Rare breeds fluffed up for poultry show

Andrew Pritchett's Cayuga duckling was awarded Champion Large Waterfowl. Full results at bottom of story.

From fluffy heads to pretty feathers there was a stunning array of backyard birds at the Tasmanian Rare Breeds Poultry Club Rare Breeds and Rare Varieties show at Longford Showground on Saturday.

More than $1400 cash and $3000 in sponsored products was up for grabs and club president Julie Devlyn said numbers of entries were well up on previous events with 445 chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys listed.

“Despite it being election day and appalling weather, we also had a steady stream of visitors to the poultry pavilion to check out the amazing range of rare breeds.

Andrew Pritchett, from Burnie, not only helped out on the day as a club member but he also exhibited 20 ducks and a turkey from his flock of around 60.

Waterfowl were the feature breed of the day and one of his female Cayuga ducklings, in her third show, was awarded Champion Large Waterfowl.

Cayugas are an American breed of duck and are a traditional meat bird with beautiful black plumage with iridescent green highlights.

Andrew also had some Pekin, Muscovy and Saxony ducks and one turkey at the show.

He said he used to breed chickens but found the hours of preparation ahead of a show hard to achieve with his night work as a security guard.

“Ducks wash themselves, so I’ve found that easier and my kids just love them,” he said.

“They’re intelligent, inquisitive and a lot smarter than people realise.

“I also wanted to show my kids where food comes from so they’re bred for meat and egg production too.”

Assistant show manager Matthew Short had his large, black, red phoenix cockerel chosen as the Patron’s Pick by club patron Craig Farrell MLC, who said that bird “just spoke to me”.

“He actually did speak to me as I walked past so he was hard to ignore,” Mr Farrell laughed.

“And I felt it was appropriate being the bird on the club’s logo and a highlight of its new branding.

“I’ve chosen ducks before and I was also a bit torn between the red phoenix and the guinea fowl, but I’ve owned guinea fowl so didn’t want to appear biased.”

RESULTS:

Rare Breeds Judged by Mr Michael Holmes, Rare Varieties Judged by Mr Neil Penny

RARE BREED

🏆🏆Champion Rare Breed of Show - White Crested Black Polish Bantam Hen exhibited by Chloe Bayliss

🏆 Reserve Champion Rare Breed of Show - Silver Duckwing Dutch Bantam Pullet exhibited by Jill Weaver

🏆 Champion Rare Breed Waterfowl - Cayuga Duckling exhibited by Andrew Pritchett

🏆 Champion Rare Breed Large - Welsummer Pullet exhibited by Dave Brown

🏆 Champion Rare Breed Bantam - White Crested Black Polish Bantam Hen exhibited by Chloe Bayliss

🏆 Champion Rare Breed Softfeather Large - Welsummer Pullet exhibited by Dave Brown

🏆 Champion Rare Breed Hardfeather Large - Australian Pit Game Muff Hen exhibited by David Gardiner

🏆 Champion Rare Breed Softfeather Bantam - White Crested Black Polish Bantam Hen exhibited by Chloe Bayliss

🏆 Champion Rare Breed Hardfeather Bantam - American Game Cockerel exhibited by Laura Radford

RARE VARIETY

🏆🏆 Champion Rare Variety of Show - White Belgian Barbu d'Uccle Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏆 Reserve Champion Rare Variety of Show - Lavender Wyandotte Bantam Pullet exhibited by Bob Pitt

🏆 Champion Rare Variety Waterfowl - Muscovy Drake exhibited by Andrew Pritchett

🏆 Champion Rare Variety Large - Brown Leghorn Hen exhibited by Tray Trayhern

🏆 Champion Rare Variety Bantam - White Belgian Barbu d'Uccle Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏆 Champion Rare Variety Softfeather Large - Brown Leghorn Hen exhibited by Tray Trayhern

🏆 Champion Rare Variety Hardfeather Large - Silver Duckwing Old English Game Cock exhibited by Richard Poke

🏆 Champion Rare Variety Softfeather Bantam - White Belgian Barbu d'Uccle Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏆 Champion Rare Variety Hardfeather Bantam - Blue Indian Game Hen exhibited by Rachel Jaeger

COMBINED RARE BREED & RARE VARIETY SECTION

🏆🏆 Feature Breed Champion Waterfowl - Cayuga Duckling exhibited by Andrew Pritchett

🏆 Champion Guinea Fowl or Turkey - Pearl Pied Guinea Fowl Cock exhibited by Jayda Wells

🏆🏆 Champion Novice - Rosemarie Edge

🏆 Novice Encouragement Award - Nicole Hunt

🏆 🏆 Champion Junior of Show - Mailson Reid

🏆 Reserve Champion Junior of Show - Beau Gardiner

🏆 Junior Encouragement Award - Mason Reid

🏆 Most Promising New Breed - Pile Brahma Pullet exhibited by Mat Short

🏆 Most Promising New Breed - Partridge Showgirl Hen exhibited by Jayda Wells

🏆 Most Promising New Variety - Pile Brahma Pullet exhibited by Mat Short

🏆🏆 Champion Plate of Eggs - Bantam Tinted plated by Jo Badcock & Jude Van Tat

🏆🏆 Champion True Bantam - White Belgian Barbu d'Uccle Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏆 Champion British Exhibit - Gold Sebright Hen exhibited by Damon Sheriff

