ALTAMONT — Visitors to the Altamont Fair this year will hear a cacophony of sound coming from the poultry barn; a crowing competition begins Thursday.

Roosters, rather than people, will crow to establish their territory in three heats starting at 1 p.m. on Thursday, and continuing at the same time each day to the final round on Sunday.
"It’s a contest to see who has the rooster who crows the most. It’s supposed to be fun," said the assistant superintendent for the Poultry Department, Erika Marczak. "Many fairs have them."

Marczak said that roosters will be taken outside the poultry building, effectively giving them a new environment. The top two roosters that crow the most in 20 minutes will vie for the championship.
"The most dominant is the winner," Marczak said. "If you and I were hens, he’d be the winner," she told The Enterprise.
"We don’t have strict rules. Some people root their birds on," she said. "One woman in Voorheesville pretends she’s on the phone. That’s generally when her rooster starts to crow."
Rooting on one’s rooster "makes it more interesting and fun for the observers," Marczak said.

Marczak’s two roosters met sad fates this year, so hers are not entered. One rooster had a stroke.
"My rooster died over the winter, so I can’t enter," she said.

The other was the mascot at the Troy waterfront farmers’ market.
"He sadly disappeared," she said. Soon after his disappearance, a hen came out of the bushes with his offspring, but none of the little chicks are old enough to enter, Marczak said.

Poultry Superintendent Alice Zabel has at least one rooster among the dozen entered in the contest.
"It’s open to all ages," Marczak said. Exhibitors are allowed up to three roosters in the competition. Roosters from the exhibition will be included in the contest to help create more of a commotion among the competitors.
"You can enter just the crowing contest, or you can enter a bird you’ve had in the fair," Marczak said.

Rooster lore
"Some little birds don’t do a cock-a-doodle-do. They just do a little shriek," Marczak said. "Each crow is distinct and unique."

Roosters do not just crow in the wee hours of the morn.
"Whenever they’re establishing their territory"when they hear predators outside, they’ll start crowing," Marczak said. "Anytime they need to defend their territory."
She said that roosters sleep through the night and then begin crowing about one hour before dawn, earlier or later depending on the seasons. "They’ll crow all day long until they go to roost," she said. "They crow [to say], ‘This is my area and where I eat my food, so don’t bother us.’"

Chicken fans should watch for other competitions, too. The department sponsors poultry arts and crafts, like photography, paintings, decorative crafts, and poultry-themed garments. The Easter egg competition has three classes: decorated white eggs; decorated brown eggs; and blown decorated eggs, from which the yolk has been removed. The department also offers a poster competition.

The poultry department is planning to hold recipe contests for egg and chicken dishes for the 2008 fair, Marczak said.