By Ashley Ramer
On March 21st, Brevard High School’s Poultry team went to Raleigh to compete in the North Carolina State Poultry CDE.
Poultry team members, Faith Farmer, Haley Clark, and Hannah Field, placed 12th in the state, only 127 points from first place.
In poultry judging, several skills are required to place. Members must learn to identify chicken breeds, distinguish between a layer and a broiler, grade eggs, and give reasons for why they placed a bird/egg.
To identify chicken breeds, one must be knowledgeable about breed characteristics of hens. Several breed characteristics include having a rose comb to a single comb, laying a brown egg instead of a white egg, having feathered feet rather than having non feathered feet, or being red instead of white. Several popular breeds judged by the team were Leghorns, Ameraucanas, and Black Sex linked.
When judging an egg, the exterior must be judged first. The egg is placed on it’s side and cannot be picked up or moved by a team member. They must look closely for calcium deposits, cracks, feathers, dirt, blood, or anything that will bring the egg’s grade down.
When judging the interior of the egg, members are given a device called a bright light which allows them to see the interior of an egg. For an egg to be grade AA quality, it must have an air pocket smaller than a dime. The smaller the air pocket, the fresher the egg. The egg must also be free of blood spots and have an intact yolk.
Brevard High School congratulates its poultry team and looks forward to next year’s competition.