Deschutes County Chicken Fair!

We tried something new this year, showing and selling chickens!  The girls have been working very hard on breeding quality silkie chickens and decided to advance their knowledge by joining a 4h chicken club.  They also raised meat birds this year and sold them at the 4h auction!  The whole experience was informative and I think the girls learned a lot!

Chickens are pretty darn dirty creatures, so of course the all needed a bath before taking them to fair!  The girls bathed at least a dozen chickens, but it very well could have been a few more than that!

Getting all the birds health tested before bringing them into the fair! 

This is Charles.  He ended up being best male chicken out of every chicken in the show! 

The judge comes around to all the meat birds and identifies which pen is the best.  Ava was champion for the fryer pen! I think we just got lucky this year as we had no knowledge as to what was actually being judged.  Next year we will be very prepared! 

Chicken Showmanship time!  The judge will ask each member different questions about poultry and even specific questions about the breed that you are showing.  The member also has to demonstrate proper handling and walking! 

George got a blue ribbon in Showmanship.  George is a very good rooster that we all love! 

Lucy's birds (which are actually ALL the girls birds) won champion male and female out of all the chickens at the fair! Great work girls!  Your knowledge and dedication to your birds is really paying off! 

The club! 

Chris and snuck away for a bit to grab a beer and a little alone time before heading to the Chris Janson concert that night! 

Making our way to the chicken auction!  Unfortunately Ava got pretty sick the day of the auction and was unable to attend... Maddie stepped in and auctioned off Ava's birds and did a great job! 

 

I spy with my little eye... an imposter!

 

Wait, what just happened?!?!?!

I think that Chris and I need to get our heads examined.  Yes, yes we do.  Here's the story... Maddie has two horses.. Lucy is getting a baby horse in the spring of 2022 after we were unable to breed Stella.  So, Ava wanted a project of her own.  She originally wanted a dog, which Chris and I were against, so she researched cats, goats, llamas, alpacas, and horses.  In the end, she somehow convinced us to let her have a puppy.  So, meet Annie! The newest member of the Siler household! :-)   We drove all the way to Plummer, Idaho the day after horse fair to go pick her up!  I think we need a month to recover from all the traveling we have been doing!

Fishing at Three Creeks Lake!

 

1st 4h fair in Deschutes county with Tumalo Bits N' Boots!

 Final results?  Lucy qualified for state in Showmanship, English, and Western!  Ava was all around champion for working cow horse in her division!  What a wonderful way to come back to 4h!

Grandview fire, just 6 miles from our home!

This fire started and escalated quickly.  The winds and heat added to the stress of it all!  The fire was 6 miles Northeast of our home.  We were less that 1/4 mile from level 2 evacuation and less that 1 mile from level 3.  We got ready, just in case... thankfully the firefighters and air support got this fire under control after 3 days!

 

Happy 19th Birthday Madeline!

For Maddie's 19th birthday we decided to go rafting on the very cold Mackenzie river.  We had a rafting guide, but I honestly don't think we needed one.  We ended the day with... well, can you guess by this point?  Yes, spaghetti and chocolate cake!