Wellington 4-H poultry meetings clucking away

Early April marked the start of the Wellington 4-H poultry club. It was great to see so many familiar faces and a few new ones.

Once again we were on Zoom with our leaders and friends.

This meeting did have a very different start this year, as our youth leader, Graham, began helping our members understand more about the bird flu impacting the poultry industry.

The bird flu, also known as avian influenza, is a growing concern with several flocks and is spreading around locally and nationally.

It is important for farmers and bird owners to practice good biosecurity and follow control zone protocols to keep their birds safe.

The next topic involved learning more about how birds are hatched.

Our leader, June, showed us a video on the topic. It takes a long time for the birds to hatch.

A lot of our members are excited their own birds will be hatching soon. We have new incubators to use this year thanks to a grant from the Grand River Agricultural Society.

On April 26 the club held its second meeting. We started with the 4-H pledge and I provided updates from our first meeting.

After, leader Graham showed us a video about chicken embryo development and what it looks like inside an egg.

Leader June showed us a slideshow about 17 different types of chicken breeds around the world.

A lot of people assume there are only two choices of egg colour, when, in fact, there are many others – even green.