Butler Farm Show taking precautions against bird flu
For the second year in a row, visitors to the Butler Farm Show can expect to see the finest live duck, chicken and turkey exhibits — but only from a safe distance.
Jordan Kennedy, who is in charge of poultry events at the Butler Farm Show, said event organizers are following Pennsylvania guidelines on managing highly pathologic avian influenza, or HPAI. The guidelines were slightly loosened last year, just enough to allow the farm show to include poultry showmanship for the first time since 2019.
“The farm show is doing everything it can to give opportunities to families and kids; and we’re doing everything we can within the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's requirements to allow these kids to show and exhibit the animals they work so hard on,” Kennedy said.
As a result of restrictions imposed by the Department of Agriculture, the public will not be allowed into the poultry tent, but will be allowed to look at the birds from a distance.
“The Department of Agriculture requires us to have a buffer or quarantine zone between the birds and the public, so there will be no public allowed to go into the poultry tent,” Kennedy said. “We're going to try and have the tent as open as possible so that folks can see into the tent.”
Visitors can rest assured all birds exhibited at the Farm Show are prescreened for avian flu and other illnesses, according to Kennedy.
“Every bird that's on the grounds that's being exhibited has to be tested for diseases and sicknesses, including avian influenza, just to ensure that all the birds and people are as safe as possible,” Kennedy said.
Due to tighter restrictions against avian influenza, poultry exhibits were entirely absent from the farm show from 2021 to 2024. Combined with the 2020 show, which was canceled entirely due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, that marked five straight seasons in which Butler County’s young poultry farmers were unable to display their work at the farm show. During those years, the farm show filled the poultry tent with educational displays and posters.
While they may have a tough time getting a good look at what’s going on, visitors can look forward to the traditional poultry showcases this year, as well as a new one: market turkey. The poultry show is scheduled at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, with poultry showmanship scheduled for 9 a.m. the following day.
“We have our usual poultry show where the show birds will be judged,” Kennedy said. “All your different breeds and ages of poultry, whether it be large chicken, bantam chicken, large duck, bantam duck, geese, turkeys.”
In addition, turkeys and meat pens (a type of chicken) are among the types of livestock which will be auctioned off at the Farm Show’s annual Junior Livestock Sale on Thursday, Aug. 13. Unlike the poultry tent, the livestock sale will be open to the public.
“Those turkeys will be shown by the kids, judged by an official judge and then sold Thursday night at the livestock auction,” Kennedy said.
This year’s Farm Show also marks the return of two popular poultry-related events — the rooster crowing contest, scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, and the poultry costume contest, scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14. While the costume contest has been around for “quite a few years” according to Kennedy, the rooster crowing contest is entering its second year after a successful debut in 2025.
“The 4-H Poultry Club has grown and is still growing,” Kennedy said. “The rooster crowing contest and the costume contest are both set up to give these kids another opportunity to work with their animals and enjoy themselves. We hope that as many kids as possible participate, but it's a busy week for a lot of those kids.”
