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Chick and Egg NZ

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Chick and Egg NZ

Breeding heritage breed poultry since 2017. Store open by appointment only. Helensville, Auckland

20/08/2024

Chicks!

We’ve got a lot of them hatching and we’re only wanting to keep a few at the moment so have a fair few that need to find new homes!

They’ll need heat for 6 weeks, chick crumble for 8 weeks. Currently unsexed but we can take back any roosters, no refunds or swaps though.

1️⃣6️⃣ea for purebreds/Olive Eggers/Frizzles
1️⃣2️⃣ea for Crossbreeds

Collection from Helensville, Auckland!

Also listed on Trade me. If there is 4 or less of a breed they’ll have to go together. 5 or above then we can split them up. Minimum is 4 chicks.

Day Olds-
3x Black Ancona
9x White Leghorn
3x Olive Egger
2x Blue Bantam Frizzle (50% chance of frizzling)
2x Coloured Bantam Frizzle 🔼
3x Olive Egger
2x Splash Orpington
1x Blue Orpington
1x Black Orpington
2x Cuckoo Araucana
3x Black Leghorn
8x Crossbreeds (can lay green, olive, tinted etc

6 Day Olds-
3x Blue Leghorn
4x White Leghorn
2x White Crossbreeds (araucana in them)
2x Olive Eggers
2x Guaranteed Bantam Frizzles
3x Crossbreeds

12 Day Olds-
1x Blue Orpington x Olive Egger
1x White Leghorn x

18/08/2024

What to do with excess roosters this season?

So as we come into the breeding season, eggs will be laid, chicks hatch and eventually you’ll have excess roosters.

Please please please if you’re planning on getting in fertile eggs or unsexed chicks make sure you know what you’re going to do with the extra roosters! Whether you keep them yourself, have a home lined up for them or plan on putting them into the pot. Just make sure you know why you’re going to do with those excess roosters!!!

There are so many that get dumped out there. Some think that with dumping their rooster they’re doing something nice for the bird, letting it free range and live out its days in the wild. Domestic poultry, especially when they’re in large groups can not get enough feed, even water to survive. A lot of these dumped roosters are malnourished, and most will die to either predators or starvation. Honestly, it’s more humane culling a bird than dumping it.

We’ve been running our rooster return program for nearly three years now and here are some tips to increase your chances of having roosters that will be able to find a home:

Handling- Before thinking of breeds etc you need to raise the roosters right. No one wants a nasty rooster. Do NOT hand raise roosters. We have had so many roosters brought to us that have been handraised, and end up becoming quite nasty. If you are raising them yourself, stop handling the boys as soon as you can tell they’re boys. Ones raised by a mother hen tend to be a lot better. The reasoning behind this is that if you’re handraising them they get used to you, and once they grow up will think you, or any other human is competition. With adult roosters treat them with respect, but also let them know you’re boss. We’ve bought roosters that are extremely flighty (even though the breed isn’t) because people haven’t treated the birds right and they’re completely scared of humans.

Choosing a breed- If you’re purchasing eggs or unsexed chicks, or breeding yourself select a breed that is either rare, or has a high demand for. Also going for good quality birds is a plus. This means that when it comes time to rehome them there is actually demand for them and will be easier to rehome. Also go for breeds that are supposed to be docile. If you’re planning on putting, or selling them for the pot then go for larger, faster maturing breeds like RIRs. Do NOT breed crossbreeds, or buy eggs/chicks unless you already have a home lined up prior, or don’t mind/plan on putting them in the pot. Cross breeds have very little chance of finding a home. Come autumn there are so many people trying to find their beloved crossbreed boys homes and there just isn’t the demand for them as pets.

How to find a home- Ideally have one, or make sure you have room for them prior to hatching/collecting. See if the breeder you got them from will take any roosters back. You can run multiple roosters to a flock of hens (ideally 4+ hens per rooster). Introducing new roosters can be tricky, so either make sure they’ve been raised together, or put them in young. It is also best to put them in with the hens prior to the breeding season. Roosters can also run with just other roosters perfectly fine. If you do need to find a rooster a home, then advertise on Facebook (community groups, general poultry pages and if they’re purebred then specific breed pages if they allow rehoming). Trade me is also great but be prepared that most buyers will be buying them for the pot, Do NOT put ridiculous prices on your roosters. No one is going to buy one for $70! $10-$40 is what they’re worth depending on breed, age and quality. ALWAYS be prepared that as a last resort they may need to end up in the pot. Dumping is not an option no matter what.

