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(http://www.afn.org/~poultry)
May 2003 |
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(http://www.afn.org/~poultry)
May 2003 |
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In This Issue:
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NEXT MEETING:8:00 PM SHARP Friday, April 23 at the Pavilion in the garden behind the Mounts Building located at 531 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach - directly across from Palm Beach International Airport approximately 1/4 mile north of Southern Blvd. |
Hello to everyone out there in Poultry Land.
There isn't alot going on around here this time of year. How ever, last Sunday, on the 27th, we held our annual picnic. There was food, food and more food along with some great steaks. Thanks to everyone for all the great side dishes you furnished and for coming out to enjoy the day. The picnic is always a day where we can relax and chat. All business is put off until our next meeting in May. Our thanks to Mike Robinson and Don Myerscough for shopping and cooking.
I talked to Kim Belvin about the sanctioned show. Things seem to be moving forward in the right direction. Although there wasn't alot to report maybe more news will be available at the May meeting.
I talked to Janice at Wellington Feed about furnishing feed for the Fair next year and she indicated that they would be happy to do that. One less thing to worry about. In the next few months I will talk to KFC about boxes and Brenda's Bloomers about plants.
The third annual Sweet Corn Fiesta was held in the Yesteryear Village on Sunday, May 4. Although we were not scheduled to work, alot of Poultry Fanciers showed up to have some fun. For a change, it was nice to just be out there and not have to work. We had John with us and he won a corn shucking contest. That was fun. There was some good country music and lots of games and rides for the kids.
The new Director of the Mounts Gardens will be a guest at our next meeting.
We need to put all the stuff purchased for Kids Korner in a box so it can
be handed on to the next person doing the job. Up for May is Rhonda Lewis.
There is some kind of sale going on in the Gardens about a week after our
next meeting and I talked to quite a few at the picnic and it didn't generate
alot of interest. It seems no one wants to sell anything at this time. We
can have a real discussion this meeting. That's all there is boys and girls,
see you soon. ~Lee 
Two local PBCPFA members competed in the All-Youth Poiultry Show in Bartow FL on May 3, 2003.
Chelsea Eppenbaugh won Best of Breed on a Black East Indie duck, and Reserve Bantam Waterfowl on the same bird.
Kaitlin Van Heusen won Best of Breed on a White Call drake; and that bird also went on to win Best Bantam Waterfowl and Champion Waterfowl.
Kaitlin also won 2nd place in Showmanship ages1012 while showing a Dutch bantam.
Congratulations!
Longtime PBCPFA member Catherine Laughlin turns 91 soon. All PBCPFA members are invited to her birthday party at Cracker Barrel on 45th St. in West Palm, Thursday, June 5 at 1:30pm. She would love to see you!
"We Are Crowing For YOU!"
Urban Chic
by Amanda Onion, ABC News, July 23, 2003
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More and more urban and suburban elite are moving beyond keeping poodles and cats and adopting another kind of animal to coddle: the chicken.
"They're just so relaxing to watch," says Robin Fox, a Miami resident who began keeping chickens in her apartment in the late 1990s. "They're friendly birds, they're fluffy and they give you eggs. Dogs don't give you eggs."
While some immigrants have long recognized the benefits of keeping chickens in urban lots (free fresh eggs and chicken breasts) the concept appears to have taken flight, so to speak, among urban yuppies and suburban elite who build elaborate coops for their flocks.
And then there is Fox, who says she must have chickens in her life, no matter the inconvenience.
"The only problem is they can't be potty trained. You have to change their paper every day," says Fox who reports some of her furniture is spotted by chicken droppings but she's sure only she can see the stains.
Steven Keel, the owner of Egganic Industries in Ringgold, Va., says that sales of his elaborate $1,500 Henspas low-maintenance, high-comfort homes designed for urban and suburban chickens are up 15 percent. The McMurray Hatchery in Webster City, Iowa, reports they're sending more mail-order chicks (ranging in cost from about $1 to $5 per chick) to addresses in upper-class suburbs.
And the City Chicken Workshop sessions at the Seattle Tilth Association have been filled to standing-room only. The two-hour classes held four times a year teach new chicken owners the basics in building coops and keeping their animals healthy. Director Pamela Burton says they'll soon be adding classes.
"The demand is too great," she says. "We're thinking we'll have a beginning chicken class and then add intermediate classes." What's there to learn about keeping chickens in urban lots? For starters, says Burton, it's good to know if it's legal.
The city of Seattle allows residents to keep up to three small animals, including chickens. New York, Los Angeles and Miami ban chickens in private lots, though many residents ignore the rule. Other cities that permit keeping chickens include Key West, FL.; St. Louis, MO.; and Mason City, Iowa.
Brooklyn's Lonely Wild Rooster Gets a Harem
Even if a city allows residents to keep live poultry, chicken owners stress that keeping their neighbors happy is also key since unhappy neighbors can lead to chicken evictions.
"The trickiest part is making sure they blend in," says Bart Pals who keeps about 25 chickens in his 50-foot by 250-foot backyard city lot in Mason City, Iowa. "We also give eggs to our neighbors. That helps."
To ensure his chickens "blend in" and look pleasant, Pals plants petunias around his hens' cages and keeps the pens clean.
Others go to more extremes.
A recent show by the Seattle Tilth Association (www.seattletilth.org) featured the latest in chic coop designs. Among the most elaborate was a seven-part cedar structure including a fully-insulated main tower with sand-blasted glass windows decorated with etchings of chicks and hens. The coop has four windows, complete with screen and storm windows, a thatched roof and a swinging drawbridge.
