" When I'm working with my chickens," "I feel that it calms them." "Maybe it doesn't;" "Maybe they hate it." "But, you know... ♪ Someday ♪" "♪ when I'm awfully low ♪" "♪whentheworldiscold♪" "♪I willfeelaglow ♪" "♪ just thinking of you ♪" "♪ just the way you look tonight ♪" "♪♪" "♪♪" " I've studied my "standardofperfection"..." "Time and time and time again." " We're trying to create a bird thatlooksexactly likethe"standard ofperfection."" "That'sa bookthatwas drawn over100yearsago ." "Eachbreedhas anexcellentillustration of what it should look like." "We have a written description of every feather, whatit'sexactly supposedtobe ." "And everyone strives to get the bird as perfectly to that standard as you can." "♪♪" " Instead of reading anovelor ,youknow,fiction," "Igetout mychicken"standard,"" "and I'm constantly striving to educate myself onthingsthatImightnotbe  sowell-versedat ." " If you understand your breed andyouunderstand the" standard,"" "then you know you're confident in what you're raising." "Andyoureallywantthejudge  toseethat." "♪♪" " We've never created aperfectbird, butwe'reallworkingonit ." "That's the goal." " I bet she's happy to get out of that box." " I know." "She's very happy." " Really, mom?" " I can-- - really?" " I've been washing chickens for five days straight." "I mean, every day." "It'ssorewarding." "Whenyouputall thattime  andeffortintosomething andthenyouraiseabird thatmakesit  all the way to champion row and then potentially a best in show," "I mean, what else could you ask for in life?" "That's perfect for me." " When you come totheOhionationals, youexpect tojustgetyourbutt whupped." " All the best breeders arehere." "They all bring their best birds." "Everybodybrings thebeststuff." " There's 10,000 birds here." "Andthere'speople from40-plusstates, andtheyalldowhat Ido,  and they're passionate about it just like I am." " Everyone comes with that goal ultimatelytowinthe show." "I mean, it's like the westminster of the chickens." " Patty has a mind of her own." "She does whatever she wants, whenever she wants." " Oh, yeah, you're really happy." " Stanley." " Oh." " Yeah." " This is my all-time favorite show," "Ohio nationals." "It's just huge." "And in order to-  she got a little yucky." " She laid an egg, and-- - uh-oh." " I'm currently in a show in Branson, Missouri, called number one hits of the '60s." " ♪ You know make me want to ♪ - ♪ shout ♪" " ♪ kick my heels up and ♪ - ♪ shout ♪" " ♪ throw my hands up and... ♪" "I put my performance job in jeopardy to be here with the chickens, so..." "Get her little beak clean here." " She just doodled on the floor, there." "He just basically wants to spend his whole life messing with chickens." " Look at the head too;" "Look at that skull." " Yeah." " The best thing about this is, i get to do it with this guy." " Yeah." " You know?" " That's a good thing, yeah." " Or you could do the two cocks." " Sure, let's do the two cocks." "Oh, boy." "You can tell that some of these still have old feathers." " No way." "You've got to be kidding me." "He didn't like her a bit." "Doesn't know what the hell he's looking at." "Look at that back." "There's a flat back and then a..." "He doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground." "Iknowwhatmybirdsare, and I know how good they are." "It'sa verynaturalthing formeto getquite..." "Um, upset..." "When a bird of mine doesn't do as well as it should, becauseI study my" standard"constantly, soI know whatthebreedsrequire." " Judging is not anexactscience." "The" standardofperfection" isa guideline, and it tells us, for example, abrahmashouldhave amoderatelylongback." "So how long is that?" "Is that this long, this long?" " See how all those that he picked had flat backs?" "And mine go whoosh." "He needs to read his australorp "standard" again." " People ask me, "do you eat them?"" "And my usual answer, "you got kids?"" ""Yeah." "Do you eat them?"" "'Cause these are my babies, and you don't eat them." " People think of a chicken, they think of, like, a white chicken, pretty generic." "And they don't think that it can be something beautiful like this." " This is actually not nasal spray." "It's called vetrx, and we put it on their combs to make them redder." " This is smooth and shine polishing spray for hair." "Changes a farm chicken to a show chicken." " Needs a facial, doesn't he?" " You can't show her like that." "Gonna have to go blow-dry her butt." "Whenyoucompete atthislevel, they'renitpickingeverything." "It'stheeyecolor, it'sthefeatherquality, it's the wings, the feet, the toes." "It'sthewholepackage, soeverythingcounts." " Shari is the mama hen." "I guess I was gonna say mama bear, but mama hen is a better word for her." " Do you have bacon on your burger?" " I have five children, myfourdogs, allamanamedcomet..." "200 chickens, oh,mygosh,and 40bunnies." "It's a big family." " She's really nice." " My family comes first, mychildrenandmyhusband, butmypoultryismylife." "Theylistento you." "Theyinteractwithyou ." "Imean,theyreallyare alotlike" "I hate to say a human, but they are." " They all have theirlittlequirks." "This one's a little ditzy." "Yes." " They recognize voices and can tell who they don't like and who they do like." " And they recognize other chickens too." "Some hold grudges against other birds and never forget how mean another bird was." "And others are best friends." " Not much of a crest on him, though." " He's looking at that cockerel now." " Wow." " That's a nice bird." " Nice crest." "Pretty good quills on that one." " Yeah." " Smells good." "This is the best silkie of the day." " He gave me four thumb." " Well, that's not too bad." " Congratulations, foley." " Thank you very much." "I am over the moon." " Oh, great, thanks." " My black pullet was second out of a class of probably 40 birds." "I didn't come here to lose." "I came here to win, just like the rest of us." "Hopefully next time, it'll be a little bit better." "I'll be best of breed and champion of show." " How's the wings on her?" " She's actually a little narrow-laced." "She could be, you know, sharper and wider." " But it--it's even." " But look how even it is." " Yeah." " What makes me tick is creating a bird that nobody has." "Thisisthebestsilver-laced wyandotteI 'veeverhad." "Thisbirdis the5,494th silver-lacedwyandotte that I've took out of the Incubator and put a wing band on." "And the light brahmas, I'm up to 11,500." "I'm a hatch-oholic." "They call me that because