BLOOMINGTON - Austin Graf's shouts left him a little hoarse, but his chicken still took home the prize.

The 11-year-old Old Town 4-H member from Shirley had the magic words for his rooster, winning the crowing contest Thursday at the McLean County Fair.

While most of the 20 competitors either couldn't get their roosters to crow or only coaxed a sound or two out of the animal despite similar tactics, Graf's rooster crowed 18 times in the 10-minute game.

"I was just yelling at him, 'Crow! Crow! Crow!'" Graf said. "It was really fun. I think I lost my voice a bit."

Fun was the goal of the game on the second day of the fair at Bloomington's Interstate Center.

For the contest, 4-H members could use their own rooster or borrow someone else's chicken. Rules included not poking the birds through the cages but allowed for holding up a hen, making human crowing noises and giving motivational speeches, such as, "You better get this done, or we're going to Kentucky Fried Chicken," said Superintendent Rose Rutledge.

"It's really fun. It's always wild," Rutledge said. "It's kind of bragging rights: 'My rooster crowed the most.'"

Travis Kieser, 14, of Bloomington made funny faces and let out his own authentic sounding cock-a-doodle-doo in front of his bird's cage. The Shooting Stars 4-Her succeeded with 13 crows for the second best total.

Cousins Tori Streitmatter and Sarah Streitmatter attempted to entice their roosters to crow by showing them hens.

Roosters crow as a mating call, so the girls hoped to get their male chickens to show off for the female hens. They both managed to squeeze only one crow out of their roosters, but they had fun anyway.

"It's like the big highlight of the whole chicken show," said Tori Streitmatter, 14, of Sparland, who was helping her cousin at the fair.

Sarah Streitmatter, 13, of Heyworth, has competed in the rooster crowing contest a few times in the past, never with any better results.

The 3-F (Funk Farm Feeders) 4-H member said it's really hard to get the roosters to crow, but she likes to participate because of the fun atmosphere with all of the contestants screaming and making other noises.