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!