The Nowra Poultry Club held its 61 annual show on Sunday, July 15, with the involvement of children as exhibitors and stewards showing that poultry keeping has a bright future in the Shoalhaven.
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The show attracted around 370 entries including entries from the far south coast, the Illawarra and the Central Tablelands.
Many entries were from children and teenagers.
Amongst the noise of all those entries and the unmistakable sound of roosters, the children seemed right at home, making sure that their exhibits were looking the best for the competition.
Thirteen-year-old Connor Barca had a busy time preparing his splash Marans for his first poultry show.
To bring them up to their best for the judges, he washed and rinsed them, scrubbed their feet, dried them off in the sun, and oiled their combs.
His efforts and his confidence about his exhibits were rewarded when he won the Champion Junior Breeding Pair.
Connor said that he was born into a family where looking after chickens were part of the family routines and that he learned to appreciate chickens from his mum.
“The chickens are beautiful to look at with all their different colours and the best thing is that they lay eggs,” Connor said.
“I really like the eggs fried, scrambled, boiled – anyway and they are the best.”
Connor spends about an hour a day looking after his chickens, but like all teenagers enjoys a sleep in on the weekends when his mum takes over the morning chicken duties.
Ella Heald, also thirteen, took on the challenge of being a Junior Steward, supporting the judges to record winners and placegetters and pin judge’s awards on the pens.
Ella got involved with poultry at her high school’s chicken club where other friends have also got to understand that it’s pretty exciting when you get a new chicken.
Ella loves the Pekin chicken breeds.
“They are so fluffy and friendly, they come around your feet and chitter to you,” Ella said.
“I really like looking at them and they make me feel happy.”
Ella also has Barnevelder chickens and it was a proud moment when she won Junior Champion Soft Feather Large for one of her barnies.
Local high schools have strong poultry programs and are actively involved with agricultural shows and poultry exhibitions.
Vincentia High School had numerous entries in the Nowra Show, doing well with waterfowl and chickens.
Vincentia High’s Indian Runner duck was a standout.
Nowra High School supported the show with help wherever it was needed.
The students develop great skills in not only poultry keeping but also build their confidence in presentation and public speaking, as well as in poultry wrangling.
The 2018 Nowra Poultry Show is organised by the Nowra Poultry Club with support from many local sponsors.
It holds monthly meetings from 7pm on the fourth Wednesday of each month, at the Poultry Pavilion, Nowra Showground.
The Nowra Poultry Club also has a Facebook page where you can read more about the recent show.