i hatch a lot of chicks." "Tookme15 generations toget5,494." "15generations." "WhenI started withsilver-lacedwyandottes, theydidn'tevenhavetails." "Theywerebad." "Thecolorwasbad , theheadswerebad ." " The heads, I think you've improved on the most." " She needs a better head." " Right in the front of the comb here, we've got just a little indentation." "You see that?" " I see it." " Okay." " Okay, Lindsay, she can go home." " Okay." " I thought this fella was pretty well colored, hackle and saddle." "I think their best two are over here." " Do you?" " Yep." " The silver-laced wyandottes, whenI startedwiththem, theyneverwon." "They never beat the whites or the blacks, ever." "Thecolorpattern issocomplex, judgesseethefaults inthemveryeasily." "And, you know, there's a lot of other good birds up there." " Black wyandottes, reserve of breed..." "Silver-laced is best." " Did he win?" " Yes." " Wow." " I won best of breed." "That's huge here." "Wow, that's really neat." " Congratulations, buddy." "You're gonna go all the way." "I'm telling you right now." " Oh." "Did it." "Wow, I didn't expect that." "600wyandottes, andhe'sthebestone." "Pretty cool." "I normally don't get like this, but I am, so..." "This is big." "A lot of work to get to this point, so..." "I'veneverwonthe show, thewholething." "This would be pretty serious, if I won the whole thing." " Reserve grand champion of the show, second place, silver-laced wyandotte by Brian Knox." " Biggest win I've ever had, by a long ways." "This is huge." " Super grand champion of the show, a white rock pullet by mj farms." "I'd like to thank everybody again." "Have a safe trip home." " What can you do to bump up from third place to first?" "What can I do next year, planning for this show, to win?" " Takes a lot." "You know, you just have to keep at it." "So I'm not quitting now." " I'm good to go." "I'm ready to go home and start hatching me some more chicks." " You got to photograph my bird." "Did you do it?" " Oh, yes." " You already got him?" " Yeah." "If ever there was a more perfect subject," "I never had one." " Really?" " He stood there, it was like Paris Hilton." "♪♪" "♪♪" " Every piece of the puzzle isoutin thebarn." "Ihaveallthe piecestomake theultimateperfectbird, but the complex part of it is putting it all in one." "Thisisthechampionmale  fromtheOhionational." "He was the best show chicken that I've ever showed in my life." "He's got a phenomenal head on him." "The comb is supposed to be wide, and then it follows the head." "He's got nice, even wattles." "He's got the black with the edging, really hard to get." "He's got a few little issues that I want to correct on him." "These feathers aren't quite as sharp as I'd like to see." "I'd like to see a little bit sharper black." "This saddle feather, it's not bad, but it's not perfect, and perfect is what we're shooting for here." "I have a plan, and I think I can do it." "I'm gonna breed this bird to daughters of another male that has better saddle color." "Okay, so you're gonna come out." "I'manengineer." "I do that for a living." "I'm always coming up with ways of making a motor run better and beat somebody on a track." "Buildingmotorsfortractor pullingandcompetingthere, that'smyjob." "Inmyjob, Icutbacktohalf days ." "I only work half days;" "I work 12 hours." "So then you got to work at the chickens after that." "This male here," "I'm leaning towards putting him on that pen down there." "I got to just see what the genes are behind him." "348, 532." "This is the bird's number." "I got the family tree, who its mother and father is and who the grandparents are." "I can picture every one of them in my head." "I just remember what they look like." "You probably know thousands of people." "You could walk up and you'd see a person, you know them." "Well, I know chickens." "I just know them." "Oh, and 3091." "She's still here." "She's five years old." "4125, he was a little short, but he had awesome color." "He's been dead for eight years." " The whole chicken-oholism," "I think, is a huge growing problem in the nation today." " It was a really short journey, going from, "let's just have a couple chickens,"" "to..." " Goose." " My wife, she always says," ""how many birds does one person need?"" "We started off with, like, 500 this year." "So I still got a ways to go to get them down." "♪♪" " What aggravates me morethananything aboutpeoplewhodon 't understandchickens isthattheythink chickensaredirty andtheystink andthey'renasty." "Or, like, we're a bunch of yahoos over here, raising a bunch of chickens, and they're just crapping everywhere." "That's just not true." "Ispendanywhere fromthreeto fourhoursaday  cleaningorbreeding orsettingup pens." "I mean, hours." "I've been called obsessive, which, you know..." "I wouldn't go that far, but I do think about it a lot." " Yeah, we started out with, like, maybe five little chickens, and it's exploded." " I didn't think that we'd end up with this many chickens." "But I am really honestly happy for her." " You know, and she takes over alltheseareas." "It was the little playhouse, andthenshe'smoved tothegarage,the backporch, and that entire pole barn." " Kyle, get off of there." "Hey, come on down, because you're getting all the animals upset in there." "No, Zoey, don't chase the cat." "Watch out." "Mygoalscomingout  ofOhionationals are to improve on what I already have." "I like his nice, full beard." "Very nice turquoise lobes." "Ireallywouldlike toworkon thatcrest." "Whenit'sshapedcorrectly, it'sactuallykindoflike a ballonthetop oftheirhead,  like, almost like a hat." "This group of birds will produce potential champions." "Each has great qualities about him." "This bird's pecking me on the ass." "Somebody just pecked me on the ass." " You can tell, like, by what sound they make, like, what they want or what's going on." "♪ ♪" " ♪ don't you say that we must part ♪" "♪ don't you break my aching heart ♪" "It'sprettylonely inBransonforme." "Beinginan apartment," "I don't have my chickens." "I don't have the dogs." "I don't have that agricultural release that I need." " Hey, little girls." " So this one in here needs washing now?" " Yes, yes." " Being in Branson," "I'mobviouslynotable tocareformybirds." "So that responsibility falls to my parents." "My parents are not chicken people." "I'm chicken people." "It'sa wholelot ofworkforthem that they don't enjoy, that they're not passionate about." " You really don't need to clean all that, because