Stannies is among a number of regional schools taking animals to the show as part of their agricultural programs.

Stannies agricultural teacher Alex Clements said it had been a very busy past few months for the 16 primary industries students who are going to the show.

“The meat birds are from Steggles, they come in as day-old chicks and we’ve raised them from there for the past six or seven weeks,” she said.

“They’ll be judged live and then on the carcass.

“They’re judged on muscle and meat on the bird.”

Year 12 student Hamish Scott said while the college raised 14 chickens, they had to pick the best female and male pair to take to Sydney.

“It’s mainly size around the breast and the meat quantity on the bird,” he said of how they picked the pairs.

Stannies is no stranger to success, with the college’s chickens scoring well at last year’s Sydney Royal.

“We were at Sydney last year with the meat birds and we got third which is the best that we’ve gone so far which is pretty good for Stannies,” student Nick Rankine said.

Nick said he and other students were looking forward to the experience of going to Sydney Royal again.

“It’s always a good place to go down there, it’s interesting to see,” he said. “It’s a good learning experience and you get to get involved.”

The college will also take three hyline layer hens to the competition this week.

“We got them last November as day-olds and we raised them to the point of lay,” Ms Clements said.

“They’ll be judged live as a group of three and then on their ability to produce an egg.”

Ms Clements said it was a very good “paddock to plate” experience for the primary industries students.

Students are involved daily with the care, management and weigh-in of each of the chickens at the college’s farm.