Crossbreeds- If you have a flock of mixed breeds with roosters in there, knowing what you’re going to do with excess roosters is extremely important. If you don’t have any plans then it is probably best to rehome the current boys you have. Even if you think you’re on top of collecting eggs there will always be one hen that goes off and hatches out a lot of unwanted chicks!

We hope this helps those who are new to hatching or raising chicks! Happy to answer any questions you may have, send us a message if you do have one! If you are in the Auckland region and need to return roosters you get from us, or purebred ones from elsewhere then we are able to take them back/accomodate them. When it comes to crossbreeds that didn’t come from here we may be changing our policies around them.

If you don’t agree with an opinion in this post then please scroll on! We are realistic, I don’t want to see roosters killed or dumped but in some cases dispatching is what is needed.

Photo of Morris, our nearly 8 year old Blue Lacef Gold Wyandotte rooster. Our first ever breeding rooster! He’s still alive and still gets it on with the ladies (photo from 2022).

18/08/2024

Wow…

Facebook has removed our recent post from fertile eggs from several groups I shared it to. There reason being was that it was spam or scam related post! Yet they do absolutely nothing about actual scammers that are all over the groups who scam people out of hundreds selling hens, advertising car cleaning services etc!

18/08/2024

Fertile Eggs available for shipping/collection tomorrow!

We’ve been able to get a few more breeds this week up and ready to sell, so next week we should really start getting into fertile egg pre orders! We’ve got a few extras this week as several people didn’t reply to our emails and the hens laid better than expected!

We have the following breeds available-

Blue/Black/Splash Laced Gold Wyandotte- x35- $4.34ea
Bantam Frizzle -x2-$3.84ea

Minimum is 6 eggs.

Egg price includes individual packaging fee. Postage is NZ post overnight courier and costs $8.50 Auckland, $13.50 NI, $25 SI. SI can be $4.50 cheaper for economy but we do not recommend this option. Rural is $6.50 extra and there is a base packaging fee (include labour) of $5.

Collection free from Helensville, Auckland.

We also have day old chicks available, NO pullets/Hens!

Pm us or order online at http://chickandegg.co.nz/shop

16/08/2024

Hi Guys!

If you have placed a Fertile Egg Pre-Order, and clicked send and it shows the screen above then your pre-order has been placed! We aren’t able to send confirmations on non paid for items currently but it will be in our system. No need to contact us asking if we got your pre order! 😃

15/08/2024

We have a lot of crossbreed chicks available! Hatched from our main flock, they’ll be mostly Orpington mum cross with mostly olive egger as well as the odd faverolle and Wyandotte. Mix of colours, if they have a head tuft they’re definitely olive egger x. Should lay a mix of egg colours, olive, green, cream, tinted and some with a pinky hue.

Unsexed, we can take back any roosters. Need heat for 6 weeks and chick crumble for 8.

Located in Helensville, Auckland.

1️⃣2️⃣ea or 1️⃣8️⃣0️⃣ for all 20.

(Cat not included)

13/08/2024

Fertile Eggs for shipping on the 19th of August! We are slowly getting more breeds laying and their eggs fertility tested. So far all have been above 90% except our white Wyandotte bantams.

-Golden Campine x12 ($4.84)
-Black/Blue Ancona x6
-Blue/Black/Splash Araucana x18
-Bantam Frizzle x6 ($3.84)
-Blue Laced Gold Wyandotte x12

If not specified eggs are $4.34 each. Take 34c off if collected as the individual packaging fee is included in egg cost. Postage is $8 Auckland, $13 NI, $20.50 SI Economy or $25 SI Courier. Rural is $6.50 extra and $5 for overall packaging.

Collection is also available from Helensville, Auckland.

Ideally order through our website, link below or you can PM us. More photos on our website!

http://chickandegg.co.nz/shop

11/08/2024

We have the following fertile eggs available for shipping or collection tomorrow (12/8/24)!

15x Blue/Black Araucana
13x Blue laced Gold Wyandotte

You may get the odd splash araucana and with the Wyandottes you’ll also get plain gold laced and splash laced gold.

Eggs are $4ea for pick up or $4.34ea for postage. Fertility is close to 100%. Eggs come from hens so are good sized. We are located in Helensville, Auckland. Postage is $13 for NI Courier and SI is either $20.50 or $25 depending on courier/economy. $6.50 extra for rural $5 for general packing costs.

Pm us for more info or to order!

