History

I started keeping chickens when I was very young after my Nan brought me two black rock pullets. These hens proved to be good layers and hardy during the winter months. My little flock soon expanded with a few ex battery hens, which were surprisingly hardy and good layers with a few even going broody.

My interest in chickens grew and I soon wanted a 'proper' breed so my brother brought me a little silkie hen that was advertised in a local paper. She was a feisty little bird that proved to be a good broody looking after her chicks well.

Silkies soon expanded into every coop I possessed after I was given a handful of mixed silkie chicks, which included blacks, partridges and whites. Great characters and an interesting appearance I enjoyed this breed immensely. However I was also experimenting with other breeds including the bantam Australorp and Light Sussex.

I scaled back my poultry enterprise to concentrate on my studies and just had a laying flock for a little while. This soon changed when I decided to have darker eggs and went to purchase some Cuckoo Marans as I also brought a pair of Lavender Araucanas, which I couldn't resist. After the purchase of my Araucanas it wasn't long before I wanted to hatch some of my own, so I borrowed a broody pekin hen who was a fantastic mother. Unfortunately after she was returned to her owners she was lost in a fox attack, thus I brought a mixed bunch of pekin chicks and a black pekin pair to sit on my eggs. However due to the pekins having great characters it wasn't long before people started to ask me for some, so I had to invest in an incubator to keep up with the demand.

During 2007 I took the plunge and entered my first poultry show with a pair of gold partridge pekins who did extremely well with a first for the hen and a second for the cockerel!

After a strange year of bad weather and foot and mouth outbreaks causing shows to cancel I entered my second show at Oswestry in October. People travelled from all over the UK and 1000 birds were entered so standards were high therefore I was extremely pleased with my team of 12 birds and 2 eggs coming home with prizes. My homebred Araucana pullet won best Araucana and best large fowl Araucana an achievement I didn’t expect from her first show!

My team of pekins brought home a first, two seconds and two thirds which is a good start to their showing careers still been very young. My Vowerks competed in the rare bantam classes and 2007 softfeather class winning three thirds a good result for young birds and a rare breed in big classes. The lemon porcelain dutch hen was also placed in her class with a third. My Welsummers and Araucanas got second place with their eggs.