it will just get nasty again." " Well, periodically, you do." " It does take a toll on you, youknow,whenyou can 'thear theroosterscrowing everysingleday oryoucan'tgolook  atthebabychicks ormowthegrass." "You know, these are all things that I love to do." "♪ After you've gone away ♪" "And there's the '60s show." "WhenI approachedmy bosses about missing two performances  togoto theOhionational, they said, "great, great." ""You go to Columbus, and you don't have a job next year."" "Andattheend oftheseason, itwasunderstood thattheyweren'tgoingto offermeacontractfor2015." "But that's how it goes." " Of course we're concerned for him." " No question there." " No question, because he'll know that missing twoshowsoutof200,  whatevertheydo forthe year, if you miss two shows, they'll fire you." " Branson is the type of place, i have come to find, that a lot of entertainers go to die, basically." "You get stuck and mired in the mud, andyouspend20years beinga chorusgirl." "Two, three." "Perfect, thank you." "Right on down, we'll get you seated." "We'll get a picture of the three of you together." "Then we'll get you seated, okay?" "One, two, three." "Perfect, thank y'all." "Right on down the aisle." "I'mherebecauseI'vegot myjobwithextremephoto." " Will you just watch for blurry pictures?" " For me, right now, thisisatransitiontime  tojustfigureout  whereI wantto be , whatI wantto be doing, thatsortof thing." "It's an odd dynamic tonight." " That's right." " Thank you." " So this is where Iamrightnow ." "There'sgoodto it ;" "There'sa lotof badtoit." "Butthat'slife." " I miss everything about my chickens when I'm away." "They're my best friends." " They get to sleep next to my pillow." "And that's another one of those," ""you let the bird in the house?" Things." "You know, yeah, I do." " See, if you hear my voice, then you're better, huh?" "Huh?" "If you hear my voice, then you're better." " This is grass is still growing." "Mybirdsarealittleleggy , orlongerin theleg  than I would like to have them." "My black silkies." "SoI pairedmy breedingpen  witha male" "Ifeelwillfix that." "Studmuffin." "Icallhimastud muffin because he's just a really prolific breeder." "He thinks that this is his kingdom and these are his women." "12, 13...13 girls." "And every egg for the last four weeks has been fertile." "I'd call that a stud muffin if I were you." "He's just really good at what he does." "♪♪" " This week, I'mreturningto Anna tohelpmy parentsand work onmybreedingprogram." "We'rerightin theprimetime  tostarthatching for the Ohio national in November." "This building is where i keep all of my show birds-- leghorns and reds and australorps." "They all have single combs." "This is actually one of my favorite females." "She's my buddy, aren't you?" "You see how calm she is, and many people, you tell them you raise leghorns, they go, "oh, leghorns are crazy."" "Does that look crazy to you?" "I haven't done much drastic changing of my white leghorn bantams in eight to ten years." "They can compete with anyone the way they are." "The "standard" says the first two points on the comb should stand straight up." "After that, it should lop to the side, but not to cover the eye." "And as you can see, that's an exemplary comb." "That's exactly what the "standard" calls for." "Breeding chickens is not rocket science." "You can sit and make anything difficult if you want to." "Youcanmakehow tofryanegg  waymoredifficult thanitneedstobe." "I've used one of my foundation males, and I've taken daughters of his, andI 'veputthedaughtersin withtheirsire." "Thisiswhatwecall  linebreeding." "Andwhenyouline-breed, you're strengthening those genetic markers." "Now you're gonna get some female action." "That sounded filthy, didn't it?" "Ha, female action." " Oh, chicken sex." "Well, looks like I'm gonna get fertility out of that one." "That was--that was quick." " When you have a male inwithfemales and he finds food on the ground or he finds a worm, which is just like gold to a chicken, you'llhearthemale, "bok-bok,bok-bok..." "Bok-bok-bok."" "He'scallingthosefemales." ""Ifoundfood."" "Heinvitesthemtodinner, and then they're close enough that he can just hop right on and get down to business." "Sothereit is ." "Leghornshaveatendency tobealittlemore vigorous." " In preparation, the male dances." "He puts his wing out, and it's, like, something like this." "♪♪" "And then the girls just kind of, like, know to just drop it." "♪♪" "There'snopleasureinvolved, because it's not like-- they don't make noises." "Justlikewham,bam , thankyou,ma 'am." "It'soverwiththatfast ." " And the roosters, they love their hens, and they will absolutely take a bullet for them." "If there's a hawk, the rooster will go, "braw!"" "And all the hens and the chicks run for cover." "And the male stands right there and flaps his wings and says, "you want a piece of me?" "You want a piece of me?"" "And he'll absolutely sacrifice himself for the hens." " Yeah, this is one of my older females." "That's probably why she hasn't been laying." "I'msointenseinwhat Ido." "Igetup in themorning, I'mwideopen,Ineverquit." "AndsoIwon 'tgiveup anythingthatI'mdoing tohavearelationship." "I'm gonna pick a different one to put in with that male." "There's a couple out there that caught my eye today when they were running around." "I know I can find them again." "I got their face in my head now." "Little family." "Mylifestyleis notright forhavingafamily or even a permanent girlfriend all the time." "ButI hadJackiefor awhile, and it worked pretty well for quite a few years." "AndI mether ata chickenshow." "So we had a great relationship, but it just didn't turn out in the end to be right." "Andnow we'regoodfriendsstill." "Here's a group that they've been in there for ten days, and they have never been candled." "I don't know which is fertile, which isn't." "That one is fertile." "You can see the blood vessels in it." "Oops, I just dropped that one." "It's still okay, though." "That one's no good." "That one's really good." "This is a silver-laced wyandotte." "It's another possible champion baby, you know, every time." "♪♪" " Everything really has tobedonealmostperfectly." "Theyhaveto pip intotheaircell, andtheaircell hastobe dryenough thattheydon'tdrown." "Ithinktheykindofgather theirenergyat thatpoint." "♪♪" "Andthentheystart theirjourney." "♪♪" "Allofasudden,it's like , you'redark, you'reintheshell, you're,like,working yourassofftogetout, andallof asudden,bam." "It's