Central Indiana Poultry Show

This is one of the best organized shows we have been to. They had 193 showmen and 1439 poultry and waterfowl an turkeys. For their first show this was a good one, i really liked the one day show in and out. The kids did really well;

Trey’s Partridge Cochin got a First and a Second roosters.

Denton’s Dark Cornish rooster got a First and his Royal Palm Turkeys tom received BB,BV,first and Reserve Grand Champion of show.

Coty’s Silver Dutch received BB,BV hen and RV,RB rooster

Areil’s Light Brahma rooster received a First.

We are very proud of the kids and there poultry and turkeys. Now for the old folks placings. We wil start with Gayla’s Dutch Cream Light Blue rooster wich received BB,BV. Her Light Brown hens received First and Second.

Now for mine, Lets just say old dad got a real razing. Three hens placed Second, Third and Fourth.

ROYAL PALM TURKEYS

A remarkably attractive bird, the Royal Palm displays some of the nicest colors of all turkey varieties. These birds are quite small compared to other turkeys. Mature toms weigh 15-20 pounds and hens are considerably lighter at 10-12 pounds. They are striking in appearance. These beautiful birds have a white base color and most feathers are banded with a bright metallic black color. The contrast of this black/white combination is truly radiant. The Royal Palm is not a common variety.

STARTING OUT IN SHOW POULTRY

A common question beginners ask is advice on what breeds to keep. The best way to answer this would be to visit shows and make your own choice. When inspecting the exhibits it would
be wise to ask breeders, showman & judges the advantages and difficulties of varieties that please your eye. It is best to avoid the rarer breeds/varieties when starting off as stock is harder to obtain, and is likely to be of doubtful quality. They will also receive little competition in shows and judges
may be unfamiliar with them thus not assessing them properly.

I would recommend a breed that lays well and make good mothers. This way you don’t have to get a separate breed to hatch the eggs or buy an expensive incubator. Despite this the beginner is most likely to do best with a variety that he/she most admires, so long as they obtain good stock and are
not easily disheartened by early set-backs.

A common mistake made by most beginner’s is to keep too many kinds. Concentrate on one or two breeds at first and don’t add another until you have gained experience on the first. This is the best advice in the world, but seldom followed.

OPEN RANGE VS CONFINED EGGS

Do you know the difference in open range eggs and confined eggs? Not many people do, it sounds good open range chickens running all over. Where do you think the chickens lay their eggs? How long do you think they lay out in the pasture before they are collected? I don’t much care for how they treat caged hens either, but most people have been buying caged eggs for years and they never complained about it. In confined layers they are not fertile eggs, in open range poultry they could be fertile. Open range eggs cost more because you have to hire twice the amount of people to collect the eggs. confined eggs roll down a line for a couple of people to collect.

All confined chicken are only confined to laying for one year. Open range poultry do have a better life to wonder and forage for bugs and grass but both confined and open range both get the same bagged feed. We confine our show poultry for one month prior to shows, they do lay inside. We do not like how confined poultry are treated but we do not think that open range eggs should be dollar or more than confined eggs.How do you now that they are truly open range poultry? We do not. We do know that either of the two are not as fresh as if you had your own egg layers. Their are too many people that want to make a profit from using words like open range or organic or lower cholesterol. Just something for you the people to think about. All we want is for you to think about things and ask yourself which is better for you and your family.

our next show

Connersville Indiana in october will be our next show before we go to the Ohio Nationals hope to see you their

Black Cochins no more

Well today is the last day that the Rusty Pumpkin will have black cochins. We will be switching to the partridge cochin wich is a better looking and quality line than the blacks that we had. Our new line will show this blood line at our next coming show.Out with the old and in with the new.

Rest in Peace RJ

This is my son Trey with his bird RJ. RJ was such a great bird. He was our hope of a top prize at the State Fair.

Unfortunately RJ has gone to that little chicken farm in the sky. We believe he had a virus that’s common among poultry that many are born with that eventually claim their lives.

Trey was so devistated - it’s not often I see him cry, but this day I knew something was terribly wrong.

That’s the toughest part about being a farmer

Ever Seen a $190 Cherry Pie?

Well, I didn’t get my hands on one of the home baked pies, but this little auction raised nearly $1,000 for the 4-H Junior Leaders group. I’ve drawn an arrow to point at the $190 pie. I think the least amount one of these goodies fetched was $35.

The Pie Auction took place inside the show arena. You can see here, where all the animals big or small are put on display for the judges.

And here you see Miss Presley taking her place on the front page of our local paper. This isn’t Holly, the overall show winner, but it is the one that caught the reporters eye.

We’re starting to wind down the fair now. Tonight is the Farmer Olympics. During this competition, the kids are placed into teams. Each team runs through a series of tasks and relays that are similar to a farmer’s day. From getting up and eating breakfast, to dressing, carrying feed buckets over fences and hauling wheel barrel loads of stuff to be dumped.

It should be fun and comical to say the least. Expect photos from the Farmer Olympics tomorrow.

poultry washing

To get ready for a show you need to wash your birds, you will need 3 tubs and a 4th tub if you have white birds. Fill your tubs with warm water , in the first tub you need to add a show guality soap,seven (bug killer) and borax.

In the second tub filled with water you need to add vinagar.

Your third tub should be just plain water. If you have white bird you will need your 4th tub filled with water and add a small amount of bluing.

O.K. now that you have you tubs filled you are ready to wash. Now get your first bird and grab him with one hand under his body and the other over his wings.

Now slowly dip him into the water making sure his head is not below water level. You want to wet them down good and always rub with the feathers not against them.

Now making sure that you have washed legs, feet and all other part really well place your hand under him and over his wing and take him to your second tub wich has the vinegar in it.

The vinegar helps to gat the soap out of the feathers. Make sure to rinse the bird really well at this tub.You really do not have to rub just make sure the water reaches the skin.

Now to the 3 tub wich is just plain water, repeat the same thing as in the second tub.

If you have colured birds you are done get a towel and get as much moister off as you can. If you have birds that are fluffy like Cochins and Silkies they need to be dried with a hair drier. Now if you have all white birds they need to be taken to the 4th tub with bluing in it.

Repeat the same method as with rinsing. MAKE SURE NOT TO ADD TO MUCH BLUING AS THIS WILL TURN YOUR BIRDS BLUE, oNLY A FEW DROPS. Towel dry and keep your birds in a draft free room to dry. it takes about 2 days for your birds to dry all of the way. Now you are ready to so and good luck

You think your tired

I may be big but i can fit on the back of the couch to sleep

This is dog tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!