Chicken People Page #6

of avian flu

in United States history.

Ohio officials today canceled

all poultry shows this year,

in addition to county fairs

and swap meets.

- A lot of the shows

have been canceled.

And the Ohio national

was one of the main ones

that was canceled.

- These would have been

my Ohio national hopefuls.

But no more--

there's no Ohio national, so...

It was like, darn, you know.

I was, like, so looking forward

to going back

to Ohio nationals.

I just saw on Facebook

a few days ago

that Knoxville was still on,

which is, I believe,

the Tennessee valley

poultry club.

- Okay.

Oh, them stupid guineas.

Early in the year,

we were targeting for Columbus

to be the big show

that I was gonna go to.

We backed it up a month

because Columbus was canceled.

And my light brahmas

were in better shape

a month ago than they are now.

All right, light brahmas.

A lot of molty hens.

In the light brahmas,

some of them were still

in feather for Ohio,

but then they recently molted.

Not quite all there.

Where are you guys at?

I saw one the other day

that looked...

It's disappointing.

I got a lot of nice birds here.

But they just don't have

enough feathers to win.

Here's one that's not too bad.

So that's all I got, for now.

- I really have to think

about the Tennessee thing,

because I don't mind

so much traveling

within a couple hours of home,

but it's, like,

going away overnight.

The whole thought of, like,

driving away from my home,

you know, the comforts

of my safe bubble here--

that's a little weird.

Feels unsure.

I really did not know

exactly what a panic attack was

until I had one.

It's like a snowball effect.

It starts with a little snowball

rolling downhill,

and it turns into

a massive Boulder.

I just don't know

if that's something

that I'm willing to risk

for a show.

- Over the past 20 years

that I've had

the white leghorn bantams,

I've been extremely

successful with them.

And Knoxville's coming up,

and it's like, I've done it.

You know, this year

in particular,

I'm ecstatic.

I'm ecstatic.

Just beautiful.

When I look at this bird,

the tail does not stick out

like, bam, look at that tail.

- Last year, I raised

the best bird I ever raised,

the male that was champion

bantam in Columbus, Ohio.

And I had a really good year

with him reproducing males.

I picked out ten males that

I'm gonna show at Knoxville

that are all sons of that male.

The best ten males I've ever

shown, other than that one.

- I've been thinking

about this for months.

And, yeah,

i want to win Knoxville.

It would be amazing.

I've had that feeling

where you're just afraid

to do something

because you're afraid you're

gonna have a panic attack.

I don't want it to control me.

I want to control it.

Getting ready for Knoxville.

I'll wash today.

I'll wash all day tomorrow.

I'll do straight

12, 14 hours of washing

in one day.

I mean...

Not now.

Not now.

The beard,

his is kind of sparse.

But he has an awesome body.

He is the son of stud muffin,

yes.

Two down, 32 to go.

I'll be washing chickens

for the next 24 hours.

Look at you.

You are a warrior.

- Stop looking at my cock, guys.

"Forrest Gump."

I talked bad about you,

and now you're being sweet.

- I gave her all the trophies.

She was liking it.

This one will go to the show.

- You know, far as it goes

for my breeding goals,

from where I was last year,

I think I definitely improved.

I love the crest shape.

I'm gonna call him

white tornado.

This guy, of course,

needs his bath yet, but...

White tornado.

- When you put them

in warm water,

they just kind of go to sleep.

You actually kind of have

to hold their heads up sometimes

so they don't drown.

- I've seen them get water

in their crop,

and I've seen them choke.

- And I saw a fellow exhibitor

take that bird,

breathe into its mouth...

- I'm resuscitating her.

- Beak-to-mouth,

and resuscitate that bird.

- I think we might have

needed to turn there.

- Are we almost there?

- Uh...Yes.

- In exhibition poultry,

there's a certain order

on how birds are judged.

Where we start out is,

in each color of each breed,

there are four basic classes:

Cock, hen, cockerel,

and pullet.

The first place cock, hen,

cockerel, and pullet

are all evaluated

for best of variety.

Each variety winner is

considered for best of breed.

The best of breed goes on

to compete

for their class champion.

In the bantams,

you have seven classes:

Game bantams,

modern game bantams,

single comb clean leg,

rose comb clean leg.

- Rose comb clean leg

is a class

of all the birds

that have a rose comb

and no feathers on their feet.

- Feather leg,

all other comb clean leg,

and bantam duck.

Hi, rich, how are you?

- Good,

how are you doing?

- Oh, I'm doing well.

- You brought a bunch

of birds, huh?

- Uh, 32, I think.

I'm excited to see them.

God...

Terrible.

You spend months trying to get

a single male in condition,

and you put him

in a show box for five hours,

and all of that work

is out the window.

He's not gonna do a darn thing

with a tail like that.

You work so hard,

and you get to the show,

and they look like garbage.

- Man, there's a lot

of white silkies.

Okay, here, here, here.

- Two males that have lived

at my house their whole life,

right, I take them to the show.

I wonder if they stand

in the cage,

look across the aisle,

and go,

"did you see that black

rose comb female over there?

Wow, she's hot."

Guys do that,

so maybe they do that.

Hey, your cages.

- Oh, thank you, thank you.

- Yes, how you doing?

- Hello, hello.

- Jackie's a great

chicken friend that I have,

probably the most special one.

But she was my girlfriend

for a while.

And Jackie was better

at grooming than me.

She was a dog groomer,

so she's better

at chicken grooming than me

by a lot.

- Well, they line up nice too.

She really lines up good

in rows.

- This is a small chicken.

- Yes.

- But she's good.

- So I got your seal

of approval.

- What? Yeah.

- Thank you.

- Oh, boy.

- That's great.

- Yeah, big-time.

- Everyone knows that Vicki and

shorty are the people to beat,

the top breeders

in the country.

First and second cockerels.

Come on, boys.

- All I want is a crest.

I think I remember

how the back line

is supposed to go

into the tail,

but I'm having some doubts,

so I'm going back to reading

the "standard of perfection."

Thanks, Steve.

Come on out

of the corner, girl.

You have about one minute

to show me your stuff.

More of a real chicken.

I like her mobility.

All right, put her away.

- No freaking way.

- Got stuck at you, girl.

- My gosh.

- He had one of mine

and one of yours.

- Oh, my gosh.

- And he did yours first

and mine second.

- Oh, my gosh.

You really could blow me over

with a feather.

I mean, I'm so excited.

It's so amazing.

Larry, I got

best of variety white.

- What about best of breed?

- Not yet,

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