like, hello, world, you know?" "Imean,youthinkaboutgoing  fromthedarkintothelight ." "♪♪" "Welcome to the world, little guy." "As soon as they come out of the shell, they open their eyes." "It's like the world is like, boom." "I love that part." "You ready to come out of here, bubba?" "Just show him where the water is." "Come on, babies." "This guy might have to have a hobble, because his little leg is sticking out to the side, and that happens sometimes." "So what I'll do is see if he's able to get up on it so it's sitting underneath of him." "If not, then I'll make a little string, like the other one, to help keep his leg in place." "Ibelieveeverything shouldhaveachance." " Got to love him." "Didn't quite make it out of his shell." "He's not gonna make it." "We're gonna have to-- gonna have to take care of that guy, and that's not a fun job." "One, two, three, four reds, six leghorns, and two faverolles." "Good job." "Two faverolles." " Two faverolles." " 21 total." " I knew there was a-- - well, 22." "There's one down there that didn't make it out of the egg, and you're gonna have to take care of him for me, because he's not well." " I'll do it." " All right." " He was willing to separate withthehorses, and he was willing to separate with the sheep." "But don't ever try to take his chickens away from him." "I think you'd take his heart out, you know?" " I want to take the workload off of my parents." "That's one of my number one goals." "Iwantto purchase afarmof my own whereI cantakethe birds withme." "Mydad'sdonenothing buthelpme my wholelife." "IfeellikeI'm doing theoppositeof that, because as much as I love chickens, my dad's my dad." "And, you know..." " I messed up on the humidity, and they got a little dry." "And he was stuck, but he's doing fine now." "When I was nine, I got chicks in the mail from a hatchery." "You open the box, and you got these little chicks." "And it was my first real pet." "I mean, I had a dog, but..." "Since I've started," "I've probably hatched 30,000 chicks." "I don't know." "I'm just gonna take some water and spray the eggs a little bit." " When he was abouteightyearsold , wesetup theIncubator inhisbedroom." "As I remember, he was like a nervous mother with a new baby." " They'd lay right out on the newspaper asleep, and I'd wake up in the night and I'd look at them, and I'm all upset because i thought my chicks died." "So I'm poking them, and they wake up, and they're like-- none of them were dead." "They were all fine." "But I just wasn't used to chicks sleeping like that." "You can hear the difference in that male, right?" "White wings, voice?" "It's definitely a male." " It didn't take too long thatwewerethinking thatourhouse wasstartingto-  smell like a chicken house." " Smell like a chicken house." "Wehadthisold garage thatweactuallydidn'tuse,  sowelethim put  hischickensin there." " Newspaper and 250-watt heat lamp is not a good combination." "So, anyway, that didn't go well." " All I know is, we looked out the window, and the place was all in flames." "And by the time the fire department got here after we called, it was, like, burnt right to the ground." " That was a bad day." " It burned everything up." "He was really torn up over that." "So I said, "well, don't worry about it, bri."" "I said, "we'll go down and get the lumber,"" "and I said, "you and i will build a brand-new one."" "And we did." " It was only six or seven miles fromwhereIlived." "And some friends told me about his loss to the fire." "And I think, initially, that's how Brian and i got together." " And he started taking me totheshowswithhim." " The first show we went to, his enthusiasm was obvious." " Wow." "Youknow,Ihad neverseen  someofthesebirds." "Theywere,like,incredible." "That was it." "I was done." "I was hooked." "Now we got to move on to the silver-laced wyandotte." "This is gonna be 6,003." "And I use wing bands." "They have a number on them." "They go in the wing, and I record the number of the bird, because my old mentor dick Stevens, he always said, "you got to know what's behind them," he says." " Otherwise, how do you know what you're doing?" " 'Cause I see so many grandparent traits pop out in these birds, it's incredible." " And we're very sorry that a poor bird had to lose his life so that we can eat well." " Amen." " Amen." " Bless the Turkey and damn the skin." "Open your mouth and cram it in." " Yeah, I do eat chicken." "I like chicken;" "I eat chicken." "I don't eat my chickens, but I eat chicken." " We do;" "We eat our chickens when they don't quite make the "standard of perfection."" " Sure, I eat my own chickens." " No way I could ever do that." " I have fried chicken anytime I want it." " This is like the biggest damn chicken, I think, on earth." "You know, there's bantams and large fowl." "This is like jumbo fowl, here." " I've got a good idea, this is so fun." "One person starts making noise, like, ting-ting-ting-ting, then somebody joins in with a different noise." "And you got to keep going." "Ting-ting-ting-ting..." " Boom-t'ss, boom-t'ss..." " I'm next?" " Yeah." " Dee-Dee-Dee-Dee-Dee-Dee-Dee..." " Go, Kyle." " No." " Oh, there it is!" "Nobody helped me!" " I met Larry whenI wasdivorced, livingwithmy kids." "LarryandIgot married in2000." " Are the brats cheesy or regular?" " I don't know;" "They're brats." " I don't want one." " Have they been soaked in beer?" " I can make them beer brats if you want." " I'll take a beer brat." " Okay, no, i can't eat that." " Mom, alcohol burns out of sausage." " Now they're beer brats." " I like beer brats, i guess." " Oh, great." "Yuck." " Oh, great." " Mm-hmm." "BackwhenIwas drinking, Imean,therewas noway that I was there for my kids like I should have been," "I mean, because you can't." "I mean, you may think you are, but you're really not." " She'd get us up forschooleverymorning, but by the time we got home," "I mean, she was completely drunk." " She got to a point where, you know, she was basically miserable." " I didn't do anything withmyself,youknow." "And then I found something that I really loved to focus on." "WhenI switchedovertoreally concentratingonmy chickens," "Istartedto get reallymoreinvolved, kind of like an outlet for me." "Ijustwanted togiveit my all, which,that'swhatIdid." " We would much rather her be spending all this time doing something healthy, where,youknow,she couldbe drunkandin bed bythetimewehave dinner." "We take it--i mean, it is what it is." " The guys at work call me