three just came off of the nest from hatching chicks.  Briana really only had one choice to represent her Partridge at this particular show and it was to take Titmouse. A very young Partridge pullet she produced from Levi & Toffee.  Titmouse is beautiful but young and not nearly as full as she's going to get.  Again, with an "It is what it is!" attitude, we bathed and dried her and caged her up.  We should have known that line can't hide it's beauty, even in a young pullet as Titmouse also came home with 1st place Pullet and Best Variety! 

Briana chose her Bantam Salmon Faverolles for her second birds to bring.  Again, with the more mature hens molting, she had to bring a young pullet and a rooster who was molting - but in better shape than his hens so Tiger and Cheetah came along.  I'm not surprised that Cheetah beat Tiger, pulling out Best in Breed since Tiger was missing his sickle feathers!  Cheetah also won Reserve Champion Featherleg, however!  Tiger won Reserve in Breed also which isn't too shabby!

The girls' best friend, Hannah also did very well, winning Best American and Best in Breed with her Delaware and Best Continental AND Best in Breed with a White Leghorn we ended up bringing home with us for our Yokohama project.  She also took 3rd place in Showmanship in the Intermediate division!  All of the kids that showed did an amazing job, I was so proud of how far they've come, especially our APA-ABA Youth kids!

All in all, most importantly, it was a fun day!  The weather was a little gloomy as it rained on and off and the wind picked up to drop the temperatures but when you have friends and farm animals- you know you have to enjoy yourself!  I'm very proud of the accomplishments of the kids and the success of our farm but most excited that they've grown so much in the fancy the past couple of years.  There were jokes made about Chance as he accepted his 1st place Showmanship trophy that he must know he'd won and I thought back to just four years ago when they were nervous and fidgety and couldn't answer half of the judge's questions and I smile!  These wins haven't come easy and have been gained with a lot of hard work and dedication, they deserved them!  Thanks for sharing in our success!  Our next show is in November so be ready for some more (hopefully) awesome results!


Blessings!
Tiffany

It's Showtime Part 3- Let's Go to the Show!

It's Showtime!
 
We're getting ready today to head out to the Virginia Poultry Breeder's Association 2012 Fall Poultry Show first thing in the morning!  The kids will be showing two chickens each and all three are participating in Showmanship again!  Their APA ABA Youth Poultry Club friends are mostly all showing tomorrow so it will be like an all day Chicken Play Date!  It doesn't get much better for them!  Snacks, Picnic, 800 or so Chickens, and hanging out with friends!  Mom is going to have a great time too!  We'll post photos later of our preparations, it's our largest show yet so the kids and I are thrilled and nervous at the same time!

 So, who are they taking to this show?

Chance is taking:

Jordan, his Blue Splash Silkie Cockerel

Jordan, his Splash Silkie Cockerel

And
Chipmunk, his Silver Ameraucana Pullet

 

Briana is bringing:
Samuel Little, her Bantam Salmon Faverolle

And

Lou, our Silver Ameraucana Cockerel

 

Alyssa is bringing:

 her La Fleche Pair,

Kyle, her Bantam La Fleche Cockerel

And



Katie, her Bantam La Fleche Pullet

The kids have been practicing their Showmanship both at home and at their APA ABA Youth Poultry Club Meetings.  All of the chickens are bathed, trimmed, and ready to go. 

 

Now it's my turn to do some work and pack us up for the show.  There will be vendors at the show I'm pretty certain but the food will most likely be more of the "fast food" variety which doesn't always sit well on kids with nervous tummies!  I'm going to pack some snacks and healthy lunches since it's likely going to be a long (exciting) day!  Fruits, Veggies, Larabars, LOTS of water bottles, Whole Grain fresh Chicken Salad Wraps, all things to sustain them and keep them well hydrated so they feel healthy and energized for all of the fun!  Of course, I'm also packing LOTS of hand sanitizer!

 

For the chickens:  cages, pine chips, scratch, and a gallon of water, these are always provided but you may want to take your own because it's madness when you coop in and I like to have ours readily available.  I prefer to keep our chickens on their normal diet, this eliminates any problems with stomach upset and I'm a freak about biosecurity.  With that in mind, I also bring paper towels and Oxine to clean the cages before putting our chickens in them.  The cages have been cleaned but as I said, I'm a biosecurity nut so I have my kids or I clean the cages ourselves just before putting our birds in.  We bring our pine chips- I don't want them getting sneezy or any upper respiratory issues right before seeing the judge- put those in along with some plastic or disposable cups (from home) with their food and water (again from home.) 

That has me packing: chicken feed (I put some in gallon size Ziploc bags), a jug of water, 2 small bowls (one for water, one for feed), pine chips, Oxine (or you can make a disinfectant with 1 part Clorox/ 4 parts water), paper towels, and baby wipes in my large recycled bag.  The baby wipes are to clean any poop or debris our chickens might get on them while waiting for the judges.  Chickens poop...A LOT ... and they really don't care if they step in it or not.  Featherlegs are particularly challenging in regards to keeping their feet clean so that's where baby/dog wipes work GREAT! 