05/08/2024

Lavender Araucanas

We have found over the years that the lavender is the most popular colour of Araucana by a far mile. In NZ that’s the colour everyone seems to know that they come in, and Lavender is quite rare in other breeds as well which would make the colour in the Araucanas more sought after. Lavender Araucanas were the third breed we ever got although we did stop breeding them for a few seasons. Our line lay beautiful blue eggs although aren’t as good at laying than our BBS and Cuckoo lines.

This season we are running a lavender cuckoo rooster over 4x (hopefully more!) hens.

We unfortunately lost our only lavender cuckoo pullet to an eye infection that never healed even after antibiotics, several months inside being cared for and many attempts at draining the wound.

These guys are the second most popular breed for egg pre-orders so we will be closing off the list soon unless we can source more hens. Unfortunately we will not have any chicks or Pullets available as we are planning on running a much larger group of these guys next season and sourcing eggs as well so we can have some unrelated roosters.

05/08/2024

Cuckoo Araucanas

Cuckoo Araucanas are one of the rarer colours of Araucana we have with only a few breeders breeding them nowadays. They’re not overly popular but are good layers, probably the best out of all of our Araucanas and lay quite large eggs too. There eggs are mostly blue since we but the black Araucana into them but the older birds lay an Olive coloured egg.

This season we will be continuing to breed our single barred cuckoo rooster over 3 first season hens (currently we do have 5 but will be moving them on soon) as they’re not overly popular and what we will have left will be quite good quality. We do have a double barred rooster which would make the offspring sexable by the wing feathers once they come through but decided against it as he was lesser quality than his Dad.

These guys are currently available to place a fertile egg pre-order, three hens are laying currently but a bit sporadically so once they get into a routine we will start selling there eggs. Chicks and Pullets will also come available.

04/08/2024

We have the following fertile eggs available for shipping/collection tomorrow (5th August)!

10x Bantam Frizzle
5x White Leghorn
3x Blue/Black/Splash Araucana

Close to 100% fertility in all breeds. $3.84ea for the leghorns and frizzles, $4.34 for the Araucanas. Bantam eggs are all blue/green except one which is cream coloured. Price includes individual egg packaging, please pm us for shipping and overall packaging prices to your address. Collection from Helensville, Auckland.

03/08/2024

Duckwing Araucana Bantams

Another new breed, these guys are pretty rare! They’re quite a cool colour the duckwing, love the range of colour in both the hens and the roosters. These guys lay a beautiful blue egg although they are quite tiny!

We only have a breeding trio of these guys, 1 rooster and 2 hens. They’re laying pretty well at the moment so hope to get a larger flock established in the next season or two. They are still in development though with the most obvious thing to work on are the head tufts and beard making them fuller, especially on the hens.

As with most of our Araucanas these guys have come from Wolf Hurschler, he had worked on these for a number of years developing them.

These guys don’t meet the fertile egg pre-order requirements although we may have a few Pullets to move on later on in the season.

Unfortunately they’re very flighty so have to take photos on the other side of the run, so excuse the mesh in the photos!

02/08/2024

Black/Blue/Splash Araucanas-

These guys we’ve had a for several years now and are one of our show breeds. They have nice head tufts and beards, slate legs and good shape on the most part. Their egg colour varies from blue to green but it is quite cool having a range of egg colours from the same breed and colour of birds!

This season we have 1x Blue rooster, 1x Splash rooster, 8x Black hens and 1x Blue hen. The best two black hens and the blue rooster will be taken out of the group for 1-2 months come September to produce some show birds although we will still keep a lot of Pullets and cockerels from the main flock to hopefully get a good one!

We’ve bred these guys for a few years now but all of the original stock came from Wolf Hurschler, so most of the credit for these guys being such good quality definitely goes to him!

These guys eggs are available to pre-order, we don’t have many pre orders for these guys so if you’re wanting Araucana eggs quick these are the guys to go for!

http://chickandegg.co.nz/fertile-egg-pre-orders

02/08/2024

Andalusians-

Andalusians are another new breed of ours this season! I’ve always loved the look of their blue lacing, I’ve been trying to get some of these guys since late 2021 actually! It’s a breed originating from Spain although the darker, laced varieties were selectively bred in England and then exported around the world. The English version is what we have here in NZ. They lay a good amount of white eggs (although none have laid for us yet)!

This year we will be running two trios of them, a blue x blue group that we will be keeping their eggs from and a black x splash group that will produce 100% blue birds, in which we will sell from. These guys are all from Claire Bailey and I hope to continue working on them as she has done.