queen feather legs." "I work with all men." " We make fun of our mom sometimes, because she goes to sleep and has, like, gel in her hair, and wakes up, she looks exactly like a Polish chicken does." "Maybe we both look a little fluffy today." " No, I do not look like my chickens." "My chickens are about 30 inches tall." " Everyone always wants to know, howwasyourtrip?" "Ihaveno memoryofmytrip." "Zero." "I don't remember where I stayed in a motel." "Idon'tremember whereI stoppedforgas , because all the time I'm driving, my head is thinking about stuff." "Oh, yeah, she's good now." "How am I gonna make this thing run better?" "How am I gonna make this bird better?" "Istartedbuildingengines whenI was14 ,withmydad." "In my early 20s, i took over." "Heletme do it , andI justdiditever since." "Tractorpull,it 'sacontest topullaweight-transfersled  downthetrack, and the farthest distance wins." "It'sjustlikenascar, dragracing." "It'sa motorsport." "Myparentsstarteddragracing whenI wasfouryearsold." "SoI don'teverremember nothaving aracecarinthegarage." "Originallymydaddrove, andshedrovethe samecar,  butshecanmakeitgo faster." " I didn't grow up saying," ""gee,I wantto be  aracecardriver."" "I just did it because i wanted to be with him." " My dad liked to win better thanhelikeddriving,so..." " That was it;" "I never drove in competition again." " The country girl willbein Lanenumberone onyoursideofthetrack ." " We gradually moved up tofasterandfastercars ." " Those cars were really dangerousatthetime." "I remember being at a race and watching a guy die." "Thenitwasmom 'sturn torunthesamekind ofcar." "Itwasprettyscary." "Theywerenotsafe." "Shehadafire." "Thecargoingdownthetrack , andthenextthingyouknow,  it'sa bigballoffire ." " I could see the fire." "The flames came under the seat and up the back." " Boy, when I saw theballof flame," "Ithought,"oh,man ,"" "'cause the motor was eating itself up, and that's why it lit the finish line up just about like day for an instant." " She got out of it, and it was okay, but it was close." "Itwasveryclose tobeingbad." " Pennsylvania, thisisJasonhathaway." " Everything we get into, wecheckit andmeasureit." "Everythinghasto be perfect." " Well, ladies and gentlemen, he'sournumberone  winnertonight." "Let'sgivehim aniceroundofapplause." " That's how I've grown up mywholelife, with things being perfect." "And I guess I may be a little too much that way with my chicken program, a little too perfectionist maybe." "But I guess it comes from this world." " Broody grump." "Oh, oh, look." "She's sitting on a spoon." "Oh, my goodness." "What is this?" "That's not an egg." "Did you want this back?" "Crazy chickens." "I have had a lot of bad luck lately, I guess, here on the farm." "Inoticedourllama wasn'tfeelingwell, soI calledmy neighbordown." "He came down and looked at him on Sunday, and then Monday morning, he was dead." "Andthenmy oldestchickpen,  everybodygetssick." "Coccidiosisissomething thatcanhappen." "Theystartdying, andthenyousee blood." "Youhatchthem, and then they're starting to look like little-- you know, little birds." "And then they die." "Imean,it makesmesad." "ButI haveso manyotherbirds thatdependon me  andsomanyotherthingstodo thatI can'tjustsit  andfixateon onething." "It'sjustlikeabigcycle ." "Youknow,thingsdie , thingsareborn." "Thingsdie,thingsare born." "You know, it's just part of what happens." "Imean,it 'slike, whenyouwatchthemgrow  and you kind of get to know them, you know?" "I mean, it's like you just really kind of get bonded with them." "Withanimals,Ithink it's,like,alot deeper thanwhatpeoplethink." "Animalshavebeen asanctuaryin my life." "Okay." "We're gonna pull over right here." "Well, there's something right there, see?" "Red-winged blackbird, male." "Icallmyselfababy bird , becausethere's somuchto learn." "I'vealwayslovedbirds." "Mymom,shealwayshad abirdhouse outsidethewindow, andshe'dhaveabird book , soI kindof grewup withjustthatlove." "Ihadsomereally difficulttimesgrowingup." "Mydadstartedgetting intodrinkingreallyheavy, and things got really rough at home." "Onmorethanone occasion, Iwasupstairsinmyroom,  andnextthingyou know, youheardishesbreaking, and,like,atable's turningover, and, like, I can hear it like it was like yesterday," "just that sound." "Icouldn'tfeelsafe." "Itwaslikeawarzone attimes." "Always used to dream about flying when I was a kid." "Iwaslike,Icouldfly amazinglywell." "AndI wouldfloat abovemyhouse, and I remember looking down, and I could see, like, the neighbors' driveway andtheirhouse." "AndmaybeIthoughtmaybe ifI wastoohigh andI wrecked, maybeI wouldgethurt." "But I never would wreck." "I'd always land really, like, perfectly." "Itwasjustamazing,youknow,  the feeling of being able to-- little chickadee around the-- sorry, I'm very distracted by birds." "Thefeelingof flying wasjust--itwasamazing," "I mean, you know, 'cause you're just so free." " Test, test, one, two, three." "One,two,three,four." "Test, test, test." "I'm in the process of putting together a solo show." "Icouldgo outtomorrow andannouncethat I'mdoingashowinAnna,  and I would pack the house, so..." "I don't mean to-- you know, don't mean to brag, but I have enough of a following that I can make it work." " Southern Illinois' q106." " Got a special guest on the phonewithus thisafternoon." "Brian caraker is doing classics fromthegreat Americansongbook, andwe'vegothim ontheline." "Goodafternoon,Brian." " Hi there, how are you today?" " I'm doing great, howaboutyourself?" " Oh, just great." " So tell us a little bit aboutyou." " I am traditionally a jazz standards singer." "That's the music that I grew up with, and that's the music i want to bring to everybody." "Youputon ashow, youputon an act, youputon aface, andyouputona persona, sotospeak." "And it's fine and it's good, but it's false." "So what this show allows me to do is just totally be myself." " Ladies and gentlemen, Briancaraker." " This time, I picked all songs thatmeantsomethingtome, thattouchedme  ina specialway." "Andwhenyou're truetoyourself and then people can see that, like, that's a pretty incredible feeling." "♪ When sunny gets blue ♪" "♪ her eyes get gray and cloudy ♪" "♪ then the rain begins to fall ♪" "Thefunnythingis," "Icanpromotemychickens alldaylongeveryday,  no problem." "When it comes to talking about myself..." "I've always had pretty low self-esteem." "So pretty hard on myself." "♪ When sunny gets blue ♪" "♪ she breathes a sigh of sadness ♪" "I don't