Well every year, we take the kids to their 4H Spring Poultry Show. Here they show their birds against other birds for breed conformation, they show their poultry knowledge in showmanship to a judge one on one, they have a judging contest against other kids in grading eggs, judging ready to cook carcasses and candling eggs, and they have an Avian Quiz Bowl game that is like “Jeopardy” with poultry knowledge. I guess you might say- we are a little crazier about chickens than most families. Most families eat chicken– we do so much more than just eat chicken- we are entertained by chicken.

Here is Jacob. He is showing his bantam white Wyandotte to the judge. He is supposed to introduce himself, give history on the breed and then tell the judge about his bird anatomically from head to toe (or tail). He is supposed to talk about the breed standard and why this is a nice bird and what faults it might have. Did you know there is a breed standard for chickens?? Then he is to put the bird in the cage and “show it off” so the judge can see it walk and strut around. Then he takes the bird from the cage- head first only!! and the judge will ask him questions to see how much he knows. He will be judge on all sorts of criteria about himself, how well he spoke, his bird, his handling of the bird and so on. Jacob is naturally quiet and shy so it’s a big deal to get him to do this!

Now it’s Hannah’s turn. She showed a Porcelain Mille Fleur d’Uccle. Hannah is a natural at this. She is awesome at showing and is not shy like I was when I was a kid. She got 2nd place this year in her age division and she just went up into the older kid’s division! She kicks butt at showmanship. She took the big prizes showing her goats the first time last summer too. Did you ever know chickens could be so much fun? We didn’t either until a few years ago. I had no idea poultry clubs existed. It must be a Kansas thing. In Oregon, we eat chicken, or we “save” the chickens- but we don’t show the chickens. I can bet my kids know a whole lot more about poultry than any of you!

Here is Jacob ready for the Avian Quiz Bowl in his age group. I was very proud of him this year just for getting up there this year. Two years ago he got up in front of a large crowd of people -the biggest crowd we’ve ever been to so far for this- to participate in the Avian Bowl for his first time. He kept hitting the button to answer a question, but someone else always got to answer the question. He thought his button was broken. He didn’t get to answer one single question the entire time and he bawled his eyes out the whole time in front of everyone. It was pure agony to watch. The judge felt so sorry for him that he gave him a chance to answer a question without anyone else ringing in and even though Jacob knew it, he was so flustered he answered wrong, which only made it worse. Grandma was in the audience wanted to save him and let him come back and sit down with us, but his mean mother made him stick it out up there till it was over. Later, he learned his button worked but he wasn’t hitting it fast enough.

So- last year Jacob did not want to participate and I didn’t make him. This year, I told him it was time to get over his fear. He understands now why he didn’t get to answer any questions and he KNOWS all the answers but as a result of that first time he has an unhealthy fear of the Avian Bowl. (no, not Avian Flu) He is a shy kid and it takes guts to get him up there in the first place. After crying the whole time 2 years ago in front of everyone and nobody rescued him- he is truly scarred! I’ve decided, since I’m trying to raise him into a MAN with confidence- he needed to face his fear. (Aren’t I mean and terrible?)

So I told Jacob he had to get up there and I wasn’t giving him a choice. If he didn’t want to even push the button once, he didn’t have to, but he had to sit up on the panel. (I am truly a mean mother) So, Jacob got up there. He knew all the answers and had psyched himself into winning, but he got bamboozled by the 6 year old smiling little punk next to him- his friend Graham! Graham hammered the button and hogged the questions because this was his first year and he was so excited to finally be UP there and not just be watching his older sisters. The kid was smoking everyone. Halfway through, Jacob got the hang of it and started hammering the button himself and Graham and Jacob duked it out for the last half. Graham took 1st and Jacob took 2nd. I didn’t care- I was just so glad Jacob overcame his fear. Jacob is BEGGING to go to another Avian Bowl now! (Whew! It worked!)

Here is Jacob with silver and Graham with gold. See? The little punk is STILL smiling.

Here is Hannah with the intermediate panel. She got kicked from beginner to intermediate this year because she turned 10. Last year she slaughtered the other kids. She hit the button and answered so many questions that she didn’t give any other kids a chance as single question. The funny thing is she isn’t even competitive really. She wasn’t even that quick to hit the button. She just knew more than the other kids. If any kid hit the button first, they got the question wrong, then Hannah answered it correctly for them. It went from exciting at first to rather embarrassing really because it was just her and it seemed like she was showing off. We were sort of squirming in our seats and apologizing to all the other parents in the audience quietly as she dominated the game.

Finally, the judge came to the rescue and said she had answered more than half the entire Quiz Bowl questions and she would have to let the other kids have a chance. He meant- don’t hit the button again. Hannah thought he meant- don’t hit it so fast! So, the next question was read. She paused and looked around and nobody went to answer it- so she hit the button and answered it and got another point! We were just groaning in the audience. I’m sure there was a Dad that wanted to grab Jim by his collar and give him a black eye. You’ve heard of soccer parent rage- have you heard of poultry club parent rage? Hmmm- probably not. We are not that cool! So, then the judge re-iterated to her not to hit the button at all! She was already 1st place and nobody could catch her. (Oooohh! THAT’S what you meant!)

Here is Hannah with the intermediate group. This was her first year in intermediate and the questions were extremely difficult this year- even for an adult. She only had 1 day to study the 17 pages of very difficult questions and she did not do well. I have to say, she really shamed the Gallagher family by not winning a medal. We almost auctioned her off in the raffle for not bringing the family home a medal. But- we decided at the last minute to give her another chance.

Well, as you can well imagine, boredom has set in for the non-poultry enthusiasts by this point. William has resorted to going outside and poking his eye out with organic matter.

Thomas discovered that if he threw rocks into this very dense poky bush, the rocks fly back at you. So, he kept himself entertained- thoroughly entertained as you can see by his laughing- at throwing rocks into this little bush. After wrestling him for hours inside the building trying to keep him from squawking, I guess we decided if the rock came back and hit him in the face, well surely it wouldn’t hit THAT hard, right? The plight of the fourth child……

Frankly, I don’t blame either one of them for poking their eyes out and throwing rocks in their own faces after hours of poultry mania.

Our final winnings: (ribbons go purple, blue, red, white highest to lowest)

HANNAH
Partridge Cochin, blue ribbon
Mille Fleur d’Uccle, red ribbon
Showmanship, 2nd place medal

JACOB
Americauna, purple ribbon
White Wyandotte, purple ribbon
Showmanship, 2nd place medal
Poultry Judging, 1st place medal
Avian Bowl, 2nd place medal

Here is the poultry club- well a good part of it anyway. What a wholesome group of kids, huh? This was the smallest turn out we’ve had in the 3 years we have participated. There were lots of other 4H events this weekend I heard. Surely NONE were more entertaining than the poultry show?!?!