Buckeye chicken creator honored

BAZETTA -- An Ohio woman who created the Buckeye chicken and had it accepted by the American Poultry Association was honored with a special exhibit at the Trumbull County Fair.

Members of the Hare Raisers 4-H Club worked to create a display area of the Buckeye chickens created by Nettie Metcalf, who was and still remains the only woman to ever get a Buckeye chicken developed as a breed and accepted by the American Poultry Association. She died in 1945.

Ale Matteo of West Middlesex and four other Hare Raiser members wanted to celebrate what Metcalf had done. With a large chicken coop with four chickens inside, Matteo dressed as Metcalf and did presentations in character about her and the chickens.

The display was near the historical village at the fair and include four Buckeye hens that have started laying brown eggs.

Charlene Benton, adviser to the Hare Raisers, said her children and grandchildren have grown up raising chickens, goats and rabbits.

"Ale came up with this idea and found this breed of chicken came from Trumbull County. She did research and found out about Nettie Metcalf. The coloring of the chicken is supposed to resemble the color of a Buckeye," she said.

Matteo said there are different chicken breeds for the heritage market, including the Buckeye chicken.

"The more research I did on that breed I found out the person who developed them was right here in Trumbull County and the only woman ever to develop a chicken breed," Matteo said.

She said people who visit the exhibit ask what the breed is a mix of and also want to pet the chickens, but some are afraid.

"I tell how Nettie did something extraordinary at the time for a woman to develop a breed of chicken. The American Poultry Association was entirely dominated by men. Other people bred a similar breed called a Rhode Island Red," Matteo said.

Also involved with the project were Brooke and Kaitlyn Benton of Cortland, Natalie Bancroft of Hubbard and Oliese Matteo of West Middlesex.

"Until Ale told me about Nettie Metcalf, I did not know about her. I became very interested in learning all the history about her. We all decided to help Ale with this," Brooke Benton said.

Charlene Benton said eggs were donated for the project, with chickens hatching earlier in the year.

She said Metcalf lived on a farm called the "Red Feathered Farm" off a dirt road where Tod Avenue is in the Lordstown / Warren area. This is where she developed the red-colored chickens.

Kaitlyn Benton said the chickens have great personalities and are good around people.

"They are very friendly and calm," she said noting the breed is docile.

The Vines and Branches Homestead of New Wilmington, Pa., donated the chicken coop.

HORSE COSTUME CONTEST

One competition on Sunday was a costume contest where people could dress their horse in a costume. Nearly 20 entries had horses decorated in a variety of costumes, including one dressed as a chicken.

Allison Redman, 19, of Cortland, with her horse "Bo" won for funniest costume as she held a construction sign saying "caution slow moving horse" that someone didn't see and ended up crashing into the back of the horse, which was portrayed by a dummy attached to the rear of the horse.

"It was my dad, Bruce, who came up with this idea. Everyone was laughing and applauding," Redman said, noting after 10 years competing at the fair in 4-H, she is done because of her age.

Taylor Nichols of Cortland, along with Rachael Ray of West Farmington, organized the contest.

"This was a fun costume event. They can dress the horses up in anything they want to. We had some cute and funny entries," Nichols said.

Nichols said random judges from the sheep barn made the winning selections.

STORYTIME AT FAIR

During the fair, local farmers donated their time to read to children at the "Storytime with a Farmer" display set up by the Trumbull County Farm Bureau.

Mary Smallsreed, of the farm bureau members, said different farmers took turns reading agriculture-themed books to children. The public also could build a book barn, which was a tabletop bookcase made in the shape of a barn.

Smallsreed said plans are to donate agriculture-themed books to elementary schools and other places.

She said children who are part of the Inspiring Minds program will receive books.

Marsha Stanhope, president of the farm bureau, said this was the first year for the two events at the farm bureau booth, which were popular.