Show time or bath time?

Chickens in waiting.
Our kids have been showing chickens with the 4-H group for about 5 to 6 years. And they have learned a lot about what it takes to get them ready for show. Most people don't or can't believe that we do all that we do to get them ready, and of course we get the belly laughs as we tell them how we do this. So I thought I would share with my blog friends what all they have to do with them before show time. (Of course, this is the first year that mom and dad, didn't have to help with this. yeah!)

1) You bathe them, yes, you give them a bath. If they are a certain color, 9 out of 10 where white, they had to use Palmolive, White and Brite and Dove to bring out the white.

Yes, you do have to use a bathtub or bucket of some sort. That's what the kids are using.

You have to rinse between washings.

This is the purple stuff, if you don't put it on your hands first you will have a purple chicken. Rub it into your hands then put it on the chicken.

Once done, rinse as soon as possible or you have a purple chicken.

2)Then dry. You must wrap in towel so that all the water will come out of their feathers then you can blow dry, yes blow dry. No, we didn't get any pictures blow drying them, but we do have to do that so they don't catch a cold and their feathers will fluff up.

3) Your done and it is time to take them to the show! This time it's the county fair, next state fair. And you have to do it all over again before you take them to the state fair. For less then a month you have some pretty clean chickens. Bug free.

I am so thankful that God gave me a husband that loves the farm and all his animals. Yes, we do some wierd stuff to our birds but it is worth it for the kids.

Kyle received on 2 of his birds, Best of Breed White Old English hen and Reserve Champain Wyandotte hen and Rachel received Reserve Grand Champain on her Large Fowl Rhode Island Red rooster. They both received 1st and 2nd place on all of the others. They did very well.