Lesson 1502 – More Chicken Photos from the Northeastern Poultry Congress

Here are a few more photos from the Northeastern Poultry Congress. As you can tell, I’m rather intrigued with close-ups.

My friend, Lauren Scheuer, was there with these delightful *handmade* “Lucy’s”  Read her book Once Upon a Flock to discover who Lucy is.  I now have my very own Lucy sitting on the mantle.

Just look at those baby blues!

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Lesson 1501 – Chicken Photos from the Northeastern Poultry Congress

 

Things have been busy lately, but I wanted to share some photos I took from the Northeastern Poultry Congress – which is essentially the Northeastern Westminster Dog show of chickens.

If you’ve never been to a poultry show, do yourself a favor and check one out. You’ll you be amazed at all the different breeds, you’ll learn things about chickens, and you might even bump into a friend or two.

The birds are kept in small cages during the show (which typically lasts a weekend.) They are viewed, judged, and winners are chosen.

Although it’s easy to feel sorry for birds in stark cages, here’s the good thing about that situation – as anyone who has tried to take photos of chickens knows, it can be near impossible – chickens are constantly moving – when they are in a tight place, you’ve got a better chance for photos.

Here are some of mine from the weekend.

This egg is so fresh you can still see the bloom on it.

And now for a truly colorful cast of characters.

Lesson 1196 – The view of a Poultry Show from a teen

Okay, this will be the last post (for now anyway) with photos from the Northeastern Poultry Congress. You’ve seen my view of the show, you’ve seen my husband’s view, and now ….. it’s time to see what a 15 year old girl thinks of the poultry show.

Before we left, we gave a camera to my youngest daughter Emma and told her to go ahead and take all the photos she wanted. Many of her shots were blurred, (darn those quick moving birds) but she did manage to get a few really good shots.

Apparently, Emma likes chicken eye detail just as much as the rest of us do.

And she thinks that sleeping chickens are darling.

Tom turkeys are worthy of attention.

Lesson 1195 – Ready for my closeup

Chickens are notoriously difficult to photograph. Many won’t let you get close enough, and if they do, they are always turning their heads to get a better view of you (the potential danger.) Chicken photographers know that for every good photo you got, there were at least 10 (if not more) blurry ones that needed to be deleted.

This is why poultry shows are a chicken photographer’s best friend. The bird is in a small cage which is lifted onto a table at a perfect viewing angle which stacks the odds in your favor. You are allowed to get very close and if are patient, you’ll end up getting shots like these, taken by my husband; Marc.

Lesson 1194 – Scenes from a Poultry Show

This past weekend, Marc, Emma, and I went to the Northeast Poultry Congress. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Poultry shows, think Westminster Dog Show but with feathers.

I’ve been going to the show for years to meet up with co-fowl friends, as well as to see and be amazed by all the many, many different kinds of poultry. Here are just a few photos from the show – prepare to be amazed.

Yes, there is a chicken in there.

Lesson 955 – *sigh*

Just wanted to let you know that our household has joined the millions of other unadorned households around the world. What was once this:

Has now become this:

Lesson 953 – If I could turn back time

In the fall we have a family tradition where if you catch a falling leaf and then put it under your pillow, the Fall Fairy stops by during the night to leave you a new pair of (often beautiful and) warm socks in preparation for the coming winter.

I post this picture now because when looking back through my photos, I saw it and thought, oh to have the days of Fall again. Yup, I’d rather have a brown yard, that needs to be raked (but where I could still wear shorts and a tee-shirt) than this these days.

Lesson 952 – The crow of the cock

(the video should work now, thanks for letting me know there was a problem)

At the Poultry Congress (and I swear, I’m almost ready to stop talking about it) I managed to capture some roosters crowing. In the following clip I want you to notice a few things:

• As it is with the Grinch – the noise, the noise, the noise, noise, noise, noise! – Poultry shows are *very* loud. I actually feel sorry for the birds who must be overwhelmed by the end of the day (I know I was.) Most of them spend the night in their cages.

Lesson 951 – 100% Male

This duck is supposed to look like this –

Those red bumps around the bill are called “wattles”,  those of the male being larger and more brightly colored than the females. Their purpose is to allow the males to attract attention from the ladies.

Apparently, this bad boy is all male.

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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at Wendy@SimpleThrift.com

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Lesson 950 – Born behind bars

I’m getting to the end of my Poultry Congress photos but I do have a few left that I wanted to share (and thanks for all the feedback on how you appreciate seeing the different kinds of chickens – this is nothing, if you are intrigued by these photos then make it a point to visit your nearest Poultry Congress, you won’t be disappointed.)

When Chickens are kept in cages for hours at a time, the inevitable sometimes happens.

Try as you might, (and I know from experience with my 6 kids) when you’ve got to push, you’ve got to push. Ain’t nothing gonna stop that train once it’s left the station.