If you think chickens can’t teach kids life lessons, you haven’t talked to Esther Douglas. She’s been working with six students under the age of 12, getting them ready to put their bird knowledge to the test in a Junior Showmanship competition. At the Ag Show on Saturday, they’ll be judged on how well they handle the animals and how much they understand about poultry breeds, health, and behaviour.

The programme began about a month ago, with classes held on Wednesdays and Saturdays ― all in preparation for the 2025 Bermuda Annual Agricultural Exhibition.

This year’s participants are 10- and 11-year-olds, but the classes are open to children between the ages of 6 and 15.

Ms Douglas provides the birds herself and teaches all the sessions. The only cost to participants is the entry fee to the exhibition grounds.

This weekend they will be questioned by a judge on such things as the breed, colour, and sex of their bird, whether it has any faults, what they like or dislike about it and anything else they can share.

“They have to present their bird to a complete stranger in front of other people, there is a bit of pressure. But because they actually have a living creature in their hands, it takes some of the pressure away," Ms Douglas said.

“They're not just standing up there with all eyes on them with the paper that they're reading off of. They have something in their arms that can help distract from the nervousness of talking to somebody else.”

She believes the experience teaches more than just public speaking.

“It helps them be brave. It teaches them responsibility ― learning to collect the eggs every day and feed and water them,” she said.

“If you don't give them fresh water every day, they're going to get dehydrated and die. If you don't feed them properly, their eggshells are going to be soft, they're not going to grow properly, their feathers won't be shiny. So it is an education on responsibility and community.”

For her, it’s not about the prize. What matters is the knowledge gained ― and being able to pass it on.

“Showmanship is looking after your fellow competitors. It’s about being kind to everybody and helping everybody. Part of what the judges are looking at is how well the kids interact with each other. Are they mean to each other? Are they mean to their bird? So it’s about teamwork, friendship [and] community,” she said.

Ms Douglas launched the programme in 2017 under the Bermuda Poultry Fanciers Society, but it was put on hold during the pandemic.

Before the pandemic, many of the students were “quite savvy” as they owned their own birds.

This year, Ms Douglas sent flyers to a few schools and was thrilled when six students signed up for what she calls “a modified version” of the 4-H Junior Showmanship competitions held in the United States.

“Those kids live and breathe farm,” she said. “They breed their own birds, and they know everything about them. But for Bermuda, I lend my small, easy-to-handle birds out to any kid who wants to do it.”

Ms Douglas originally came up with the idea as a way to help her son build confidence. As a young rider, she remembered her own experience showing her horse: “You had to speak to everybody.”

She opened the lessons up to friends of her son’s who also kept chickens, drawing on what she’d learnt from Ronnie Lopes and Cesar Botelho after receiving a bird as a gift from Leo Simmons, the former president of the Society.

“Cesar and Ronnie have more knowledge about birds than anyone else I know, and they’re so generous with it. You have a question, you ask them, and they'll help you out.”

The Facebook poultry community was another asset, as were the international judges brought in for local competitions ― all of whom shared a ton of information.

“One of the judges, and I love every single one that has come in, but Jackie Koedatich gave me my first ‘standard of perfection’, which is what all the birds are judged against. So that's kind of where the knowledge came from.

“As a kid, we had laying hens. I've always had animals ― I’ve had horses and donkeys and goats ― but these people talk about birds and just know so much, and they know people who know so much.”

The students’ birds were all gifts from Paul Furtado, a breeder and friend of Ms Douglas. Visitors to the Ag Show can expect to see Old English Game and Modern Game bantams on display.

“They're both very tiny bodied birds that look completely different from each other ― which I like, so the kids can see variety,” Ms Douglas said.

“I mostly use hens, just because boys can be a little bit feistier, but the Modern Games and the Old English tend to be very friendly birds anyway.”

She used to run two shows a year ― one in autumn in addition to the Ag Show ― but the Bermuda Poultry Fanciers Society hasn’t held a stand-alone event since Covid.

People have asked about a summer camp, but Ms Douglas says the heat isn’t ideal for hens.

“I want them to breed ― being with a male can be stressful enough. So I don't tend to continue it after the Ag Show. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I did a couple of sessions with the Boy Scouts [because] one of my kids was a Boy Scout and they wanted to learn about chicken handling. I was really starting to get a programme going, but Covid killed it.”

• Schools interested in starting a poultry programme can contact Esther Douglas by e-mail at erkd123@gmail.com