Not a Typical Saturday

What an exciting day this has been. I have so many pictures that I think I'll tell the story with them. Today was the "Chicken Competition" getting ready for the Chowchilla/Madera County Fair next weekend. And members of the local 4-H and FFA clubs were geared up to win. KL was the only one in the family to compete. (The boys were busy with baseball games.) There were three categories in which to compete: "Market Birds," "Showmanship" and "Eggs."

Simply Country Farm received their day-old chicks "meat birds" or some call them "market birds" around St. Patrick's Day . . . here is a picture of them at just three-weeks old. They grow so much faster than the egg-laying hens did. It seems that their goal in life is to eat and gain weight.

And here is the pair of them KL picked out for today's competitions. Yesterday she bathed them in three different solutions so they'd be all cleaned up and ready to show the judges how pretty they are. They are about seven weeks old today.

Bright and early Jen and KL arrived, after having all their chickens pass the "mites" examination before being allowed to enter the staging area. Here they are bringing out "Rosalinda" the beautiful Australorp hen KL picked out to show.

KL wiped down "Rosalinda" which she will soon use for the showmanship competition, and who will later be judged personally. Hmmm . . . can a chicken be judged personally?

Rosalinda, all cleaned up and ready to shine!

A member of her competition . . .

Another competitor . . .

And one more . . . there were probably a hundred birds in all.

The meat birds, or market birds, each had to be weighed. The idea was to submit a pair of birds of equal weight, the top six winners will be able to be auctioned at the fair next weekend. Apparently their scale at home isn't as accurate, or the same, as this one because the birds were different by about 12 ounces.

Jen passing on some advice to KL, who is waiting for the showmanship competition.

They are mother and daughter, and also good friends! And I'm proud of both of them.

KL, after waiting about an hour for her turn (the judge really took his time asking the kids lots of questions to test their knowledge of chickens). There were more than forty kids competing, nearly 20 in KL's division.

She truly shined today. This was her first competition ever, being put in the Intermediate division because of her age, which put her in competition with kids with years of experience under their belts.

I was quite impressed watching KL in front of the judge. While speaking to the judge, KL looked at him right in the eye, with a smile on her face, and spoke with so much poise and self confidence. The judge asked her all kinds of questions, including "How can you tell if a chicken has ever laid an egg?" And she immediately turned the hen upside down, ruffled up her feathers, and proceeded to explain that inquiry. I was so impressed, and even learned something I never thought about!

Holding the chicken for a good fifteen minutes, answering all the questions, the kids are asked to put their chicken down on the table and "pose" them. The chicken is supposed to stand still and not try to get away. Rosalinda did beautifully.

Glad the competition is over, and anxiously awaiting the results.
The meat birds placed 8th. And Rosalinda placed 2nd overall! Way to go KL . . . great job for your first ever chicken competition.

Now it's time for the egg competition—submitting one dozen chicken or duck eggs of the same variety. They are judged on size, color, quality of both inside and shell.

The judge has just cracked one of KL's egg. He was quite impressed, even said the word "superb" on the quality of the inside. However, after careful examination of the shell he noticed "ruffles" which means the chicken needs more calcium. Apparently that fact cost a lot of points. She'll know better next time. She finished in 5th place in the egg competition, there being nine dozen entered in the competition.

This is her egg . . . there's just nothing prettier than a fresh egg!

After the end of the day, we were there from 9 a.m until 4:30 p.m., we were all pretty tired. But to see the smile on the 2nd place winner overall is well worth every minute of it. We all learned so much and will be even more prepared for the next competition.

Life is good!