Our Little Champion!

On Sunday, we took one of our new Black Bantam Wyandotte hens for her first outing on the show bench. At least, I thought it was her first outing, but once we had her in her pen at the show, it became obvious she was an old hand at this whole deal. She stood up so beautifully in her pen, and was happy to 'show' herself, turning this way and that when anyone stood in front of her pen. I was very pleased with her. She has such good type and shape and I really felt confident that she would at least place in her category.

I tried not to hover while the judge was inspecting her, but I admit, I was not too far away. My hen knew exactly where I was, and she looked me when the judge brought her under a light to get a better look at her. I swear she gave me the stink eye for allowing her to be manhandled by a complete stranger. hehe!

I peeked around the corner when the judge put her back into her pen, and supressed the urge to dance on the spot when he chalked a "1" on her pen number.

Then, he hovered in front of the pens with other birds from her class in them. He seemed to be deciding between my hen, and one other in the class. He paced in front of the two pens, frowning in thought and then finally settled on my hen's pen lifting his hand to chalk "CH" next to the "1."

This time, I did dance on the spot; well out of his line of sight, mind you! Then I took off in search of a couple of my friends, and fellow club members to squeak the good news to them!

I was so pleased with this result, and it proves to me that I have a good eye for selecting which bird to put on the bench. I felt that this girl was the best of my four hens, and it would appear that the judge agreed with my assessment. I have eggs from this little girl, whose name is Dora (aka "dorable") and can't wait to see how the chicks turn out.

When we got her home, I set up a small pen for quarantine and put her into it. Then I hung her sash on the outside to snap this photo. She is not being very cooperative. She was tired, hungry and well and truly over all the fuss by then, but it gives some idea of her shape and type, anyway.

While we were at the show, I also met up with some friends from one of the facebook groups I belong to. One of them had some bantam Wyandotte eggs for me, and another one was delivering a custom built brooder that her hubby had spent the weekend building for me.

The brooder is made of MDF and has a perspex divider in the middle so that it can be separated off into two compartments. This will be handy when we have different breeds, such as bantams and standards. There is a light fitting in either end so two batches of chicks can be kept warm at the same time. It is very well made and I will be using it in a few days when my first batch of bantam wyandottes hatch.

I also picked up 1.5 dozen bantam Wyandotte eggs of mixed colours including Crele, Partridge, pencilled (silver and lemon) and splash. They are set in my incubator and will hatch in about 18 days. It has been a very busy, but exciting time to say the least!

Our First Poultry Show

I finally managed to grub up the courage to enter one of my chickens into a poultry show. I selected my Gold laced Wyandotte hen, Wynona whom my daughter Hannah affectionately calls "Little Win" for the show.


It was a small show for one of the poultry clubs I am a member of, so I thought this would be a good way to dip my toes in the water. Wynona is a very placid--dare I say-- bombproof hen, who takes most things in her stride around home, so she made a good candidate for my nervous handling during preparation.


I took the preparation slowly, bathing her on a Wednesday, giving her a rest day on the Thursday then doing nails, feet and legs on the Friday with another rest on the Saturday before Sunday's show. I'm pleased to say that this time when I attempted to trim her toenails there was no bloodshed! I trimmed them back just a tiny bit and then tidied and shaped them with a small nail file. Wynona seemed, if anything, curious about that process and offered gentle comments to her "pedicurist' from time to time as I worked.

Here she is all washed, trimmed and ready for her big day. All that needed to be done on the day of the show was to give her feet a quick wash and oiling and to oil her comb and wattles.

She doesn't look very impressed with me in this photo. I think she just wanted back in with her flock mates by now. I'd had her separated and quarantined from the others for almost a week!

The morning of the show dawned and we were up and on the road bright and early. It was a crisp cool Autumn morning, the kind that lets your breath hang in clouds of steam in the air. The chickens were all still roosting when I went to fetch Wynona from her pen. As for Wynona, she was up and having a sip of water as I slipped through the gate into the orchard. My rooster stirred and grumbled in the chicken coop and I am sure I heard one of the hens mutter something about how 'mum' must be sick if she was up that early!

We loaded Wynona into the back seat of the car and headed out on the highway. None of us having eaten breakfast. Wynona sat quietly in her carry pen, curiously peering out at the world rushing by the windows at 100kmh, faster than any chicken has ever travelled on foot!

If it was crisp at home, it was downright cold when we reached the venue for the show. Hannah and I got Wynona out of the car. I went to see the stewards and registered my entry and then we began the final preparations. A few stray feathers had popped up along the sides of her comb and I held her while Hannah carefully trimmed them away with a small pair of curved scissors. I gave her legs and feet a last minute clean and then rubbed oil into the scales to make them gleam. Wynona quite enjoyed that part and had a little doze while I gently massaged.

Finally, she was as ready as she would ever be, and I carried her down to the poultry pavillion and loaded her into her show pen. The hardwork and patience paid off though when I went back to her pen a little while later and discovered a lovely surprise!

"Little Win" had lived up to her name and took out first prize in her class. (Just don't tell her she was the only bird in her class! I'd hate to shatter her illusions).

I also received a lovely prize as a female exhibitor on the day and I had a lot of fun. I think this is something I will do again. It was a friendly atmosphere, a lovely day, and there were so many beautiful fowls there to view and admire!