Is that a LIVE CHICKEN in my sink??!!

This past Monday, we attended a 4-H meeting.  The children were to bring something that they would enter at the North Carolina state fair if they could.  (Turned out some of the children at the meeting really were planning to enter the things they presented.)

When I think of fair entries, I think of livestock, food, or craft type items.  Hunter, of course, thinks of electricity.  He built one of his favorite snap circuit projects to present at the meeting:

Hunter with his "angles and distance" snap circuit project

Tabby, of course!, planned to take one of her Silkie Bantam chickens.  But oh the agony - which one??!!  After much pondering, she decided on a white one, named "Padme."  Monday afternoon I heard a tremendous squawking outside and then a minute later, Tabby triumphantly entered the house with Padme in her arms.  She marched over to the kitchen sink, talking about the beautification process Padme was getting ready to under go.

Let me just say, it was hilarious.  (Though not to the chicken, I'm sure.)

Tabby couldn't resist giving Padme a punk hairdo:

Padme shook her head.  No.  Spiked hair was not funny for an elegant queen.

Tabby used a little dog shampoo to lather up Padme.  And then in her rinse water, she borrowed a little of the glycerin I use in tinctures, to add a "glossy shine" to Padme's feathers.

Finally the water torture ended, and Tabby towel dried the humiliated looking chicken.

As Tabby plugged in her hairdryer, she informed me that her chicken magazines said chickens liked having their feathers blow dried.  (She subscribes to both Backyard Poultry and Poultry World and devours each issue when they arrive.)

Finally the chicken began to look like a super clean and extra fluffy version of her original self:

This look says it all:

"What are you looking at?!"

It was all worth it though, for Padme.  She was a big hit at the 4-H meeting, with both parents and children.