These guys arent available for egg pre-orders as they don’t meet the requirements to make the list. We will hope to have 6-10 eggs a week from them available though and will have excess Pullets for sale later on in the season.

(Excuse the muddy runs, the ground wasn’t as even as it looked and the waterers leaked a bit plus we’ve had lots of rain!)

30/07/2024

Due to there being no single orders/people not able to take eggs yet we have some available!

12x Blue/Black/Splash Araucana -$4.34 ea
10x White Leghorn -$3.84ea

Fertility is close to 100% in both breeds. Both lines are good quality and we have done alright showing them this season.

They will be shipped/can be collected on Monday 5th of August.

Price includes individual egg packaging, for shipping and box packaging cost please pm us.

Pm us for more details or to order!

30/07/2024

Rooster Returns Open this Sunday!

http://chickandegg.co.nz/rooster-return-service

28/07/2024

Weekly Update!

We are now filling fertile egg orders for some breeds eggs (noted on this post). If you’ve ordered just those breeds please start checking your spam folders as we haven’t had a reply from half the people that emails were sent to.

Hens have picked up a bit and we have a fair few more laying, but they aren’t laying as frequently as they were last week. Weekly average is 23.

Hens we currently have laying-
Ancona-1
BBS Araucana-3
Cuckoo Araucana-1
Duckwing Araucana Bantam-1
Lavender Araucana-2
Partridge Araucana Bantam-1
Bantam Frizzle-4
Golden Campines-1
Olive Eggers-2
Silver Spangled Hamburgs-2
Gold Spangled Hamburgs-1
BBS Leghorns-4
Exchequer Leghorns-1
White Leghorns-5
White Leghorn Bantams-1
BBS Minorca-1
Black Orpington-3
RIR-3
Laced Gold Wyandottes-5

Breeds we are filling fertile egg orders for currently-
BBS Araucana
Bantam Frizzles
BBS Leghorn
White Leghorn

Groups we have left to pen up-
Partridge Araucana Bantams
Bantam Frizzles (Frizzle rooster)
Faverolles
Houdans
Brown Leghorns
Columbian Leghorns
BBS Minorcas
Barred Plymouth Rocks
Partridge Plymouth Rocks
Silkies
Wyandotte Project Groups

Fertility testing so far has been excellent!

It’s not too late to put your name down for a fertile egg pre-order!

http://chickandegg.co.nz/fertile-egg-pre-orders

26/07/2024

We will start filling fertile egg preorders for shipping on the 5th of August!

The current breeds that are laying enough and have had 90%+ fertility rates that we will start filling first are:

BBS Araucanas
Bantam Frizzles
BBS Leghorns
White Leghorns

Obviously each week more hens will start laying so more breeds will come available. Anconas, Olive Eggers and our laced gold Wyandotte colours should be ready next.

We will send out emails to those who are first in the queue tonight!

25/07/2024

This egg would be bluer than half the araucana eggs that are laid I reckon! The photo doesn’t do the egg justice! Laid by one of our frizzle bantams

23/07/2024

Been a bit wet here over the past week or so but the sun does show itself still most days. Hens were out enjoying the afternoon sun and the ones in the new breeding runs were loving some fresh grass and a new area to mess up!

21/07/2024

Anconas-

This is our second year owning the Anconas but our first breeding them. They’re a fairly flighty breed, I’ve found these guys better than the leghorns and seem to be nearly as good laying wise. They’re quite a stunning breed with their iridescent black feathers and white tiping throughout when it comes to the black ones. They have yellow legs with slate spots which is pretty unique! They lay beautiful white eggs and shouldn’t go broody. They originate in Italy but as with a lot of the Mediterranean breeds were developed for egg laying and show in the UK.

This season we have a cockerel over 1x black hen, 1x blue hen, 2x older Pullets and 2x younger Pullets. All of these have come from Claire Bailey either as adult birds or fertile eggs.

They seem to be pretty good type, a couple of the younger ones I’ll keep an eye on as they have a lot of white on them which they may go darker (the older black hen did so). If not I’d be worried she’s an Exchequer Leghorn!

These guys will be available as fertile eggs, day old chicks and later on hopefully Pullets! You can pre order fertile eggs through the link below and we will advertise chicks and pullets once they come available.

Fertile eggs-$4
Day Old Chicks-$16
Pullets- T.B.C

http://chickandegg.co.nz/fertile-egg-pre-orders

21/07/2024

Weekly Update!

I’ll start posting these again till we are back into normal production and all the groups have been sorted!

