By Kathy Brown.
Last Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019 at the Northeast Poultry Congress held on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Mass., Amy Wiknik, age 14, and Jake Cook, age 12, both from Haddam, and students at Haddam Killingworth Middle School, took home a few prizes. Amy won:
- Champion English Breed – Buff Orpington (also won Super Grand Champion of Junior Show)
- Cock Bird Reserve English (with an Australorp cock bird),
- Champion Asiatic (with a Black Langshan cock bird), and
- Champion A.O.S.B. (any other standard breed) with a Sumatra cock bird.
Jake won Reserve Champion A.O.C.C.L. (any other comb clean leg) with a bantam breed.
Jake also participated in the poultry shows at the Haddam Neck Fair, Durham Fair, and Portland Fair, and had birds that won ribbons and awards at all of them. Amy showed at the 4H Fair, Chester Fair, Haddam Neck Fair, Guilford Fair, Durham Fair, Portland Fair, and the Connecticut Poultry Breeders Show in June in Connecticut, as well as the New England Bantam Club spring and fall show in Walpole, Mass., and Little Rhody Poultry Fanciers Spring Show in Rhode Island.
“After visiting the Congress to support Amy the past few years, her and her mom finally convinced me to show my birds I’ve been raising,” said Jake. “Much to my surprise, my bantam Buckeye rooster got onto the Juniors champion row. Overall, I had a great experience and can’t wait for next year’s Poultry Congress.”
“Jake works hard conditioning his birds so that they meet the ‘show quality’ standards,” explained Jake’s mother, Marie Cook. “His father, Dave, and I are very proud of his hard work and dedication that he continues to have with his chickens and are very happy to see him be rewarded for his efforts.”
There were 2654 poultry in the Northeast Poultry Congress, of which 389 were in the Junior Show.
“[I’m] very proud of my daughter who has shown in this competition since 2012,” said Kim Nedza, Amy’s mother. “She raised all of her birds from young chicks. The motto of this show was ‘from chicks to champs.’ Also I would like to acknowledge our local feed store, Red Barn Feed, for providing Blue Seal feed for these exceptional birds!”
Amy said about her experience at the Poultry Congress, “I feel since I won the show, people might think that backyard farmers have great poultry too! It was a very big accomplishment of my hard work. This show was a great learning experience for me and probably for many more people.”
We look forward to hearing about more ribbons and awards from Haddam’s young backyard farmers.
Photos by Kim Nedza.
Congrats to both Amy and Jake. Goes to show hard work pays off. You both should be very proud. As Amy’s Grandmother I am very proud of her hard work keeping her chickens in top condition for all the shows they go to.