General Information

Poultry Committee:  Shawna Oostema, Barbie Huber, Toni Berger, Anna Fountaine, Judy Nieminen, Barbie Eriksson

Birds must be in possession or on a confirmed delivery (market birds) by May 1, 2019. Exhibitors must interview within the poultry project. The interview will be held during the main project interview time held prior to fair. Exhibitors are asked to dust their birds for lice 7 days prior to check-in at the Fair. A veterinarian or licensed tech will check all birds at check-in. Exhibitors may be asked to take a bird home, due to infestation with lice, illness, stress or poor condition. Disregard of animal health and the health of other 4-Her’s animals is grounds for expulsion from the Fair. All birds must be banded. Leg band numbers must be listed for each individual bird on the coop card displayed at fair. Entry fee is $10.00/member, for up to 10 birds, with an additional $10/member who is participating in a market class. If any one individual is planning on taking more than 10 birds, please contact a project leader prior to submitting your entry to the 4-H office.  The entry fee is used for judging costs and awards given out to members.  An additional deposit of $15.00/member will be due at the time of check in.  This deposit will be held during fair and returned to the member during checkout on Saturday if all barn rules have been followed throughout the fair week. Additionally, the poultry leaders committee reserves the right to not give the members earned prizes if barn rules are not followed.  Please contact a project leader or refer to your signed contract for further details or questions.

Barn Rules

Animals are to be fed and watered at least twice daily, and cages are to be cleaned daily.  Arrangements can be made with fellow 4-H’ers for sharing this responsibility.    In addition to caring for their birds, exhibitors are responsible to keep the rest of the barn clean.  This includes sweeping, picking up after yourself and making sure no trash is laying about.  Courtesy and good sportsmanship is the order of the day.  Exhibitors (not the parents) are responsible for ensuring that they and their poultry are properly checked-in and checked-out, banded, interviewed, shown, weighed, photographed & sold at the appropriate times. Animals are to remain throughout the Fair, to be released Saturday morning, unless the Poultry Committee rules otherwise.  The exhibitor is responsible for cleaning out cages and surrounding area before they check out on Saturday.  Additionally, each exhibitor must sign up (as designated by the Poultry Committee) for barn duty during the fair.

Governing Rules

The governing rules for judging will follow the most current edition of the American Poultry Association (APA)  Book of Standard.

Age Definitions/Trio and Pair Definitions

For Chickens:

Cock (C) - Male fowl one year or over
Cockerel (K) - Male fowl less than one year
Hen (H) - Female fowl one year or over
Pullet (P) - Female fowl less than one year.

For Ducks:

Old Drake (DO) - Male one year or over 
Young Drake (DY) - Male less than one year
Old Duck (DOH) - Female one year or over 
Young Duck (DYH) - Female less than one year

For Geese:

Old Gander (GOG) - Male one year or over   
Young Gander (GYG) - Male less than one year
Old Goose (GOF) - Female one year or over
Young Goose (GYF) - Female less than one year.

For Turkeys:

Old Tom (TOT) - Male one year or over   
Young Tom (TYT) - Male less than one year
Old Hen (TOF) - Female one year or over
Young Hen (TYF) - Female less than one year.

Trio: 2 females and 1 male of the same breed and variety.

Pair: 1 male and 1 female of the same breed and variety

 Laying Hens/Pullets—recommended to have same breed and variety but mixed variety/breed pen is allowable.

MARKET POULTRY

Auction birds will be sold by the pen and not the pound.  A pen will consist of three birds of the same breed and preferably the same variety. An exhibitor may enter up to two saleable market pens. Market pens will be weighed during the check in period of fair and those weights will be posted as the sale weight of the pens.  Market pens will be judged on uniformity of weight, carcass quality and characteristics.  Each pen will be entered based upon the age of the birds at the time of check in. Please contact a project leader with any questions. 

Please designate breed/variety of animal on entry for all poultry entries.

Department: Poultry

DIVISON 260: MARKET POULTRY


  Class 1- Chickens (3-5 weeks old)
  Class 2- Chickens (6-8 weeks old)
  Class 3- Chickens (8-12 weeks old)
  Class 4-Turkey Commercial Breeds (16-20 weeks old)
  Class 5-Turkey Heritage Breeds (24-36 weeks old)
  Class 6 - 3 Ducks or 3 Geese (10-30 weeks old)

DIVISION 261: SHOWMANSHIP 


Exhibitor participation required. Ages based on 4-H age as of October 1, 2018  

Class 1   Cloverbud 4-H Ages 5-7 -participation only
Class 2   Novice 1st year members- does not qualify for Round Robin)
Class 3   Junior 4-H ages 8-13 years old
Class 4   Senior 4-H ages 14 & Up

DIVISION 262: STANDARD BREEDS FOR SHOW

Please designate breed/variety of bird and age as defined above on entry form.

Class 1   American Large Fowl 
Class 2   Asiatic Large Fowl
Class 3   English Large Fowl
Class 4   Mediterranean Large Fowl
Class 5   Continental Large Fowl
Class 6   All Other Large Fowl
Class 7   Crossbreed/Production Large Fowl

DIVISION 263: BANTAM BREEDS FOR SHOW

Please designate breed/variety of bird and age as defined above on entry form.

Class 1   Game/Modern Game Bantams
Class 2   Single Comb Clean Legged
Class 3   Rose Comb Clean Legged
Class 4   All Other Comb Clean Legged  
Class 5   Featherleg
Class 6   Crossbreed Bantams 

DIVISION 264: OTHER POULTRY VARIETIES

Please designate breed/variety of bird and age as defined above on entry form.

Class 1   Turkey
Class 2   Geese
Class 3   Guinea
Class 4   Duck
Class 5   Other Variety

DIVISION 265 LAYING HENS


Please designate breed/variety of bird and age as defined above on entry form.

Class 1   Laying Hens (pen of 3)
Class 2   Laying Pullets (pen of 3) 

DIVISION 266: PAIRS/TRIOS

(Please designate breed/variety of bird on entry form and refer to the definitions for criteria for lots)

Class 1  Pairs
Class 2  Trios

DIVISION 267: EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS

Class 1   Poster
All regular poultry members must complete a poster on a poultry topic of the member's choice.  Cloverbud members are not required to complete a poster but are highly encouraged to rather submit either a poster or document on a poultry topic of their choice.  Please contact a project leader for any questions.
Class 2   Educational Display/Exhibit
Class 3   Live Bird Exhibit / Hen and Chick Display
Class 4   Photo Contest
We would like to encourage all exhibitors especially the cloverbuds to enter a photo for the fair.  Exhibitors are allowed to submit a total of two photos for the contest. All photos must be either a 5 X 7 or 8 X 10 and be mounted or unmounted but must be presentable to the public. Categories are as follows: Ugliest Bird, Costume, Prettiest, Funniest and Exotic.  On your entry form please state which category you are entering.
Class 5   Bantam Eggs (6)
Class 6   Standard Eggs (6)
Class 7   Decorated Egg/Egg Basket (basket: minimum of 3 eggs to be used)