know, sometimes I don't feel very special, you know?" "So you have to" "I've got to work on getting over that." "Past experiences in my life and people bullying and always trying to bring me down, no matter how much success i would have in whatever I was doing." "♪ Weird and haunting melodies ♪" "Ididn'treallylet  mydadin  tohowIwas treated inmyhighschool." "Tobehonest,Ididn 'twant  totalkaboutittoanyone." "Oneofthethings thathelpedme  get through the torment that I experienced every single day was, I could come home, and I could forget about high school, because me and my dad could go to a chicken show." "Thepoultryis abit  ofanoasisfor me." "Thechickensdon'tjudgeyou." "They don't judge me." "♪Holdhernear♪" "♪ when sunny gets blue ♪" " Son, that was awesome." "I have heard you sing for years." "It was never, never as good as it was tonight." "Thank you." " Thank you." " That was awesome." "Ifyougo withnumbers ofpeoplehere, could be termed as disappointing." " Super outstanding." " But you can't stop something like this." "Andthere'llbe more." "Stay tuned, i guess I should say." " This is, by far, the most highly pathogenic avianinfluenzastrain we'veeverseen." " More than 21 million birds incommercial andbackyardflocks havebeendestroyed intheworstoutbreak ofavianflu inUnitedStateshistory." "Ohioofficialstodaycanceled allpoultryshowsthisyear , inadditionto countyfairs andswapmeets." " A lot of the shows havebeencanceled." "And the Ohio national was one of the main ones that was canceled." " These would have been my Ohio national hopefuls." "But no more-- there's no Ohio national, so..." "It was like, darn, you know." "I was, like, so looking forward to going back to Ohio nationals." "I just saw on Facebook a few days ago thatKnoxvillewasstillon, whichis,Ibelieve, theTennesseevalley poultryclub." " Okay." "Oh, them stupid guineas." "Earlyintheyear, weweretargetingfor Columbus tobethebig show thatI wasgonnagoto." "Webackedit up amonth becauseColumbuswascanceled." "Andmylightbrahmas wereinbettershape amonthagothanthey arenow." "All right, light brahmas." "A lot of molty hens." "In the light brahmas, some of them were still in feather for Ohio, but then they recently molted." "Not quite all there." "Where are you guys at?" "I saw one the other day that looked..." "It'sdisappointing." "I got a lot of nice birds here." "Buttheyjustdon 'thave enoughfeathersto win." "Here's one that's not too bad." "So that's all I got, for now." " I really have to think about the Tennessee thing, because I don't mind so much traveling withina couplehoursofhome , butit's,like, goingawayovernight." "Thewholethoughtof, like, drivingawayfrommyhome , you know, the comforts of my safe bubble here-- that's a little weird." "Feels unsure." "Ireallydidnot know exactly what a panic attack was untilI hadone." "It's like a snowball effect." "It starts with a little snowball rolling downhill, anditturnsinto amassiveBoulder." "I just don't know if that's something that I'm willing to risk for a show." " Over the past 20 years thatI 'vehad thewhiteleghornbantams," "I've been extremely successful with them." "And Knoxville's coming up, and it's like, I've done it." "You know, this year in particular," "I'm ecstatic." "I'm ecstatic." "Just beautiful." "When I look at this bird, the tail does not stick out like, bam, look at that tail." " Last year, I raised the best bird I ever raised, the male that was champion bantam in Columbus, Ohio." "And I had a really good year with him reproducing males." "Ipickedoutten malesthat  I'mgonnashowatKnoxville that are all sons of that male." "The best ten males I've ever shown, other than that one." " I've been thinking aboutthisformonths." "And, yeah, i want to win Knoxville." "It would be amazing." "I'vehadthatfeeling whereyou'rejustafraid todosomething because you're afraid you're gonna have a panic attack." "I don't want it to control me." "I want to control it." "GettingreadyforKnoxville." "I'll wash today." "I'll wash all day tomorrow." "I'lldostraight 12,14hoursofwashing in one day." "I mean..." "Notnow." "Not now." "Thebeard, hisiskindofsparse." "Buthehasanawesomebody." "Heistheson ofstud muffin, yes." "Twodown,32 to go ." "I'll be washing chickens for the next 24 hours." "♪♪" "Look at you." "You are a warrior." " Stop looking at my cock, guys." "♪♪" ""Forrest Gump."" "♪♪" "I talked bad about you, and now you're being sweet." "♪♪" " I gave her all the trophies." "She was liking it." "♪♪" "This one will go to the show." " You know, far as it goes formybreedinggoals, fromwhereIwas lastyear ," "IthinkIdefinitelyimproved." "I love the crest shape." "I'm gonna call him white tornado." "This guy, of course, needs his bath yet, but..." "White tornado." " When you put them inwarmwater, they just kind of go to sleep." "You actually kind of have to hold their heads up sometimes so they don't drown." " I've seen them get water in their crop, and I've seen them choke." " And I saw a fellow exhibitor take that bird, breathe into its mouth..." " I'm resuscitating her." " Beak-to-mouth, and resuscitate that bird." " I think we might have needed to turn there." "♪♪" " Are we almost there?" " Uh..." "Yes." "♪♪" " In exhibition poultry, there'sa certainorder onhowbirdsare judged." "Wherewestartout is,  in each color of each breed, therearefourbasicclasses:" "Cock,hen,cockerel, andpullet." "Thefirstplacecock,hen,  cockerel,andpullet areallevaluated forbestof variety." "Eachvarietywinneris consideredforbestofbreed." "Thebestof breedgoeson tocompete fortheirclasschampion." "Inthebantams, youhavesevenclasses:" "Gamebantams, moderngamebantams, singlecombcleanleg , rosecombcleanleg ." " Rose comb clean leg isa class of all the birds that have a rose comb and no feathers on their feet." " Feather leg, allothercombcleanleg,  and bantam duck." "Hi, rich, how are you?" " Good, how are you doing?" " Oh, I'm doing well." " You brought a bunch of birds, huh?" " Uh, 32, I think." "I'm excited to see them." "God..." "Terrible." "You spend months trying to get a single male in condition, and you put him in a show box for five hours, and all of that work is out the window." "He's not gonna do a darn thing with a tail like that." "Youworkso hard, andyougettotheshow,  andtheylooklikegarbage." " Man, there's a lot of white silkies." "Okay, here, here, here." " Two males that have lived atmyhousetheirwholelife,  right, I take them to the show." "Iwonderif theystand inthecage, lookacrosstheaisle, andgo," ""did you see