Illinois...

[Faraday40]

Of course, we're worried about the chickens. Today was fun but he heat is bad. Now they're shutting down early due to weather. (possible severe weather tonight.)

 

[Molpet]

Of course, we're worried about the chickens. Today was fun but he heat is bad. Now they're shutting down early due to weather. (possible severe weather tonight.)


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How did you do?

 

[Molpet]

Well I started harvesting onions. They didn't do well this year. Someone in a garden FB group said theirs didn't do well either.
How did yours do @NotAFarm and @BReeder! ?

 

[NotAFarm]

Well I started harvesting onions. They didn't do well this year. Someone in a garden FB group said theirs didn't do well either.
How did yours do @NotAFarm and @BReeder! ?

Mine didn’t bulb like in the past. I thought it was where I planted them (soil has a lot of clay). Maybe it wasn’t just the soil but some weird weather too.

 

[User105877]

Of course, we're worried about the chickens. Today was fun but he heat is bad. Now they're shutting down early due to weather. (possible severe weather tonight.)


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Looks like a good time. I remember going to a pigeon show once with my grandfather when I was probably seven or eight years old. You think the last 30 years or so I'd manage to go to some other kind of poultry show but that's been it.

 

[Unswydd]

Hey y'all, Bloomington, IL here. I'm looking for someone local to build me a coop. I have something in mind I'll put a pic in here.
Does anyone know of someone in Central Illinois that will put one together for me? I'll be doing the run myself I just would like a cute smallish coop for say 8-10 chickens.
I have a large coop but I'm moving and can't take it with me. And I'm tired of building them.

 

[cavemanrich]

Hey y'all, Bloomington, IL here. I'm looking for someone local to build me a coop. I have something in mind I'll put a pic in here.
Does anyone know of someone in Central Illinois that will put one together for me? I'll be doing the run myself I just would like a cute smallish coop for say 8-10 chickens.
I have a large coop but I'm moving and can't take it with me. And I'm tired of building them. View attachment 3596364

How far is your move??

 

[Unswydd]

About 10 miles. Not far. Getting out of town into the country.

 

[Faraday40]

About 10 miles. Not far. Getting out of town into the country.

Sounds wonderful!

 

[Faraday40]

How did you do?

Very, very well!

In the poultry barn:
My son got class champ for both his white and his brown eggs. The brown eggs ended up getting grand champion.

He also got the big honor of Jr Showmanship. My daughter got reserve for Senior showmanship.

All 5 of our bantams got class champions..... then competed against each other for Best in Show. Our past Grand Champ Silkie hen (MaiMai) got Reserve Champ, and the big winner of DuPage County was our new Grand Champ Serama (Miss Take).

Spoiler: How the Serama got her name

The name is because I didn't want any more little, "useless chickens." I kept removing eggs from my bantam hen but she must have hidden one too well. I found it- after development started. I needed the hen to stay broody for my quail hatch, so I moved the egg to the incubator. One lonely only, human-raised chick lived in the house for 6 days until her quail "siblings" hatched. Quail grew and at 4-5 weeks old, my "mistake" was moved to a brooder with new, large fowl chicks. Poor chick must have had an identity crisis. She still hangs with that group of pullets. Although pronounced the same my "mistake" is now a pullet and called "Miss Take."

A big hit was our ugly cockerel (Dr Seuss) Everyone came to the poultry barn to see the rare Showgirl Frizzle and took so many selfie photos. Crowds gathered to hear him crow or watch us as we took him from the cage. My hope was to sell him but only impulsive "I gotta have him" people were interested. I can't knowingly send him to a home with an unknown level of care. Waiting for a good fit.

Our section of cages was full of all sorts of ribbons. We even entered a last min animal costume contest. We found out about it and had less than 10 min to come up with costumes. MaiMai wore DD's bracelets as necklaces and was sporting a big 1980s ponytail - crest. Someone left McDs garbage on the ground overnight. We threw it out but took the fries box. I put little Miss Take in the box and called her a Chicken McNugget. Obviously we weren't in it to win, but had a good laugh and got a couple "special event" ribbons.

In the general projects:
The kids also did well. Both kids won multiple grand champion and reserve champion ribbons and had to decide which project to bring to state. DD will bring her beautiful, delicate, paper quilling. She made the 4 seasons. DS will bring his computer science project. He designed and coded an original video game called "Pecking Order." Yup. The main character ( a Spitzhauben) must work its way past the big but slow-moving lavender Orpington, the plentiful Seramas, an old Easter Egger, and ultimately fight the big boss: a Sebright. To learn how to battle, a Silkie leads the tutorial. DS drew each character - obviously based on our own flock. The attacks are pecking (like hitting) and throwing eggs (like bombs that splat) When an enemy is killed it turns into a chicken dinner. As his mom, I'm pretty biased, but I think it's an awesome video game.

I will try to get photos posted, but after such a long busy weekend, I'm exhausted. I can barely get through my day job.

We will be at the state fair Aug 11th.