 I think we're ready!  At dinner, we're going to quiz, quiz, and have some fun QUIZZING :)!  Dinnertime is great because my husband gets involved and the kids LOVE that!  Afterall, as a homeschooling mom, they get tired of listening to me quiz them on everything!  Dad makes it fun and it excites them for him to take an interest!  Wish us luck! <3

 

 If you love keeping up with the latest photos and chick news at The Egg Basket but haven't Liked us on Facebook yet, head on over and check us out! We're constantly posting and displaying new information and photographs so join us! We're going to try to upload photos from the show and our rankings!  I'll also post their results (even if there aren't any!) in a blog post next week!

Love,

Tiff 

Showtime & Poultry Showmanship Basics

As a mom, especially a homeschooling mom, I'm always in search of ways to provide new experiences and opportunities for my kids.  So, when a friend and fellow "chicken lady" asked if my kids wanted to show thier chickens at a local poultry show I was excited.  Then...I was nervous!  Once I realized how much was involved, I became a bit overwhelmed.  After all, we didn't have any knowledge or experience showing chickens!  We've only been chicken parents for about a year!  What had I gotten them into? 

When I came to my senses...breathe Tiff, breathe...I realized it didn't matter.  It was a fun opportunity for them to show off a new found passion and meet other like minded kids. 

Now that we've done it and have our first show under our belts, we are counting the days to their next one!  It was an incredible experience and they had so much fun!  We did meet some great "chicken folks", learned from a very encouraging judge, brought home some nice awards (YEP! They placed!), and my kids gained confidence and knowledge about their beloved pets!  Showing poultry has become a hobby they're quite compassionate about!

Each of my three children registered two birds and signed up to participate in the showmanship part of the show.  Over the next couple of weeks we're going to share with you how we prepared for and handled our first show and keep you up to date on how we're preparing for our next one.  Of course, we MUST post our next show results too, come November 13th!

Our hopes that if your children (or you!) are interested in showing thier chickens, some of our posts may make it easier, provide you with some accurate resources, and motivate you to just give it a try!

My first recommendation is to find out exactly WHAT a poultry show entails.  Since showmanship is something that could take a bit of study time, I wanted to focus our first post on that.

The APA ABA Youth Poultry Club introduces showmanship in this way,

"The purpose of poultry showmanship is for the exhibitor to have the opportunity to prove to the judge that the exhibitor is knowledgeable about poultry in general, their showmanship bird and that he or she possesses the proper handling ability. Proper handling means that he or she can catch, restrain and hold the bird without hurting it and without that bird hurting the handler.

Showmanship is the time for the exhibitor to be judged, not the bird per se’ since the bird has already been judged.It's the exhibitor's time to shine. "

I LOVE this part!  I was particularly interestesd in them participating in this category!  Obtaining the skills required to present themselves properly will benefit them throughout thier lives!  Being confident in doing so, especially in front of adults they're not familiar with and an audience is a great tool for them to develop.   Showmanship also requires the kids to be knowledgeable and compassionate about their chickens.  It aids them in being responsible pet (chicken) owners an ethical, quality breeders should they decide to take that route.  Our judge encouraged all of the children to learn about breeding according to the APA standards. 

We were quite blessed with the judge at our show.  He was a natural with the kids and kept the kids (and adults) attention during the entire process with his knowledge and love for showing poultry.   

 

To prepare for the showmanship portion we initially searched You Tube looking for videos about youth poultry shows and more specifically, showmanship. 

It was a little intimidating, some of the kids in the videos were true professionals! 

Here are some of our favorites:  

 

Chicken Showmanship Demonstration
What is a poultry showmanship presentation?
Examples of poultry showmanship?  

 

We visited a site sponsored by the American Poultry Association for youth interested in showing, The APA ABA Youth Poultry Club website.  This site has a WEALTH of information!  Bookmark it, visit it often, anything and everything the kids might need to study for showmanship can be found on their website.  We especially frequented their Educational Material found here. 

 

On that page you'll find worksheets you can download and print for the kids.  If you look under the Showmanship heading on this page and choose the age group appropriate for your kids.  Pee Wee is ages 4-7, Junior is ages 8-10, Intermediate is ages 11-13, and Senior is ages 14 and over.  These pages provide you with questions the judges ask for showmanship.  These are just suggestions and the judges may ask a different question here and there but they cover a good amount of the basics.  My kids had fun printing them out and then quizzing each other.  Part of the fun was looking for answers we didn't know.  We used many of our poultry and chicken magazines and books and the Internet.

 

Don't be overwhelmed!  There's a LOT of information here and a LOT of information for them to learn but remember, it's for FUN!!  I initally did my over-achiever mom thing and wanted them to know it ALL but more than anything, they should know THIER birds. :)  My kids love their birds and they actively participate in taking care of them so they were already familiar with much of what the judge asked them.  These resources should help make it more fun, not stressful :).  Trust me, the joy for us came in the experience! 

 My daughters didn't place in the showmanship category, they have no regrets.  They were ecstatic for their new friends who did place and were excited to get home, study more, and practice together for their next show on November 13th!

 

Chance placed 3rd in showmanship!  He was shocked, I was so proud.  We really didn't expect to place at our first show so it was a blessed surprise.  He also couldn't wait to get back home and study up on the things the judge spoke with him about to prepare him for his next show! 

 

Next week we'll go over how we prepared the birds for the show, including information on testing, bathing, and choosing your birds! Have a blessed week! Love & Blessings, Tiffany