STOCKTON — William Burden of the Sierra High Future Farmers of America has a fondness for raising serama.
This is a bantam breed of poultry from Malaysia considered to be the lightest chicken in the world.
At Wednesday’s San Joaquin AgFest, Burden, who will be a sophomore at Sierra in the fall, was kept busy with the judging in Breeding Poultry.
He brought along 22 of his full-bred serama chickens to the San Joaquin County fairgrounds.
Burden would allow for each of his seramas to hop on to the judging table.
The attitude of the small fowl along with certain characteristics such as the vertical tailfeathers, near vertical wings, and a full breast, to name a few, were all taken into account.
Burden first learned about the exotic poultry from none other than Jason Messer.
The Superintendent of the Manteca Unified School District has been showing serama chickens for several years.
“We’ve gone through several (out of town) shows and competitions,” Burden said.
The week-long AgFest concludes Saturday with the auction.
To contact reporter Vince Rembulat, e-mail vrembulat@mantecabulletin.com