Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Karol Lochridge’s 3-pound rooster normally crows at everything from sunrises to birds in the neighbor’s yard. But on Sunday, when it counted, he kept his beak shut.
He wasn’t the only one. Organizers of the New Mexico State Fair’s annual rooster-crowing contest agree it was an unusually quiet competition.
"I can’t understand it," Lochridge said. "He crows all the time, at 3 a.m. and 10 at night. But you bring him in here, and all of a sudden he gets shy."
Rooster owners and spectators alike made chicken sounds, poked cages and flapped their folded arms like chicken wings, trying to coax the birds into making a racket.
Organizers said they think the birds were overheated and stressed, leading to "one of the quietest crowing competitions we’ve ever had," said Dale Malcolm, assistant supervisor for poultry and rabbits at the fair.
In fact, the winner had to crow only twice.
That rooster, belonging to Santiago Garcia, 18, took first place. A bird belonging to Garcia’s 15-year-old sister Celina was second, with one crow.
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