ROME TOWNSHIP — Young farmers brought their chickens to be judged at the Lawrence County Fair on Saturday.

Members of 4-H groups in the county presented their poultry-raising accomplishments to the judges in the market chickens competition.

The Grand Champion was Tyler Walters, of Scottown. A student of Symmes Valley Middle School, he has been raising chickens for six years through 4-H. His 9.6 lb Cornish rock chicken is a hybrid.

Walters said the birds can grow several inches a day.

“One day, they’ll be this tall, and then the next, all the way up here,” he said.

The Reserve Champion and Senior Showmanship winner was Connor Franklin, also of Scottown, and a student of Fairland High School.

He’s raised chickens for four years, with 4-H and the Scottown Farmers and Farmettes through the Lawrence County Extension Office of Ohio University Southern.

And the champion in Fancy Poultry was Tessa Shelton, of Kitts Hill, who attends Ironton Elementary School, for her 1 ½-year-old silkie partridge, a breed known for the fluffy plumage on top of their heads. In her second year of raising the birds, she was also Junior Showmanship Winner.

The competition was emceed by Tim Bowles, of Lucasville, the director of the American Poultry Association District 3, as it has been for the past 25 years at the fair.

Many from the community helped to sponsor the event, with the grand championship trophy and belt buckle coming from the Lawrence County Farm Bureau, the reserve trophy and buckle from Troy and Heather Hardy, the showmanship trophy from Scottown Farmers and Farmettes and chairs from the Starlite 4-H Club.