Hollymccluskey
Chirping
- Apr 7, 2023
- 12
- 61
- 59
Hello! This is our second year with chickens (we added some ducks this year as well). Our adventure started in 2021 when our youngest daughter (she is 10 now) saw the animal barn at our local fair and she wanted to start showing animals. We told her she had to start with small stock and she chose poultry. She joined 4H and in spring of 2022 she got her first flock of Buff Orpingtons, white and black Silkies and what ended up being a Leghorn mix breed that she couldn’t take to fair and has since given to her grandpa cause those hens were ornery! She made it to the final round of showmanship for her age group but didn’t win showmanship (we weren’t expecting her to her first year) but her Orpingtons and Silkies did very well in both placements and the auction.
This year we have one Black Silkie hen (it was given back to her after the auction by the lady who bought it and she told her she bought it just to support our youngest not to have the Silkie). She got all her flock this year from TSC and she has added what we think are pekin ducks, either Rouen or mallard ducks (we aren’t sure on one rather it’s a mallard or a Rouen yet), 4 mystery bantams she picked up yesterday, 6 straight run Orpingtons, 4 straight run Barnevelders, 6 Wyandotte that were sexed pullet and 4 Sussex pullets (the sign said coronation pullets but she said looking them up on the internet they look more like speckled Sussex chicks not coronation).
She has earned the nickname chicken whisper cause during her showmanship last year one of her friends chickens got lose from him and he had trouble catching it so she sat her Silkie down on the table walked over picked up her friends bird handed it back then walked back over to the table and picked up her Silkie that hadn’t moved. Afterwards someone asked her why she did that and she said “My friend needed help and I knew Snowy wouldn’t move if I sat her down. She had been in showmanship pose and I had her trained if she was in that pose and I sat her down and said stay she would. I don’t know why everyone was freaking out in the audience when I did that.”
She is hoping for some cockerels and pullets in her Orpington straight run this year and said she plans to hold some of them back from the auction so she can try breeding her own Orpingtons for fair next year.
This year we have one Black Silkie hen (it was given back to her after the auction by the lady who bought it and she told her she bought it just to support our youngest not to have the Silkie). She got all her flock this year from TSC and she has added what we think are pekin ducks, either Rouen or mallard ducks (we aren’t sure on one rather it’s a mallard or a Rouen yet), 4 mystery bantams she picked up yesterday, 6 straight run Orpingtons, 4 straight run Barnevelders, 6 Wyandotte that were sexed pullet and 4 Sussex pullets (the sign said coronation pullets but she said looking them up on the internet they look more like speckled Sussex chicks not coronation).
She has earned the nickname chicken whisper cause during her showmanship last year one of her friends chickens got lose from him and he had trouble catching it so she sat her Silkie down on the table walked over picked up her friends bird handed it back then walked back over to the table and picked up her Silkie that hadn’t moved. Afterwards someone asked her why she did that and she said “My friend needed help and I knew Snowy wouldn’t move if I sat her down. She had been in showmanship pose and I had her trained if she was in that pose and I sat her down and said stay she would. I don’t know why everyone was freaking out in the audience when I did that.”
She is hoping for some cockerels and pullets in her Orpington straight run this year and said she plans to hold some of them back from the auction so she can try breeding her own Orpingtons for fair next year.
Glad you joined.
but for the most part it’s been so fun watching her learn and take care of her flock!
