Chicken Placings!

The chickens got judged and they did pretty well. Brooke's chicken did the best, she got a blue ribbon and then got Reserve Best in Breed. Butterscotch, that is like Brookes, got a red because she doesnt look very well with her molting. Onzo. the buff chicken got red, we knew that was going to happen because she has the wrong color legs. We were going to leave her home but had to substitute her for the other buff chicken because she was molting too bad. Lastly, Taco, she got a blue ribbon in the mixed breed contest. We put her in the mixed breed because we were not sure exactly what she was. Come to find out, she is a commercial rhode island red. They are not pure bred but have their own division in the commercial department. They mix rhode island red and new hampshire chickens to get awesome egg layers and they are the chickens that lay the really nice brown eggs. He said if we would have put her in the commercial section she would have got Best in Breed! The judge was very nice at helping us understand his way of judging and what we can do to improve them. Im still amazed at all the new things I learn about the chickens every year. Our new thing this year will be changing their feed to show bird feed to make their feathers look better. I never knew how to make show bird feed and now I do!!!

Fair Check in

Check in day went well! We got to the fair grounds at noon and left by 7pm. We only took 4 chickens instead of 6 because 2 were looking kind of rough from the molt. Lily seems to be settled in and has many sheep friends! Brooke and Ashlyns picture got a blue ribbon in the poultry photo contest. Brooke also got a third overall for the intermidiate division. Tony took off work to help with fair. We have to go out there 2 times a day to get Lily fed so he is doing the morning run for us while I work and me and the kids go to school!

Busy Busy!!!

It has been a busy week! I did 4 chapter tests of psychology on Friday and read like a mad woman all day off and on to finish the next chapter. I woke up early this morning and took all four test on that chapter. Im trying to get ahead so I don't have to worry so much about school during fair. We finally finished Brookes science project that goes in Monday and spent pretty much the whole day washing Lily and the chickens. The chickens look thrilled don't they?! We had to blow dry everyone after so they had to wait patiently in their chicken burritos till we got to them. The second one from Ashlyn in the picture fell asleep for a little while. I think she is sleeping in the picture. Tomorrow we will shave Lily and then we should be done till Wednesday when we check them into the fair.

Brooke and Kitty

I love this picture of Brooke and Kitty! One of the 4-H girls took this picture of them. She did a really good job! For those of you that don't know the story of Kitty, it has been a long road. Kitty was originally bought by my mom and Vince. She was a bag of bones and came to live with me because I had time to hopefully save her life. I fed her small amounts many times a day to bring her back to weight. The vet I had at the time said she thought she would not make it and I shouldn't get my hopes up. She was so bad that I was scared to take a picture of her!! The first picture taken was after 6 weeks and my mom did that. Kitty obviously survived. She went back to live with my mom and had a baby. In 2008 I brought Kitty home to be Brookes horse. Brooke needed something to show and Kitty was a show horse in her earlier years. At first, it was perfect and Brooke showed her and it was a match made in heaven. Then , Kitty was sick alot! She would colic every couple days and was not good. The vet said she had ulcers! So we started her on ranintidine, horse zantac, and she was all better. She was doing so good that she was full of herself and suddenly Brooke couldn't get along with her. Kitty then became my horse. I trail rode her and exposed her to everything I could. This summer Brooke started taking lessons and is getting really good at her riding. She is doing so well that she is riding horses for other people. She decided that she wan't to try showing Kitty again. She took her to the show last month and did great! This is when this picture was taken. She showed her again last weekend and it went ok but not great. I can't blame the horse completely because it was the worst weekend in the world to try and show a horse at a show. It was complete tropical storm weather! It didn't stop raining the whole day and the wind was blowing so hard that it was blowing the rain into the covered arena. Most people harbor theirselves indoors when it rains, but not us, we tackle the outdoors like a bunch of crazy people! So that is the story of Kitty, she really is a good horse but has a little emotional bagage to haul around with her but I really can't blame her. If I was starved and left to die, I think I would be the same. Brooke says she is going to show Willow at the next show but I'm sure she will show Kitty again.

Countdown to Fair!

So fair is 3 weeks away! The girls are getting really excited. Brooke is showing the sheep, a goat and chickens. Ashlyn is showing a goat and chickens. We brought Lily, the sheep, to our house till fair. It will give Brooke more time to work with her if she is at home. After fair she will be going back to John and Kim's. All of our chickens are looking kind of rough. They are all molting so they look very bad with all the feather lose. Both girls will be doing the chicken Costume contest again. Nana spent a lot of time making those! We are in high gear now trying to get school work done, and science project done. Yes Brooke has a science project due 2 days before fair starts! She is in advanced classes in school and this science project is a pre college level. Im starting to double think the idea of putting her in that program! When the teacher said it would be alot of work for the parents too, she wasn't lying! Anyway, we are on a roll and can't wait to have some fun at the fair. I'll will try to update fair as we go if I have time.

First Week of School

We servived our first week of school even with all the chaos in our life. The kids had to go back to waking up at 6am, I had to get in the hang of taking the kids to 2 different schools and picking up from 2 different schools and fit my work schedule into the middle of it all. Brooke had drill team Monday, I had to have tree estimates everyday to take care of our dead trees and then Brooke had to go to her lesson that was Thursday during the start of the storms from the hurricane. Pouring down rain and 25 mph winds doesnt stop her from riding. I am really glad the week is over! The kids both had a good week at school so that was a bonus to the whole week. I hope next week goes ok. We have the tree people coming at 8am Monday morning and I have to move all the animals from the barn and get the kids to school and my classes start ,so I may be a little crazy by Tuesday.

The Stray!

On Friday we went to Blizzard Beach for the day. We had a really good time and were wore out. We got home about 10:30 pm and went to the barn to give the horses hay and found this chicken in the barn. It is not one of ours. So we now have a stray chicken! Leave it to me to have a chicken just wonder up to my house, especially were I live. To top it off it is a rooster! So the kids have been playing with him and feeding him until I can find were he lives or I can find him a new home. I think all my neighbors would kill me if I kept a crowing rooster! He is not crowing yet but he is still a baby so I guess he can stay till he finds his voice. I think my chickens told him he can eat really good here if he stays!