"Chook-mad kids who desperately wanted a class pet knew they were onto winners when their first egg was a double-yolker.
Elated grade five and six students from Timboon P-12 School have come home champions after winning a blue ribbon for their informative poster and the overall primary school prize - based on points - for three of their chooks at the Melbourne Show's School Poultry Competition. Grade five student Imogen Woods said it'd been "an amazing experience". It was very exciting when we first found out," she said. "Our little chicken babies have come real far since we first got them. Our first egg was a double-yolker. "The good thing about the chickens is they have different personalities. Chirp is lazy and relaxed, KFC is more adventurous - he goes in the bushes - Queen Pecksalot is just bossy, T-Rex is like KFC but a little less well-behaved, Little Johnny is just little." Teacher Carly Burnett said the children would be allowed to keep the five chickens - which would be on display at the upcoming Camperdown Show - and some of the older students were working on building a larger cage.
"They were all very much involved in the process, they took turns looking after them and it's been a very good bonding experience for all the children involved," she said. "The kids were just so determined, they really wanted that classroom pet.
"They have such a love for these chickens, it's ridiculous." Ms Burnett explained the school came first by accumulating the most points based on different categories including how many eggs were laid during the show, information on the poster and overall quality of the birds."
We would like to thank Pat Wallace who faciliated the School's entry and to Ben Boyd from Ridleys Agriproducts for supplying bags of Growers and Golden Yolk pellets for our prize winning chooks! Check out our judging sheet below