Aug 19, 2009

Poultry Judging

Today's post has gone to the birds. It is all about the kids and our poultry. The county fair has been keeping us fairly busy. Haha Did you get that pun? Yeah, I know. It was a groaner. Today was Judgment Day, at least in the Fancy Poultry category. The Market category was yesterday. The results are as follows.

Jeremy got an A+ with an Honorable Mention ribbon for Amber our Rhode Island Red pullet. He received an A for Miss Queen, the Ameraucana hen, and Winifred, the Pekin duck.


Amber


Miss Queen

Allen received an A+ with an Honorable Mention ribbon for Checkers, the Barred Plymouth Rock pullet, and Goldie, the Buff Orpington hen. He received an A for Row, the Rouen duck.


Checkers


Goldie


Clockwise starting with the dark duck: Row the Rouen, Missy the Pekin, and Winifred the Pekin. Missy belongs to a very nice family that we met just this year. Row eagerly added her to his harem of females, even though she is NOT going home with us. Ahh, young love.

~Jessica~

10 comments:

Autumn Belle said...

Congratulations on the impressive results in poultry judging contest. When I was little, chickens were sold live in the markets i.e. not frozen. My mum would look at the hen's backside and she can judge whether the hen is old or young. Please pardon me for saying this. You see, we use old chickens to make stews or double boiled herbal soups and young chicken to make steamed or stir fry dishes.

Jessica - Magical Mundane said...

Haha that is ok. We had chickens we ate when I was growing up. We are considering raising market chickens next year. We would want a few for the fair and a few for butchering at home. I am an animal lover but I also appreciate that they are where chicken nuggets, hamburger and best of all bacon come from. I just believe the animals should be treated ethically and slaughtered in a gentle and quick as possible manner. I hope that makes sense.

Anonymous said...

That Checkers is one cute chick.

Congratulations to Jeremy and Allen.

Linda said...

Congratulations! We have a Buff Orpingtion named Goldie too. I concur 100% with your views on animals as food. Although having said that I'm too attached to our laying hens to ever eat them. My husband and brother-in-law raise the meat chickens at my brother-in-law's house.

Anonymous said...

Yes, do pass along congratulations to the kids! Sounds like it's really been a busy time for you. Congratulations to YOU for getting the blog out with so much happening. :)

Bangchik and Kakdah said...

I would rather look and examine the crown, rather than the way Belle suggesting... The crown can give a fairly rough estimate of its age. But thats good enough. haha...

Congratulations to the kids.
~bangchik

Chloe m said...

I want chickens, however we have too many coyotes and predators to have them unless we get a big barking dog or a big knarly fence.
I like these photos and the cute kids faces are priceless!
Rosey
Sometimes these word verifications get me giggling, this one is the best so far, stank

Sunita Mohan said...

Jessica, congratulations! What a great achievement for little hearts to savour. I'm sure your kids will remember this all their lives no matter where they go.
BTW, Winnifred doesn't seem to happy with Row's new interest. Trouble in paradise?

Jessica - Magical Mundane said...

Linda, those Buffs are the cutest hens. And we would never eat our hens either. All of our current poultry are pets.

Rosey, they aren't as difficult as you might think. The trick is making sure your coop is safe at night. We have never had a coyote up at the coop during the day, but we can hear them at night. We have converted the back half of the garage into a night coop. It was originally sectioned off as a horse stall but not the hens and ducks use it. I will post a blog on this one of these days.

To everyone else, the kids had a great time and I will pass on the congratulations. :)

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