By Karen Hall

Editor

4H members who received day-old chicks on April 5 presented them for show and sale this week, and many were already laying eggs.

The chickens were all black sex links with the same genetics, so all participants started at the same level. The 4-H members ranged in age from 4th to 9th graders. About 30 bought chickens in April, and 22 brought their hens to the Expo Center on Robin Hood Road Tuesday for the show and sale.

State veterinarian Dr. Jill Johnson started work at 3:30 p.m. checking every single hen for bird flu, with a throat swab, and for salmonella with a drop of blood.

Because Tennessee is such a big poultry producing state, she said, this testing keeps big producers like Tyson happy because it assures them domestic poultry are not harboring deadly diseases.

The judge was Candace Hartsfield who works at the Coop in Lawrence County, and helps with the poultry club there. She went from cage to cage, looking carefully at all the birds, and lifting out at least two of each group of five for a closer look.

"It's a long time since I judged this many birds," she exclaimed when the judging was over. "I know it was a lot of hard work, but hopefully it paid off. I hope you enjoyed it, and continue to raise chickens."

Hartsfield explained she was looking for uniformity in all five hens in each pen. She also checked for pigment loss which shows how long a hen has been laying, and capacity of the hen's body (measured in finger widths) which indicates how good a layer she will be. And finally Hartsfield made sure all the hens looked healthy and alert, with bright, upright combs.

Quite a few 4H-ers took their chickens home after the results were announced, but the rest remained for the sale.

County Mayor Joe Boyd Liggett was the auctioneer, and said he looks forward to doing this job every year.

"We're not here to buy the cheapest thing," Liggett cautioned potential buyers. "We're here to help the 4H program. Be kind to them."

All proceeds go direct to the 4H member who raised the chickens.

The highest price paid was $30 per bird for grand champions.

"165 chickens were shown and 106 were sold at an average price of $14.68/bird," wrote Extension Agent Rob Augustin in an email the next day. Augustin is the agent in charge of 4-H and was the organizer of the show and sale. He was helped by 4-Hers Claire and Kendall Garrell who are active in the 4-H cattle program.