Published on August 24, 2005

Three-year-old Lilly Lockamy of Glover captured the coveted best hen in show trophy for showing her gorgeous Araucana hen. The curious bond between owner and bird might have contributed to the victory as both seemed to possess an uncanny ability to charm with but a glance.   Photos by Richard Creaser

BARTON — Justin Darling of Glover had a rabbit with a pedigree and was hoping he’d show well on a cool Thursday afternoon at the Orleans County Fair in Barton.  He’d picked up Buckshot, a Rex rabbit, at a fair a year ago when Buckshot was himself just a year old.

Preparing his rabbit to show involved few changes to Buckshot’s regular routine, explained Justin.  One technique involved setting the rabbit’s cage on the fresh grass giving the animal some fresh greens to nibble on, he said.

“He really likes carrots,” he added, feeding his bunny one of the delectable orange roots.  “Though once I tried to feed him this small piece and he nibbled on my finger instead of the carrot.”

Luckily a rabbit’s teeth are better suited to nibbling carrots and blades of grass than human digits, and Justin escaped the incident unharmed and

Justin Darling of Glover proudly shows his Rex rabbit Buckshot. Justin plans on expanding his rabbit empire by finding a suitable female to mate with his blue ribbon-winning bunny.

undeterred.  In fact, seeing the two of them together, one can easily pick up on the easy camaraderie between boy and bunny.

“When you first pick him up he’s a little bit squirmy,” said Justin.  “But once you hold him for a bit he’s fine.”

Though Buckshot is his first personal rabbit, Justin has his eye to the future and was busy examining some of the females being offered up for sale.

“I’d like to get a female and start raising my own rabbits some time,” he explained.  “My dad used to have a bunch of rabbits on our farm so I’ve been around them before.”

Trevor Royer of Irasburg brings a wealth of personal experience to rabbit showing.  His mini Rex rabbit Butterfingers is a mature four-year-old, he said.  Butterfingers is himself a veteran having garnered a blue ribbon at last year’s show.

A steady diet of grain, hay, and fresh grass has kept his rabbit in fine form, said Trevor.  A good toenail clipping and some brushing to keep him clean and shiny is all of the preparation he needed to do in order to get Butterfingers ready for the fair.

The advantages of raising rabbits are pretty clear to anyone who has spent any time around them, he said.

“They don’t eat a lot, they’re soft, and they don’t make a lot of noise,” explained Trevor.

His sister Kiana Royer offers a simpler appeal for raising rabbits and showing her own rabbit named Jo-Jo.

“He’s furry,” she said.  “And he’s at the fair….”

Sharing the barn with the rabbits are a host of magnificent birds with their own handlers close by to ensure their poultry shows at its best.  Logan Courage of East Craftsbury proudly displays his bird and that of his sister Reid Cahoon.  The pair brought along a couple of fine Rhode Island reds from the family farm.

The judges were very thorough in their examination of every rabbit and hen entered for judging at the Orleans County Fair. Justin Darling of Glover discovered that he absolutely needed to see what was happening. “I’d like to get a ribbon but a trophy would be good, too,” he said as he peeked through a gap in the door to see what he could see.

“Susie’s a little skittish around strangers,” said Logan as he tried to corral his bird to show her velvety red plumage to its best effect.

Susie also proved extraordinarily adept at dodging grasping hands and ignoring commands.  Back home, however, Lucy was the undisputed leader of the flock, said Logan.

Surprisingly these chickens actually possessed some tricks, though they seemed unwilling to display their talents.  It may simply have been a clever poultry ploy to deny an advantage to their competitors.

“You can actually get Susie to stand on your shoulder, and she’ll stay there even if you walk,” said Logan.  “Lucy will stand on your head and do the same thing.  It’s pretty cool.”

Another chicken, this one a white-crested black Polish, didn’t need fancy tricks to impress the crowd.  With a crest of head feathers that would make Don King proud, Hatsy strutted along the floor as her owner Emma English of Glover looked on.

“It’s nice to see more birds being shown this year,” said Emma’s mom, Amy English.  “Last year there were only four entries, and we were like, how can’t we win something?”

Indeed, this year boasted a strong field of entries including the eventual winner of the best hen award.  A reddish colored Araucana belonging to three-year-old Lilly Lockamy of Glover won the coveted best hen in show prize.  Fortunately for the chicken champ, the trophy was smaller than the actual bird.

Lilly’s prize-winning hen featured incredible tortoise-shell coloration and an uncharacteristic glimmer of intelligence in her brown eyes.  Perched

Trevor Royer of Irasburg gives his sister Kiana a hand by brushing her mini Rex rabbit Jo-Jo in the minutes before judging commenced. Trevor also showed his own mini Rex rabbit, a previous blue ribbon winner named Butterfingers.

upon her mistress’ lap it seemed inevitable that such a fine bird would win the approval of the judges.  If such a bird could earn the adoration of a three-year-old girl, the judges never stood a chance of evading her charms.