The owner, Ray Nichol, declined to speculate on how much he had spent on the abode but told the Seattle Times, "Chickens could care less. But if you're going to have them as pets, it's not much of a leap to make their habitat something you can enjoy looking at"
Another important rule, says Seattle Tilth instructor Jennifer Carlson, is to "avoid the boys" roosters, that is. Roosters are likely to annoy the neighborhood with their crowing while the females stick to what Carlson calls "soothing clucking" sounds.
"I have my cup of coffee out by the coop in the morning and watch the girls," says Carlson, who lives in Seattle. "It's a very nice way to start the day." As Carlson suggests, many urban chicken owners derive more than eggs and poultry from their feathered pets.
Cook, who kept up to three chickens on her second-floor balcony of her previous apartment, swears her chickens recognize and run toward her when she walks in. Trisha Anderson, who keeps chickens in her suburban lot in Northern California, likes comparing her hens to her co-workers after a frustrating day at the office.
Keel argues chickens can fill a spiritual hole in an increasingly technology-focused society. Keel, himself, sells computers to earn his primary living and produces his Henspas as a side business and hobby.
"People sit in a cubicle or an office and they want to be able to touch something real," he says. "Chickens don't take much time, but if you want you can set up a chair and stare into their eyes all day. There's something therapeutic about a chicken."
Cook, a trance music performer, says it wasn't a technical society, but a Martha Stewart moment that led her to the joys of keeping chickens.
"Martha Stewart is my idol," Cook said about the domestic marketing queen. "When I saw her on TV with her chickens, I realized that is it. That is exactly what I want."
"We Are Crowing For YOU!"
Frizzles According To The Standard
by Glenda Heygood, National Frizzle Club Of America
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The NFCOA is on a movement to educate the public, which includes our Members, Judges and Show Secretaries on the grouping of Frizzles at the show room, and the way to judge Frizzles according to the ABA (American Bantam Association) and APA (American Poultry Association) Standard.
Some of the clubs still put the frizzles throughout the breeds, instead of grouping the frizzles in one area of the show barn according to Breed Types.
BREED IS FRIZZLE: BREED TYPE is Rocks, Cochins, Silkies, Cornish, Leghorn, Polish etc. through the breeds.
CLASSES are Featherleg, RCCL (Rose Comb Clean Leg), SCCL (Single Comb Clean Leg), AOCCL (All Other Combs Clean Leg), OE (Old English), Modern Game, with no ducks frizzled in the Bantams.
The APA goes according to their breed classes of Asiatic, Mediterranean, AOCCL, American, English, Continental in large fowl. With Bantams as listed also.
The APA has the only Frizzled Waterfowl-the Sebastopol Geese. They are in the Medium Goose Class, but can be champion frizzle. They are left in the waterfowl section of the show barn and when champion Frizzle is ready to be judged they are looked at also.
all of you that are showing frizzles need get the show secretary to instruct the Judges that when he finishes up judging classes to bring the Best Frizzle to the Aisle where the class that it is in is being considered, then it is judged against other regular feathered birds in that class for champion of class.
Like wise all champion Frizzles need be judged against their counterparts in the breed classes, if they win champion frizzle.
Classes being Feather leg, RCCL, SCCL, AOCCL, OE, Modern Game in Bantams and the APA classes in Large fowl. Also Champion Medium Goose class. Then any of the champion Frizzles wins their class as champion of class they then can go on to become Champion Of Show.
Winning CHAMPION FRIZZLE, THEN CHAMPION OF CLASS, THEN CHAMPION OF SHOW
American Bantam Association Standard states on page 92 & 93 the description of Frizzles for the show secretaries Also Judges. Also then have them go to page 9 Under Frizzles for the placing of the frizzles in the show barn. And the Judges instructions are on Page 8 to be read and studied.
American Poultry Association Standard wording for Frizzles is on page 189 and 190 Under Listing of FRIZZLE giving descriptions as to breeds of frizzles to be judged. Since 1996 the APA has had it in the standard for all Frizzles to be judged like the ABA has done since the 1980s. So that the judging was unified according to the ABA and APA for judges.
What needs to be done is all members of the ABA and APA fanciers and Judges need to carry a standard to shows and refer to them when Judging.
Write the NFCOA: P.O. Box 1647, Easley SC 29641. Email me at frizzlebird6@yahoo.com.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL There are a total of 55 fairs in the state of Florida. The South Florida Fair is tops according to the Florida Federation of Fairs which made the selection. The coveted "Superior Award and Champion Regional Fair" is the organization's highest honor.
"It is through the efforts of the Board of Trustees and Directors, our staff and our many volunteers that we are allowed to accomplish this milestone," said Brantley "Buck" Christian, South Florida Fair President and Chief Executive Officer (and PBCPFA member). "With over seven million people attending Florida fairs, this is a recognition to proud of."
The award is designed to reward and recognize fairs for special excellence in fair operations and service to their community. It is judged on a criteria of exhibits, competitive entries, scholarships.
"We Are Crowing For YOU!"
2003 Meeting Meal Schedule
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NEWSLETTER ARTICLES, PICTURES, SUGGESTIONS NEEDED!
Please send any of the above to:
Mike Schmidt,
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10 Mallard ducklings- 2 mo. old, $10 each sexed, Mike Robinson, 561-968-0940.
Baby chicks: Ameracanas, Barred Rocks, Japanese, Phoenix, hatching weekly. Call Joe or Nancy @ 561-753-2881.
Buff Rock Chicks, Mary Ann Van Heusen, 561-795-6510.
Laying Reds, Silkies, OE, etc, Call Viickie, 561-792-5671
South Florida Fairgrounds, West Palm Beach
(561) 793-0333 www.southfloridafair.com/html/yyv_schedule.html
Newsletter Editor Mike Schmidt
Webmaster Dennis Hawkins
© Copyright 2003 Palm Beach County Poultry Fanciers Association
All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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