that black rose comb female over there?" "Wow, she's hot."" "Guys do that, so maybe they do that." "Hey, your cages." " Oh, thank you, thank you." " Yes, how you doing?" " Hello, hello." " Jackie's a great chickenfriendthatIhave , probablythemostspecialone." "Butshewasmygirlfriend fora while." "And Jackie was better at grooming than me." "She was a dog groomer, so she's better at chicken grooming than me by a lot." " Well, they line up nice too." "She really lines up good in rows." " This is a small chicken." " Yes." " But she's good." " So I got your seal of approval." " What?" "Yeah." " Thank you." " Oh, boy." " That's great." " Yeah, big-time." " Everyone knows that Vicki and shorty are the people to beat, thetopbreeders inthecountry." "First and second cockerels." "Come on, boys." " All I want is a crest." "I think I remember how the back line is supposed to go into the tail, but I'm having some doubts, so I'm going back to reading the "standard of perfection."" "Thanks, Steve." "Come on out of the corner, girl." "You have about one minute to show me your stuff." "More of a real chicken." "I like her mobility." "All right, put her away." " No freaking way." " Got stuck at you, girl." " My gosh." " He had one of mine and one of yours." " Oh, my gosh." " And he did yours first and mine second." " Oh, my gosh." "You really could blow me over with a feather." "I mean, I'm so excited." "It'ssoamazing." "Larry,I got bestofvarietywhite." " What about best of breed?" " Not yet, 'cause you got to do all the blacks, whites, the buffs, the splash, and then they'll pick." " 14 cockerels, that's a lot." " I could see this one here, but I couldn't walk down to see who did what here." " He's looking at my male against the pullet." " What'd you win?" " Best of breed wyandotte." "Holy." "That's awesome." "That's the son of 5494, the male that won in Ohio last year." "So that's pretty huge." "Thenextstepischampion rosecombcleanleg , soI thinkIhave areallygoodchance." " I'm picking champion rosecombcleanleg ." "I got it narrowed down to three birds out of almost 400." "It's a black rose comb pullet, silver-laced wyandotte cockerel, and a silver sebright hen." "The silver-laced wyandotte." "This is what we call smuttiness." "Right here on the saddle, the black should be more distinct." "I do raise these in large fowl, so I know how hard it is." " Yeah." " And I also raise black rose comb, so I know how hard it is to get that." "The rose comb, she's pretty much perfect." " Yeah, he could be better." "Just gonna keep working at it, and hopefully we can get one that's perfect someday." "So that's the plan." "I showed ten males all out of that male that won in Ohio." " Oh, really?" " Yeah, he's kind of reproducing himself." " Wow, he looks awesome." "Beautiful, all of them, nice coloring." " That girl is the meanest girl chicken I ever had." " I miss her." "We didn't work personally, but I do miss her as a friend being around." "Wehaveacommoninterest, sowehaveablast whenwe'retogether." "That's a male." " Really?" " It's a baby male." "See his saddle color?" " Yep, yep." " It's a weird bird." " That's pretty awesome." "Actually, that's right." "I can't wait to see." " I don't like doing anything thatyoucan'tdoperfect." "SoI 'vekindof givenup somethings." "I tried once, it didn't work out, so..." "Ican'tbe perfectatit, soI don'twantto--youknow , Idon'twanttodoit ." " Attention, there is a chicken onthelooseoutside." "Ifanyoneseesthatchicken, pleasecaptureit  andbringit to theoffice." " The first male right there, that's mine." "And he's the best one in there, but we'll see." " He's looking at those cards." " Those are the ones he likes, which I don't see any of mine turned up." " He's got three of them turned up." "Your cockerels are turned up down there." "That's a 45-degree angle, or better." " Or better, yeah." " More than 45, yeah." "Keeps going back to her, but I don't know if he's ever gonna do anything with her or not." "He give her first?" "The highest tail in the..." "Doesn't even know what he's looking at." " Well, out of the four males, he had the best type." "I just don't like this comb." "It's too perfect." " I don't show chickens to be on champion row." "I love my birds the same now that I did when I came here." "So, you know..." " Behind you, the drawing." " Mm-hmm, yeah." " "Faveolle."" " They did pretty good, though." "Justrecently, Ireceivedaphonecall  asking me to return to the '60s show." "I'm going back in 2016." "So I'm really excited about it." " Brian was hurt." "Butheovercamehis feelings todotheshow." " Life's not perfect." "Situations aren't perfect." "And you have to do what you got to do." " This is something like I would draw, here." " Oh, yeah, right." " I am not a drawer." " I get to do something thatI reallyenjoy, witha goodraise." "Basically,inthe not-so-distantfuture," "I'll be able to find a "home" for myself in Branson that's not an apartment, where I can actually have my chickens with me." "And look how they did the beard, how it's kind of elongated, like a real bird would be, like a real faverolle would be." " To see him be independent is-- it's up here." "He'sdefinitely ayoungmannow ." " Okay, we're looking for the best brahma at the show." "It's gonna be pretty difficult to get past this chicken in my hand right now, light brahma female." "She gets best of breed." " So that's pretty awesome." "I thought my males were better, but the males are harder." "Sometimes when you get a bird that's harder to get, you forget how good the pullets are." "Sostillhaveashot  atchampionof theshow." " We're doing best of breed silkie." "Silkies are done." " Oh, my god." " You won." " Well, here we go;" "Now it's on." " Yeah, now we go against each other." " All right, that's awesome." "Oh, my gosh." "Anytimeyou'reup  againstBrianKnox, you just know that you're in for a fight." "I'm ready." "Ready for the fight." " They all look good." " Really anybody's game." " You have a damn good chance." " Silkie is a pretty girl." "She's exceptional, and she's standing like she's supposed to." " God, I'm so nervous right now, I could fall over." " When I won that union show in Georgia, over 1,800 birds," "I thought I was actually gonna piss in my pants." " There he goes, back to Brian's again." " Light brahma, outstanding specimen." "Well, the brahma's a great bird." "I'd like her a little sharper in coloration right there." "So we're down to two birds, light brahma and a silkie." "So our