Bucks for clucks: 4-H Poultry Chain has rich local history

After a lengthy run over the past seven decades, Franklin County’s 4-H Poultry Chain program continues to attract young people wanting to grow varieties of chickens.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, more than 50 people gathered on the front lawn of the Franklin County Courthouse for the annual show and sale that featured 11 young growers demonstrating what they spent months nurturing.

“This outreach has been going on for close to 70 years with young people from across the county signing up to get their 25 chicks each April,” Franklin County Extension Service Agent Keith Whitehead said.

“The 4-H program pays for the chicks and the participants bring five back in October for the show and sale. The reason we do this is for young people to learn about agriculture and personal responsibility.”

Whitehead said a great deal is learned by youth when they gladly take on the task of caring for something that is totally dependent on them.

“There are a lot of life skills that you can learn from this effort, and that’s one of the driving forces behind 4-H, which seeks to develop young people to be their very best in life,” he continued.
“The better these young people do in raising their birds, the nicer the birds look and have the potential to wind up as the county champion.”

With five birds returned by each participant for the show and sale, the chickens are ultimately sold at auction with the proceeds returned to 4-H to keep the Poultry Chain initiative going for years to come.

“The money generated on Saturday from the sale will cover the cost of chicks in 2023,” Whitehead continued. “Every dollar that is generated benefits local children. Last year, we had 33 sets of birds and few buyers and this year we had 11 sets with bids ranging between $30 and $100 (per bird in lots of five) and there were a lot of buyers.”

In 2022, the 4-H program originally had 13 sets of birds that went out through the program, but two families opted to keep their chickens and compensated the outreach to let them stay in their families.

Franklin County resident and 4-H volunteer Barry Tyson returned as the auctioneer for the sale and praised the interest seen in the chickens displayed.

“It was definitely a buyer’s market and the people bidding really liked what they saw,” Tyson said. “These young people do a great job with the Poultry Chain and their interest will keep it going for years to come.”

Prior to the actual sale, all birds were judged by Franklin County Career and Technical Center agriculture instructor Courtney Wilson, who was involved in the Poultry Science program at Mississippi State University.

Branch and Oakleigh Cowart, ages 5 and 3, respectively, took top honors following the judging and were presented with a trophy.

Whitehead and Wilson praised the quality of birds brought to the show — characterizing this year’s sales group as some of the best they had seen.

“When you see the results of their efforts, these young people did a great job and we hope more will participate in the coming year,” Whitehead noted.

For details on the Poultry Chain project, call 601-384-2349 or visit the Extension Service office at 20 Walnut Street in Meadville.