Poultry lovers flock to rare breeds display

Peter Mountney has 39 Call Ducks and he proudly showed off the best of his birds at the 20th Anniversary Rare Breeds Poultry Club Annual Show at Longford on Saturday.

His ducks were among a fine display of chickens, turkeys, ducks and guinea fowl all vying for the title of Champion Rare Breed and one was awarded reserve champion Rare Breeds Waterfowl.

Two exhibitors even travelled from Victoria with their poultry to try their luck - and the move proved successful for both, with Lachlan MacDonald and his family taking out the coveted Champion Rare Breed of Show with a Plymouth Rock Bantam hen along with a swag of prizes for wins in various other sections and Seymour Poultry Club secretary Joanne Lacey won Best of Breed with a Belgian Barbu de Watermael.

Mr Mountney said that he used to have Pekins and Runners as well as Call Ducks but he decided to stick with one breed so there were no issues with cross-breeding due to his ducks free-ranging.

The 87-year-old has been a regular at the show since retiring from dairy farming in Winnaleah and he said he took it up because it keeps him in touch with animals - even though they’re a far cry from dairy cows.

“Showing poultry is not about whether I win or not - it’s about the people I meet and having a jolly good pow-wow,” he said.

“It’s a means of getting out and getting the community together and talking - otherwise you’re just stuck at home.”

Three interstate judges were kept busy checking more than 400 bird entries and 32 egg classes.

Champion Rare Variety of Show was awarded to a Blue Australorp cockerel  shown by Stuart Burr of Scottsdale.

Champion Junior Exhibitor of Show was Isabelle Wheatley from Penguin, who had a stellar day, winning Champion Rare Variety Soft Feather Bantam and Best of Breed with a Wyandotte as well as Patron’s Pick.

The People's Choice Award for the second consecutive year went to Nicole Hunt’s Pile Brahma cockerel, the huge rooster that stands waist-high and is beautifully coloured, creating quite the impression.

A silent auction, colouring in competition for the kids and a special anniversary cake cutting were some of the other highlights of the day.

Association secretary Julie Devlin said that the show is growing and attracting more exhibitors and spectators each year.

She said having Seedhouse Tasmania come on board as a major sponsor with bags of feed for every champion plus many more prizes has greatly incentivised participation - part of the reason that interstate entries were secured for the first time in many years.

“It turned out to be a fantastic community event in Longford with thousands through on the day - the committee has worked hard to make it a family-focussed event and our colouring-in competition was particularly popular,” she said.

“We’re also trying to make sure we’ve got juniors and novices coming through because there hasn’t been many over the past 20 years and by making a good experience for them they will keep coming back.”

Julie said that the feedback from the judges was that there was a lovely variety of birds, with some breeds on show that they wouldn’t even see interstate.

One example was the extremely rare French breed, La Fleche, from the north-west, a little black chook with a V-shaped comb that looks like “devil horns” which was exhibited for the first time ever and unsurprisingly took out Best of Breed.

RESULTS 

Rare Breeds Judged by Mr Andy Vardy VIC. Rare Varieties, Most Promising New Breed or Variety, plus Eggs Judged by Mr Eric Rosolen, NSW

Champion Rare Breed of Show - MacDonald Family, Plymouth Rock Bantam, Hen

Reserve Champion Rare Breed of Show - Merv Hutt, Spanish Fowl, Cockerel

Champion Rare Breed Waterfowl - Raechel Jaeger, Buff Orpington Bantam, Duck

Champion Rare Breed Field & Forest - Nicole Hunt, Pearl Guinea Fowl , Male

Champion Rare Breed Soft Feather Large - Merv Hutt, Spanish Fowl, Cockerel

Champion Rare Breed Soft Feather Bantam - MacDonald Family, Plymouth Rock Bantam, Hen

Champion Rare Breed Hard Feather Bantam - Laura Radford, American Game Fowl, Cockerel

Champion Rare Variety of Show - Stuart Burr, Blue Australorp Fowl, Cockerel

Reserve Champion Rare Variety of Show - J&E Rockliff, Blue Red Australian Game Bantam, Pullet

Champion Rare Variety Waterfowl - Andrew Pritchett, Muscovy, Drake

Champion Rare Variety Soft Feather Fowl - Stuart Burr, Blue Australorp, Cockerel

Champion Rare Variety Hard Feather Fowl - Stuart Burr, Blue Duckwing Light Leg Old English Game, Cockerel

Champion Rare Variety Soft Feather Bantam - JUNIOR Isabelle Wheatley, Blue Wyandotte, Pullet

Champion Rare Variety Hard Feather Bantam - J&E Rockliff, Blue Red Australian Game, Pullet

Champion Feature Breed - Rob Morgan, Black Red Phoenix Bantam, Cockerel

Most Promising New Breed or Variety - Dave Brown, Lavender Faverolles, Pullet

Champion Junior Exhibitor of Show - Isabelle Wheatley

Reserve Champion Junior Exhibitor of Show - Maisy Jaeger

JUNIOR Exhibitors - Charlotte Oswin, Estelle Gee, Gwyneth Waddingham, Isabelle Wheatley, Maisy Jaeger, Toby Carpenter, Tully Carpenter

Champion Novice under 25 - Eliza Dawe

Champion Novice over 25 - Lorraine Mance

Patron's Pick Craig Farrell MLC - JUNIOR Isabelle Wheatley, Blue Wyandotte Bantam, Pullet

People's Choice Award Coop Secure - Nicole Hunt, Pile Brahma, Cockerel

Champion Plate of Eggs - Sue Davey, Bantam White/Cream

Ch Painted Eggs - Gwyneth Waddington

Champion True Bantam - MacDonald Family, White Japanese, Hen

Champion Brahma/Cochin - Nicole Hunt, Gold Partridge, Hen

Best Belgian - Debbie Carpenter, Porcelain Belgian Barbu d'Uccle, Hen

Best Cochin - Zenar Poultry, Black, Pullet

Best Polish - Chloe Bayliss, White Crested Black, Hen

Best Orpington - William Wadsley, Black, Hen

Best Croad Langshan - MacDonald Family, Black, Hen

Champion Welsummer - Dave Brown, Hen

Best Male Welsummer - Dave Brown

Best Female Welsummer - Dave Brown