Americanas at county fair

[Guest]

Well, our county fair has come and gone and, wow, was that the poorest poultry showing I think I\'ve ever seen. There were a handful of Americanas with placings ... and luckily there was someone to ask what had happened. In the end, it boils down to the fact that, at this co.fair anyway, the responsibility lies with the 4-H instructor to advise the participants on what is/is not acceptable.
As I simmered down, winding my way through the sheep and goats, I began to think about how other associations I am involved with are devoted to education and how this must be what I needed to do here: write a letter to the county/local 4-H instructors offering to come talk to the kids about Ameraucanas. Funny that I received our bulletien returning up the drive and read Johns discussion of the ongoing struggle to inform poultry lovers about our breed!

So before I go and \"voice my opinion\", what do you all think about it all? Should our club write a formal letter that all of us could access to send to our local clubs? Do we have something already?
Rose

[Jean]

I have tried the last two years to get a bulletin and e-mail to the local 4-H clubs about ameraucanas to a deaf ear.

It seems they are happy with the way things are as the judges don\'t necessarily DQ easter eggers at the 4-H level where I am from.

I do however, post Vicky Thompson\'s little article about Ameraucanas by my coops every year.....

Jean

[Anne Foley]

As a former 4-H Poultry Club leader, I can assure you that your letter will do no good.  Many 4-H leaders in our state (and I assume elsewhere) have very little knowledge about chickens, let alone the various breeds.  It was a shocking revelation to me but now understandable.  4-H leadership is a volunteer job and the only requirement to do it is that you pass a background check.  Although desirable, no demonstration of knowledge is required.  There are many (but not all) leaders who resist learning new things or improving how things are run.  It just means more work or makes them feel bad because it points out their deficiencies.  My suggestion to anyone who feels as you-- step forward and volunteer your time, your knowledge, and your love of poultry.  If you are up to the trials, the front line of the poultry world is at your local 4-H fair.  Unfortunately, in some counties, the only place left to go is up.

[Guest]

Can you share Vickey\'s article?

[Jean]

It\'s the one from the ABC Shareing Place, the MSN Groups page.

http://groups.msn.com/ABCShareingPlace/ameraucanamythsandfacts.msnw

Jean

[greeneggsandham]

Rose, I too went to that county fair and came away very disappointed.  I was curious to see if any true Ameraucana\'s would be entered and what type of entries won ribbons.  Only saw Easter Eggers which were, like you said, listed as Americanas.  I did not see any ribbons for any breeds other than some bald, dirty commercial layers that looked like they had just been plucked out of the commerical chicken house and some white leghorns (in a little better shape).  Hmmm...wonder if Tyson and George\'s have anything to do with these judging decisions?  I had went on Tuesday, maybe the judging was not finished yet?  I was shocked regardless of the reasons.

I was thinking of raising Ameraucana\'s for 4-H\'ers myself, but if that is what they award ribbons to at the local fair, why would a kid bother?  Looks like you don\'t have to do anything but pull them out of the chicken house a day before the fair!

I did see one nice silver/gray Easter Egger hen that I noticed was entered for Forrest Grahm.  I hope it got something.  The boy died in a tragic accident a few months ago and it looks like the family entered his bird for him.  Made me want to cry seeing that.

[John]

Do we have something already?

We have an informational flier that can be printed (pdf file) from the Downloads page of our website.  It is designed to be handed out, mailed or just left available for fanciers to pick up on our club tables at shows.  The idea is to print the Membership form on the back side and fold the flier as a tri-fold.  We\'ve used the fliers for several years and encourage members to print them out and share them.
I have also made the Backyard Poultry article, about Araucanas & Ameraucanas available from the Downloads page.  It is much more detailed than the flier, but may be useful for those that what to what to learn more.

[Guest]

This subject is right down my alley, as a 4H youth program educator, with poultry as one of my areas I can speak from the other point of view.

\"You can lead a horse to water, but you can\'t make them drink\".  Its the same with anything, including 4H.

Our County didn\'t have any poultry or rabbits for 10 years.  I was brought in to handle all small livestock as well as to reinstate a poultry program.

The 1st year, I held monthly meetings/workshops and quite a lot of families participated.  I handed out information about every aspect of poultry. I had speakers come in, etc.

I also arranged a farm tour with 2 of the 4 farms specializing in poultry.  Participation was good.

The second year, we started out with about 3 families, and by the end of the year only 1 family came to the meetings. I also held a workshop inviting the public to attend, and the public out numbered the 4H ers.

So, I decided to stop doing the monthly meetings.  Everyone had excuses for why they couldn\'t come.  Its very discouraging to try to develop a program and not have any participation.

But wait, guess how many showed up at the County Fair?
Each year the poultry numbers grew.  I had some kids show up I hadn\'t seen before.

Some of them had birds that looked great, they were the ones that kept coming to the events.  Some others never came to a meeting, so it was obvious they didn\'t do anything to get the bird ready for the show.

The kids that had parents that took an interest in what they were doing, did the best.  My experience with this is, that probably many extensions go through similar things. Frankly,
you want to just give up and say the heck with it.

4H educators are to provide resources for the leaders and youth.  Leaders are supposed to be the ones that teach them about whatever their club is involved in.  Yes, leaders don\'t necessarily have to know anything, but if they don\'t ask, or come to workshops to learn, we can\'t make them.

I don\'t expect 4H to get better.  Everything is about \"Youth Development\" which is good, but the old 4H no longer exists.
People are too busy, kids do so many things they don\'t have time to come to meetings.  4H is struggling to get kids involved, but the numbers go down every year.

Sterling

[Guest]

Rose and all the others,

My brown-red bantam pair got first place at the NE ARK Distict Fair and other counties want me get birds to their kids for next year\'s fairs. So apparently some interest is increasing in this area, the process is glacially slow. \"The struggle is the glory.\"

Greg