FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County children can learn how to raise rabbits and poultry through a new 4-H club.
The Rabbit and Poultry Spin Club in West Fork started last month and already has 15 children in the process of signing up, said Nancy Kirkner, a co-leader of the club. Two similar clubs were discontinued about five years ago.
"The kids at the county fair and parents kept saying we need a rabbit club again," Kirkner said. "We have kids coming from all different towns."
Starting the club will help retain 4-H participation, which has grown to more than 500 in Washington County this year, said Berni Kurz, with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. Washington County has 24 clubs that teach leadership, science, agriculture and business skills. More than 143,800 youth participate in 4-H programs in Arkansas.
Kurz said he thinks the new club will help keep those members engaged and involved in 4-H activities. He said the volunteers running the club are knowledgeable.
Kirkner has supervised the rabbit barn at the county fair for the past three years. Her co-organizer, Amanda Bromley-Hammons, runs the poultry barn at the county fair and is getting a master's degree in poultry science.
"We're going to start from the ground up and give the basics," Amanda Bromley-Hammons said.
The club will teach children how to care for, house and show rabbits; how to identify diseases; and how to get rabbits identification tattoos, Kirkner said. Among the most important lessons will be identifying and treating ear mites, which are highly contagious and can kill the animals, Kirkner said.
Bromley-Hammons said she also plans to teach kids about heritage breeds, diseases and standards for showing. She said it's important to teach children how to protect their chicken flocks from diseases so they won't impact commercial poultry.
The number of children interested in backyard chickens has grown, Bromley-Hammons said, but the entries at the county fair fluctuate between 700 and 1,000 annually. Bromley-Hammons has been an assistant superintendent at the county fair.
Meanwhile, the interest in rabbits seems to be surging, Kirkner said. This year, 54 children participated in the Washington County Fair and entered 197 rabbits. That's up from 44 participants with 164 entries in 2015, she said.
Rabbits can be raised nearly anywhere, Kirkner said. Miniature Rex is the most popular rabbit breed because it is small and soft, she said.
"You can live in the middle of Fayetteville in an apartment and raise a rabbit," she said.
NW News on 12/04/2017