4-H Project 2013 (Poultry)

When Emma turned 8 at the end of last year, it was decided that she would start 4H this year. As we discussed the different projects that she could do, she decided on Poultry. After a while her dad finally came around got on board the poultry wagon. Good thing to, cause she couldn't have done this without him.

While it was too cold out for the chicks to be outside, they lived in a large Rubbermaid tote in the office with a heat lamp. While they grew, we worked on (Shawn worked on) building a chicken coop. We were so fortunate to get landlords who were okay with putting chickens in the back yard. After a while, the chicks became big enough to move the covering off the top of the tote and were able to get out. After coming home from church one Sunday, and having chicken poop all over the carpet, we decided it was time to move them to the garage and get the coop finished. 

 Once the coop was finished enough, we ran an electrical cord to the coop and moved them all outside with a heat lamp. I'm sure they loved to extra room to move about.

 Emma worked right along side her dad to build the coop and make it a good home for her chickens. 

After they were in the coop for a little bit, we got the run put up and chicken wire wrapped around it. After the coop was opened up to the run, it was hard to get these ladies (and cocks) back inside.

 As a family we went to the farm store and picked out 8 chicks. 4 were for Emma's project and 4 were for us to keep to get eggs from. Well, that was the plan until one of Emma's died in the chicken coop a few weeks after we transferred them to the coop from their box in the garage and another was not a pullet, but a cockerel. She still had 2, but as it got closer to time for fair, one was suspiciously looking like another cock, so she adopted another chicken as hers and practiced showing on all three. Rosetta was the easiest to handle because she was/is the calmest, but she's larger than the others which posed some handling problems for Emma. After a few days of work, Scurrier proved to be Emma's best handler and so she worked a lot for the few weeks before fair standing her on a solid surface, extending her wings and pointing to the different parts of a chicken's body.

 We got an email the day before the 4H club was to do pin signs. So the morning of, we went shopping and Emma choose all the things she wanted to use on her board. Shawn gave her a board he had at the clinic that was old and he cut it down for her. Getting her board done was a lot of work, but it looked amazing and she was really happy with the results. 

The day before the fair we followed some instructions on cleaning up the chickens. Thanks to our photographer Paige, we actually have some pictures of the process. She went off to play when Emma was actually doing the cleaning for Scurrier.

I had arranged a babysitter to come watch the 3 younger kids when I took Emma to the fair to set up, but when I went to pick her up, she wasn't there. I called her and she told me she thought she said she couldn't come. Mistake for both of us and I may be the craziest mom ever thinking that taking all 4 of my littles and 3 of Emma's chickens to the fair to set up and get them situated in their pins would be doable. I stopped at the house and picked up their camp chairs and hoped I could sit them down and they would stay. (Yeah right)

If you know my kids, you know I was almost hoping for too much. Somehow, we got everything all set up and ready to go.

Emma had showmanship at 9am on August 2. She and Shawn got up early to get to the fairgrounds to clean up their pens and to clean up all 3 chickens. After they were done cleaning, Emma changed into her show clothes, which I thought she was so cute in, and got all ready. She said that she was not nervous, but excited and happy. She takes after her dad.

Emma did AMAZING at showing. She knew how to do everything the judge asked her to do, answered all her questions and handled Scurrier very well. At the end of show she was even able to take her hands off Scurrier and she said put. The only thing that she was marked points for was her talking. The kid just couldn't be quiet. When I asked her why she talked the whole time, she said that she was complimenting the other kids on how well they were doing. IF she wouldn't of been talking, I'm 100% sure she would have gotten Grand Champion for showmanship also. Lesson learned for next year I hope.

Quality judging was quite a bit later so we went and watched some beef showmanship, and looked at the exhibit hall. When all the classes were done showing, the judge moved on to quality. Lucky for Emma, her 2 classes of chickens, Cockerels and Pullets we 2nd and 3rd on the list. Little Peep, her Cockerel placed Grand Champion for quality and Scurrier place Reserve Champion for quality in the Pullets class. Her reaction was priceless, and we were all sure she was not really expecting anything. 

This year was a very good 1st year in 4 H. We all learned some things that we want to do differently, things we want to improve and things we want to stay the same. We're looking forward to next year already, and are planning on keeping our layers and adding some Lambs and swine to the fair next year. Shawn may have to take the week off from work just to help keep things under control.  *wink wink*