This announcement from the Poultry Congress blog:

Here Ye, Here Ye, Hear Ye!

ANNOUNCING A REALLY EXCITING BOOK EVENT

The Northeastern Poultry Congress is as pleased as a pullet on spring grass to announce Artist, Author and Excellent Poultry breeder Jan Brett is holding a book signing !!

It’s a Cinderella story for attendees at our show as Artist, Author and Excellent Poultry breeder Jan Brett is hosting a book signing!!  That’s right Fans Jan has volunteered to be on hand to sign her new book “Cinders A Chicken Cinderella”. 

At a recent show Jan gave us a pre-publication sneak peek look.  I bet she is still deaf in her left her from me screaming “OH MY GOD JAN ITS BEAUTIFUL!!”. Honestly I don’t have the words to tell you what a class act her book is.  Fantastic is the best I can do.

So be sure to save your burning questions for Jan.  How does she start a drawing a chicken?  What kind of paint does she use?  How long does it take to complete a book?  Or ask her why did she choose White Crested Black Polish as her favorite breed? 

We expect Jan’s book signing to be very well attended.  So show up early!  We have Jan scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 to do a short talk on “Cinders A Chicken Cinderella” with the book signing directly after.  Get in line and get your copy signed or you will bumming if you don’t.  Your first addition signed book will be one wonderful reminder for years to come of what a good time you had at the show.

While your getting you book signed be sure to thank Jan for helping to make the Northeast Poultry Congress a wonderful family oriented organization.

Students show off poultry, piglets ahead of show

 Check out some of our 4Hers on WCAX.

Students show off poultry, piglets ahead of show

UAS County Open Youth Poultry & Swine Clinic & Show

The Blue Ribbon 4H Club of Orange County, Vermont 

is proud to be participating in the first 

UAS County Open Youth Poultry & Swine Clinic & Show.

(Thank you Union Agricultural Society for sponsoring this event)  

Come see us showing our poultry and swine - it is going to be a great time!

From Michael Wilson, 4H County Coordinator:

Hello 4-H leaders, volunteers and youth.

Last Saturday was a great event, (just my opinion). It was great for a few reasons: we had excellent support from volunteers,  parents, adults.  The youth practiced and DID THE WORK.  Attached are the State Results.  Highlighted in yellow are the youth who qualified for Eastern States.  Imagine Isabella Amodeo and Jazlyn Barnaby who needed each other's support get up on stage at Super Saturday to sing their duet.  Then, they dug deeper for a little more courage: they were destined to stand on the big stage at the Barre Auditorium and sing to over 200 people.  

And then something even better happened, Isabella and Jazlyn were selected in the top 10 stage events to be invited to Eastern States.  Why?  Because they did the work.  Their determination, commitment, overcoming nervousness and fear and finally the courage to make it better is what got them there.  Nothing good comes easy.  Practice makes it better....sometimes even perfect.

It is not so easy is it?  There is nothing glamorous about working out the details to get something right. 

Another impressive outcome were our Action Exhibits.   We took the #1 and #2 positions.  Two of these exhibits came from the Blue Ribbion 4-H Club. Impressive.
Three of the Action exhibits qualified for Eastern States and one of our Action exhibits is the 1st alternate: (Kelly Smith, there is a very good chance that your club can get bumped up into the top 10.)

Congratulations to all youth who participated at the State Level.   When people saw your project or presentation, they saw the the outcome of hard work and commitment, that no one could do but you.

You did the work,
Michael

Feedback for State Day?   I'd love for you to chime in.......write me back, tell me how we can improve the event and I will work hard and give you my commitment to make it better.  

           

    The Car Wash – May 4^th, 9-1 (Randolph Fire Station)

Soap: Strides

Contacting Radio Stations: Strides

Sponges: Skodas

Buckets: Youmans (2), Luke-Curriers (2) , Kathryn (2-4)

Nozzles: Caterino

Signs: Skodas (Morning of car wash put sign up near the Gospel Church: Kathryn and Youman’s setting those up)

Show up at 8:30, start at nine

Ends at 1:00 or no cars

By donation: worked well

4H Dates to remember. (Changes)

 

March 29th -- County Day Registration Deadline

March 30^th – Poultry Quizbowl

April 20^th – 4H County Day (Super Saturday)

June 29^th – State Day?

Here is a cool site to dress up any 4H projects you are planning.   It is called Image Chef and it is very easy to use.  ImageChef.com

M. Wilson, 4-H County Coordinator

 Michael Wilson, 4-H  Coordinator for Orange and Washington Counties, also has a 4-H Facebook page.  Here is the link.
 http://www.facebook.com/michaelwilson4hBerlin

Michael Wilson's 4-H Update Blog

 Here is a link to Michael Wilson's 4-H Update Blog.  Contact him if you have information you would like him to send to the larger 4-H community   Michael's 4-H Update

Our Experience at the Northeastern Poultry Congress

    Before the poultry congress we had to do a lot of prep work. We had to get a doctors approval thing. It was a form saying that our ducks were okay and had no diseases. We also had to get the chickens blood tested. We also had the chickens get bands so we could verify which chicken was which. We had to wash our animals twice before the show. We washed them on Sunday with warm water and organic soap. We washed them again on Wednesday with Madison and Krystin Skoda. After that we put them in a small clean dog crate so they wouldn’t get dirty before they were at the show Friday.
    We also had to train with them. We started working with them about a half an hour to an hour and a half every day for a month. It was very hard and took a lot of time but it was worth it. We did everything that would be required in a show including walking them and hanging them upside-down.
    When we got to the Big E grounds on Friday we checked our birds in. They had to see our vets approval slip and the blood testing form. We prepped the birds cages as one would in the Tunbridge Fair. We had to find our cages out of the thousands that were there. We then went back to the hotel.
    Saturday was the big day. Our birds got judged early in the morning. Mikaela’s birds got a blue ribbon (the millie fleur cock) and a red ribbon (the millie fleur pullet). I got  a red ribbon (chocolate runner drake) and Best in Breed and Best in Variety and a blue ribbon for my white Indian runner hen. We also had to attend the show. We were put in the novice group because other than the Tunbridge Fair we hadn’t really attended an official show. We had to show how well we had handled our birds by showing different parts of the chicken or duck. We also had to answer a couple of questions that the judge asked us separate from the other exhibitors. We would find our scores the next day. There are also poultry sellers in another section of the building. I bought two racing homer pigeons that I named Eon and Decade.
    On Sunday we learned our scores and got ribbons for our birds places. Mikaela got 5th place in the Junior Novice Showmanship. After the awards we had to pack up the birds. We cleaned out the cages and that was the end of it.

    
Winner of the Poultry Congress!

The poultry congress was an awesome experience featuring over 1,000 birds! The over all winner was Bearded Belgium d'anver hen by Karen and Kevin Unrath. Almost every breed of chicken was there but it was smaller than last year. There was only 230 exibiters so all of them probably took alot of birds.

It takes a lot of time getting animals there.You have to wash them, get a health certificate, trim their toenails and beak, and find a place to sleep over. There are lots of things that happen at the Poultry Congress, like the 4H showmanship. That was split up into five different categories: Senior, Junior, Intermediate, Novice and Pre-novice. The presenters have to train their birds to do certain things.

There aren't just chickens there. You can see ducks, geese, turkey, pigeons and some more. I learned about a lot of new breeds there.  Also there is a place where people can sell their animals or raffle them. The Poultry Congress usually is held at the Big E in Springfield, Massachusetts in January. While the Poultry Congress is going on there are other events you could check out too. The Poultry Congress was awesome and you should have come. But hey, there's always next year!