The American Poultry Association is pleased to honor

Jerry and Mary Ann Bonds

A few words from Jerry and Mary Ann Bonds:

It all started when we moved back from Florida in 1980. We lived in the country and I had started a boat business. I was looking for a few chickens; got my first ones from Randall Porter. They were Cochins, then I started looking for others. When I was a young boy, my Granny Duncan raised White Old English, she gave me some and I kept them for years. I always liked them. Randall had several varieties of Old English. We started going to shows and I ended up with 28 varieties of Old English plus more birds. I was looking at the different birds in the shows and ran across the Sebright. I got rid of all the Old English but the Blacks and Whites, I showed them a while and did good with them. I talked to H.L. and Libby Moore from Toccoa, Ga. on the Sebright. I paid $100.00 a bird for the Sebright to get started. There was Jack Yoder, Elmer Wicks and H.L. and Libby Moore; all had the same bloodline of Sebright. When Jack Yodder passed, I got all of his birds and kept that bloodline as long as I raised the birds.

We also raised some Black and White Japanese (they were what Mary Ann showed). We were in a show in Dalton, Ga. in the early nineties and had RCCL on a Sebright and SCCL on a white Japanese. That was an interesting show. The Sebright was picked over the Japanese. I got the line of Blacks from Mr. Jesse Morton and the Whites from Tim Clanton. When I sold the Japanese birds, I spent more time trying to improve my Sebrights.

When it was breeding season, I cleaned my pens down to the clay, put in fresh river sand with a little seven dust mixed in to kill all the insects. I kept a close check on my birds for mites, crooked toes and rye tails. I always fed my birds FRM (Flint River Mills) feed. I always gave the small babies vitamins in the water and kept them wormed real good.

I was in the boat business, working 6.5 days a week when I started showing birds, I took care of my birds early in the morning and late afternoons. When going to a show, I most of the time had to use a flashlight to catch my birds out to take to the shows. Ken Herring would kid me and call them china berry birds, for it took them so long to settle down in the pens.

I retired from the boat business in 1992. I had more time to work with my Sebrights and I won RCCL in 3 shows all on one day. I shipped birds to Vern Sorenson to enter in Washington State, he showed them for me, and I won RCCL. Mary Ann took some birds to Anderson, SC to show and also had RCCL. Robert Sellers and I went to VA to show, I also had RCCL and Champion of the show. That was my lucky day!

At the 2002 ABA Semi in Harrington, DE, I won champion of the show on a Sebright Cockerel judged by Rick Poor.

In Nov. 2006, at the ABA and APA joint National at the Crossroads Poultry Show, Indianapolis, ID, I was presented with the ABA Life Achievement Award by Jim Sallee, he was president of the ABA.

I sold and shipped birds all over the USA and Canada and shipped lots of birds to Saudi Arabia. If I had birds to sell, I was glad to help others to get started. I also got beat a few times with a bird that I sold. The most birds I ever hatched in a hatching season was 500 Sebrights.

My last show that I attended was the Sebright National at Newnan, Ga. February 2020. They presented us with a plaque of appreciation for helping them with the show when they started. I had reserve champion of the show. After the National, I sold my birds.

I not only enjoyed showing the birds, but all the friends we made along the way.