🏆 Champion Asian Exhibit - White Japanese Bantam Pullet exhibited by Damon Sheriff

🏆 Champion American Exhibit - Lavender Wyandotte Bantam Pullet exhibited by Robert Pitt

🏆 Champion European Exhibit - White Belgian Barbu d'Uccle Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏆 Champion Australian Exhibited - Australian Pit Game Hen exhibited by David Gardiner

🏆🏆 Champion AVGEN - Partridge Welsummer Pullet exhibited by Dave Brown

🏆 Reserve Champion AVGEN - .

🏆🏆 Best Belgian - White Barbu d'Uccle Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏆 Best Cochin - Black Hen exhibited by Jayda Wells

🏆 Patron's Pick chosen Craig Farrell MLC - Phoenix Cockerel exhibited by Mat Short

🏆 People's Choice Award - New Variety Pile Brahma Cockerel exhibited by Nicole Hunt

🏆 Champion Old English Game in Show - Silver Duckwing Cockerel exhibited by Richard Poke

🏆 Champion Pit Game in Show - Muff Pit Hen exhibited by David Gardiner

CLUB AWARDS

Welsummer Club of Australia

🏆 Best of Breed - Pullet exhibited by Dave Brown

🏆 Best Male - Cockerel exhibited by Dave Brown

🏆 Best Female - Pullet exhibited by Dave Brown

Brahma and Cochin Club of Australia

🏆🏆Champion Brahma - Gold Partridge Pullet exhibited by Mat Short

🏆 Reserve Champion Brahma - ARC Pullet exhibited by Nicole Hunt

🏆🏆 Champion Cochin - Black Hen exhibited by Jayda Wells

Hamburgh Club of Australia

🏆🏆 Champion Hamburgh - Black Cock exhibited by Merv Hutt

🏆 Reserve Champion Hamburgh - Black Hen exhibited by Merv Hutt

Rhode Island Club of Australia

🏆🏆 Champion Rhode Island - Red Rosecomb Pullet exhibited by Richard Poke

Rosecomb Club of Australia

🏆🏆 Champion Rosecomb - Black Bantam Pullet exhibited by Tray Trayhern

🏆 Reserve Champion Rosecomb - Black Bantam Cockerel exhibited by Tray Trayhern

Belgian Bantam Club of Australia

🏆🏆 Best Overall - White Belgian Barbu d'Uccle Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏆 Best Barbu d'Anvers - Quail Pullet exhibited by Jo Badcock and Jude Van Tat

🏆 Best Barbu d'Uccle - White Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

Barnevelder Hub of Australia

Nil awarded due to no entries

Tasmanian Rare Breeds Poultry Club Inc Medallions awarded to classes/breeds with 9 or more entries:

🏅Best Brahma - Gold Partridge Pullet exhibited by Mat Short

🏅Best Hamburgh Overall - Black Cock exhibited by Merv Hutt

🏅 Best Plymouth Rock - Dark Cock exhibited by Laura Radford

🏅 Best Polish Overall - White Crested Black Bantam Hen exhibited by Chloe Bayliss

🏅 Best White Crested Black Polish - Hen exhibited by Chloe Bayliss

🏅 Best White Crested Blue Polish - Hen exhibited by Chloe Bayliss

🏅 Best Belgian Barbu d'Anvers - Quail Pullet exhibited by Jo Badcock and Jude Van Tat

🏅 Best Belgian Barbu d'Anvers Quail - Pullet exhibited by Jo Badcock and Jude Van Tat

🏅 Best Dutch Bantam - Silver Duckwing Pullet exhibited by Jill Weaver

🏅 Best Gold Partridge Dutch Bantam - Cockerel exhibited by Jill Weaver

🏅 Best Silver Spangled Hamburgh - Cockerel exhibited by Beau Gardiner

🏅 Best Japanese Bantam - White Pullet exhibited by Damon Sheriff

🏅 Best Rosecomb - Pullet exhibited by Tray Trayhern

🏅 Best Cayuga - Duckling exhibited by Andrew Pritchett

🏅 Best Silver Appleyard - Duck exhibited by Stuart Burr

🏅 Best Silkie - White Cockerel exhibited by Lewis Burke

🏅 Best Leghorn - Brown Hen exhibited by Tray Trayhern

🏅 Best Belgian Barbu d'Uccle - White Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏅 Best Blue Mottled Belgian Barbu d'Uccle - Pullet exhibited by Debbie Carpenter

🏅 Best Wyandotte - Lavender Pullet exhibited by Robert Pitt

🏅 Best Muscovy - Blue/White Drake exhibited by Andrew Pritchett

🏅 Best Tolbunt Polish - Hen exhibited by Rosemarie Edge