Heligan’s First Ever Poultry Show
- 21st Nov 2018
On Sunday 18th November 2018, we played host to our first Rare Breed Poultry Show. The invitation to take part in the show was opened out to all local poultry and waterfowl keepers to come along and show their animals. There were over 80 categories and whether competitors were seasoned bird show veterans or just starting out, there was something for everyone. The event saw just under 700 people on the day and was co-hosted with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, Poultry Club of GB and the Rare Poultry Society and was the third Rare Breed event to be held at Heligan this year.
“Thanks must go to the representatives from RBST, Poultry Club of GB and Rare Poultry Society who gave great assistance in the planning and delivery of the event. It was a fantastic day and we are absolutely delighted as a Rare Breed Park to be able to be a platform for events such as this within the South West.” Laura Chesterfield, Heligan Livestock Experience Manager.
Judges Kevin Dowrick and Simon James commented on the quality of the birds shown, especially the waterfowl and turkeys. Many of the birds entered met competitive show standards and were fantastic examples of these rare breeds.
Angela Kingsnorth from the RBST, who co- hosted the event commented “holding an event like this that purely highlights the rare breeds is an important progressive step for RBST in collaborating with farm parks that creatively bring rare breeds to a wide audience”.
The show received entries from 10 of the 11 heritage rare Turkey breeds, which in itself is a rare sight! It makes it the third largest turkey show in the UK, held this year. Kind support was given to Heligan by Turkey Club of Great Britain, who sent rosettes for the turkey classes.
Our very own poultry made their debut in the show ring and made exciting placings, our beautiful Silver Appleyard Drake took 1st place in the Appleyard class, our 2018 hatched Shetland duck winning the Shetland class and lavender booted bantam winning the 2018 hatched bantam class.
Winners and results
- Best bantam- Nankin bantam cockerel, owned by William Merrell.
- Best Duck- White Campbell drake named Wilbur, owned by Peter Hayford.
- Best goose- grey Toulouse Male, named John. Owned by Ed Whiteman.
- Best Turkey in Show, and Best female Turkey- bronze hen, owned by Ian Waterman.
- Best Male Turkey, crollwitzer Stag owned by Angela Kingsnorth.
- Best hard feather chicken- Le Flèche hen owned by CS&S Davies.
- Best child Handler- Lowen Smit Chesterfield aged 7, with a Lavender Booted bantam named Lavender.
- Best juvenile - Josh Trew ages 13 with a Lemon MilleFleur Sablepoot named Millie.
Reserve Show Champion cup was generously donated by Roger Thomas and awarded to the Best Bantam.
The Heligan Show champion cup was awarded to the Best Duck.