champion feather-legged, for those listening in the next row, is the white silkie, brahma reserve." " You won." " I did?" " Yeah, you did." " Oh, my god." " I got reserve." "They did good." " No way." " I told you." " That's wonderful." " What'd I tell you?" " I can't believe it." "Oh, my gosh." "I just feel like I'm gonna pass out." " So now she's up forchampionof theshow." " That was a hell of a silkie." "I have no problem getting beat by that bird." "So that's--when you get beat by a good chicken, you don't mind." "Iwantthebestonetowin ." "IfI don'thavethe bestone," "Ineedto go home andmakeabetterone." "That's the challenge of it." "Dick." " Hey." " How you doing, buddy?" " Good, and you?" " Dick Stevens, that was the game changer for me." "That was what got me into the world of real show chickens." " All gone on the red tails." "God,I 'mreallyproud that,afteralltheseyears," "Brian is still doing the same." "I got something i want to give you." " Oh, wow." " I didn't know who I'd pass it on to." "You're the candidate." " Wow." "It's been 40 years since we started doing this." "I'm 51, and I was 11 when you took me to my first show." "That's a waterer?" " Yeah." " Unbelievable, I've never seen nothing like that." " I have no idea, Brian, how old it is." " "I would like it to pass on to you" ""with the hope that you will hold on to this fountain" ""and someday pass it on to a person" ""that has interest in poultry." ""They will continue to do the same in future years." "Dick Stevens."" "Thanks, buddy." " Thousands of people in this country know more about poultry than I, but there's millions that know less." " Yeah, yeah, that's true." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." " We always have one or two chickens living in the house." " We have diapers we put on them if they're gonna stay in the house long enough." " It's made out of-- the part here is elastic, and it clasps with snaps." " Never know when you come home and try to go sit down on the couch to relax after a long day of work, and here's the chicken sitting there." " And you want to make sure that this part is definitely covering up her vent so it does collect the waste." " Good luck, hope you do well." " Thank you." "Comehere,littlegirl." "Let me get you a little bit of water, okay?" "Hi, pretty girl." "Todayisthefinaljudging ofallthechampions, thebestof thebest." "I got to put her up there right now." " My guess is, it's the Rhode Island red and the modern." "There are some nice large fowl here." " I like the sumatra." " Yeah." " Look at that Rhode Island red." "Oh, my gosh, look at that brahma." " Don't get in a fight with that brahma over there." " Ready to go to work, boys?" " Whenever you are." " She's a little soiled on the top of the crest." " It's not bad, but as a cockerel, you should be a little greener." " I had more chickens yesterday that didn't have their beaks and toenails trimmed." "I mean, some good chickens." " Join the club." " Jeez." " Now they're looking at the Turkey." " You know, I had a female Turkey that looked like that, and when the grandkids would come over, she would lay down on the blanket and let the kids pet her." " Aw." " Then one of the neighbor's dogs come up and killed her." " Oh, gosh." " You could have left that part out." "Hold on, they're looking at my silkie, Mason." "Look out." " I like the silkie." "I really liked her body." "And by that, I don't mean so much in my hand as the way she stands all the time." " Let's look at this sumatra once more." "I'd like that saddle up and covering a little more." " Right." " All those things being said, we do have to make a decision." " That's right." " Yeah, let's go over a little closer." " About right through this part of the crest, it's just a tick lower and less full than the remainder of the crest." "It's probably a half to a point." "Not a big deal, but when you got really good birds, you got to see who's got some faults." " Our first award we'll give out, this will go for the best rock, and that award goes to Jerry little." "Next is gonna be reserve grand champion bantam." "Will be a white silkie hen, shari mccollough." " Oh, my god." "Thank you so much." "Thanks." "Yay." " Yes!" " I just believe that everybody has things in their life, you know, that they have to deal with." "Youcanletthem bringyoudown, oryoucanfight throughthosethings." "And,I mean, when you get to the other side, you're victorious." " And the grand champion of show, it's the black sumatra, Doug akers." " Good bird." "He picked that bird." " I just said." " Reserve champion bantam, champion feather leg." "You ready to go home?" "It's really, really awesome." "Biggest win I've ever had, for sure." "I think she deserves a name like victorious." "So I'm gonna call her Vicki for short." " A lot of people are searching for something in their life, and they never find it." "Now, I don't know if it's chickens or football or basketball, whatever you want." "But you got to have a goal." " People will say to me all the time," ""why do you do this?"" "And I say, "well, I do this because..." "I love the birds."" " It's nice to have goodbirdsthatwin , butthat'snot whatit'sallabout." "When I go out, i don't see a show winner." "I don't see a show loser." "I see part of my life." "You're singing too, aren't you?" "Animals enrich people's lives, period." "Raisinganimalsis  aspiritualexperiencefor me,  because I see the beauty in life, and there is nothing more beautiful than to see a creation like that." " I see so many grandparenttraits popoutin thesebirds, it'sincredible." " I don't know, I'vealwaysbeendetailed." "The whole family has been detailed." " If I get to where every silver-laced wyandotte i raise is perfect," "I'llprobablygetrid ofthem  andmoveon to anotherbreed thatneedshelp." "I like fixing things." "MaybeI couldfind somethingelse that I might like better, but I'd have to give this up to do that, soI 'mnotgoingto." "I'm gonna stay on course." " I thought you didn't like cheeseburgers." " Guess what." "College changes a person." "It's called hangover food." " Remember, she used to not like hamburgers." " What are you talking about?" " Which is what your mom wants to hear." " Do you like ketchup now?" " No." " I'm my best witness." "Ithinkit 'samazing thatmykids can see me fight through things and be victorious over things andtheycansee  chickensmakeme brave." "Theyhelpme  facefearshead-on,and ,like, they just really help me be a brave person." "♪♪"