ASHLAND— A few weeks ago, some of Ashland County Fair King Gabe Murawski’s chickens died.
A few chickens dying would not normally be cause for concern — animals die all the time, after all.
But these chickens had died after an avian influenza case was reported in Ashland County, and Gabe was worried that his birds had caught it.
Luckily, he later determined that his birds did not have the flu. One piece of evidence was enough for him to figure this out: the flock hadn’t died.
“Since the whole flock didn’t die, it wasn’t AI, because it’s instant death if they get avian influenza,” he said.
He instead blamed the chickens’ untimely demise on overfeeding.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is highly contagious and often deadly, sometimes decimating entire farms. Because of this, the Ashland County Fair Board decided on Sept. 12 to ban live birds from the fairgrounds.
Ashland County Fair Ambassador Baylee Weber had been working since May on feeding, watering and raising her birds. So when she found out she couldn’t show them off at the fair, she was disappointed.
“It’s very challenging after getting all your birds ready to not being able to show it off,” she said.
Instead of live shows, the fair instead put on knowledge shows where local junior farmers could show off their knowledge about raising and farming poultry.
Contestants were grilled by judges with questions about bird physiology and farming best practices. Some contestants even prepared posters for the event, although they weren’t required.
For recent Hillsdale graduate Brody Schoen, who was attending his last fair as a contestant, the short notice about the knowledge shows was actually a boon.
“It was way less stressful because when your posters are rushed jobs, you don’t have to worry about quality,” he joked.
While the shows were different this year, the poultry auctions were more or less the same. Generally, only the grand champion and reserve champion birds are shown off in-person at the auction.
Most birds at Thursday’s auctions went for less than $1,000, but they could occasionally balloon in price if the proceeds were going to charity.
This happened when Schoen auctioned off his first batch of chickens, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Davy McClure Outdoor Education Center.
David “Davy” McClure was an Ashland native who worked as a park commissioner, Ashland City Schools bus driver, and a driving instructor. He died in September 2020 at the age of 46 due to complications from cardiac arrest.
“Our family was a really good friend of Davy McClure’s before he died sadly. The local Pheasants Forever is trying to put in enough money to get his name on a new pavilion in a park that’s being built,” Schoen said.
A bidding war ensued for Schoen’s first batch of birds. The auction price quickly climbed out of normal poultry sale range into the fantastical. The final price for Schoen’s birds was $4,000 from Sarver Paving.
“I’ve never seen a pen of birds go for that much,” he said.
Even though Schoen had managed to raise $4,000 for charity, he remained humble when he spoke with Ashland Source.
“I have a second chicken pen to sell so I’m not that generous,” he said.
His second, non-charity chicken pen sold for $500 to Case Farms.
