Chicken fancier Mecca – National Poultry Show Stoneleigh

One of the most important dates on the calendar of Chicken fanciers and other poultry keeper is the national poultry show organised by the poultry club of Great Britain. This years poultry show takes place on Saturday 28th of November at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

Apart from the fact that you will have the opportunity to see over 5,000 birds, there will be stalls selling chickens of various shapes, sizes and breeds and poultry equipment and accessories will be on display as well. If you have birds you think are up to show standards, this is also the opportunity to enter your chicken into competition. It is usually an all day even so you need to come well prepared. You can find out more information about the poultry show at The Poultry club website.

Wyandotte Chickens

If you are a novice in raising chickens, then it is advised that you go for Wyandotte’s chicken breed. They are both attractive and they have excellent egg producing capabilities.

A fully grown Wyandotte chicken weighs 3kg ( 6 and a half pounds). The bantam variety of the Wyandotte breed is smaller than the large Wyandotte and weighs thirty to forty percent less.

This breed comes in varied colours, some of which are partridge, blue, black, buff , white, gold and silver . Wyandottes look attractive with wide saddles, full breasts, prominent eyes, broad heads and medium necks with full feathers.

The features of Wyandotte chickens are that they are great layers. Even during the first year, these hens are sure to lay about 200 eggs. You can expect that the Wyandotte chickens will lay approximately 175 eggs in the second year. The egg production decreases as they mature. However, this is also true in other chicken breeds.

These hens are also excellent broodies and make good mothers.. Once the hens get broody, the egg production stops.
These chickens are best allowed to roam freely in the garden or in a big pen, as they are quite large.. They survive even in cold climates because they are pretty hardy. The Wyandotte chickens love company and they make ideal pets because of their friendly and calm nature.

Dutch Bantams

Dutch Bantam

The Dutch Bantam is a desired, ornamental breed kept by many chicken fanciers. ‘Bantam’ is the wrong name because the Dutch are one of the few true miniatures as they are not a diminutive form of large fowl.
These upright proud little birds originated from the Netherlands. Recent DNA tests showed that Drente and Friesian fowl played a great part in the Dutch’s creation. They have a single well-serrated comb and the wings are long and carried close to the body. The ear lobes are white and the wattles are short and round. The tail of a cock has shiny green well-developed main sickles that are large and classically curved( although our cock does not set the best example), and the hens have fairly vertical tails carried upright giving them a U shape created by neck and tail.The Dutch Bantam lays quite large eggs for their size. Their egg producing capability is about 100-160 eggs a year.
Due to their size, Dutch females are only capable of covering a few eggs. Eggs take only 20 days to hatch instead of the usual period of 21 days for large breeds.

They come in lots of magnificent colours (see chicken colours page) including gold partridge, silver partridge, yellow partridge, blue silver partridge, blue, yellow partridge, blue partridge, red shouldered white, cuckoo partridge, cuckoo, black, white and lavender.

Dutch bantams have a tame and trusting nature and make great pets.

Apart from the Dutch here are some other true bantams; Sebright, Japanese, Antwerp, Belgians.