Up until a week ago we were getting one egg every second day. Today we got 22 with a four day average of 16.5! Not many compared to the 300 odd breeding hens we have but it is exciting watching the number increase! So far we have the following breeds laying-

Ancona-1
BBS Araucana- 1
Cuckoo Araucana-2
Bantam Frizzles-2
Golden Campines-2
Olive Eggers-2
Silver Spangled Hamburgs-1
BBS Leghorns-3
White Leghorns-3
BBS Minorca-1
BBS Orpingtons-5
RIR-4
Laced Gold Wyandottes-3
White Wyandotte Bantams-1

Currently we have the following groups to pen up that are in the main flock-

Partridge Araucana Bantams
Bantam Frizzles (Frizzle rooster)
Faverolles
Houdans
Brown Leghorns
Columbian Leghorns
BBS Minorcas
Barred Plymouth Rocks
Partridge Plymouth Rocks
Silkies
Buff Sussex
Wyandotte Project Groups

We also have a fair few groups that are still in their BBS flocks that need to be split up like the laced gold Wyandottes, Araucanas and Orpingtons.

We can currently hatch out 25 eggs daily. Fertility testing for most of the laying breeds has been getting done all winter as they were laying up until a month ago. Once I’m happy that a big enough sample has been done fertile egg orders will start to be sent out!

Photo of two little bantam chicks

18/07/2024

Breeding Quad Pens

These are our breeding quad pens (have run out of plywood at the moment and needed to get these guys in to their new runs). They have the same house size as the chick/pair runs but double the amount of outdoor space. They could take a double batch of chicks or a breeding quad (1 roo 3 hens) of a heavy breed, 1 roo 4 hens of the light breeds and a total of 7-8 bantams depending on the breed.

As with the other runs they get moved around every 3 days and have a 10l trough of water and 3 ice cream containers for feed. They are checked on and any eggs collected daily and when they get moved the feed is topped up and water replaced.

So far two have been built, one has our Buff Leghorns in there and the other has our flat feathered bantam rooster over our frizzle hens.

My main focus will be to build these as the groups that are going in here are obviously bigger so better to have them penned up and having pure eggs over the smaller groups. As we still have one feral cat left I’m debating on using these ones for the chicks instead and keeping them in here for longer. They are cat proof when the mesh is on the side of the house!

16/07/2024

Pullets and Hens Needing a New Coop!

As the main flock is getting divided up into breeding groups and the main paddock will be used for pullet raising we have some excess hens we are needing to move on! Will get photos of them tomorrow and update the post as they’re all semi free range and hard to get photos of!

Black and Blue Hamburgs- We unfortunately will no longer be breeding these guys. They’re just too flighty and are not suited for a breeding pen. They roam about wherever they please here so will need to go to a new home that they have the same! The boys and two girls were sold at the Auckland show. The blacks are 2-3 years old I believe and the blue is a January 2024 pullet. She has the features of a Hamburg but is a Hamburg x Minorca.

3x Black Hamburgs-4️⃣0️⃣ea
1x Blue Hamburg- 6️⃣0️⃣ea
1x Blue Leghorn x Hamburg- 5mth-3️⃣0️⃣
1x Splash Leghorn x Hen-2 Years-3️⃣0️⃣
1x Splash Xbreed- 8mth-3️⃣5️⃣
1x Black Bantam x-8mth-3️⃣0️⃣

Might be some more, will check tomorrow!

Pm us if you’re keen! They should start laying in the next month.

Good example of the Hamburgs behaviour, turned on the lights at the show and she had gotten out overnight and was sitting on top of one of the show cages😂

16/07/2024

Chick/ Pair Runs

After building two chick runs late last year that didn’t really work I have made some adjustments and came up with these!

They can take a batch of chicks (15) from 7 weeks to 10 weeks after they come out of the brooder box. As we have 12 brooder boxes 12 of these will be required just for chicks. They can also take a breeding quad (1 Roo 3 Hens) of bantams, a trio of light breeds or a pair of heavy breeds. A total of 16 of these will be needed for our new breeding groups, projects and show pairings.

They get moved around every 3 days so they have access to fresh grass. Chicks will have 8l drinkers and 4-6kg feeders and adult birds will have one of our 10l water troughs (made from recycled plastic) and 2 ice cream containers attached to the wall which makes it easier to move (and cheaper!).

They cost around $250 per unit to produce. 11 1.14 meter battens are used the mesh frame and 5 meters of small hexagon mesh to cover it. Two 1x0.8m pre built frame pieces are used along with two 1.14 meter battens cut in halve. Ply is then used to cover 3 of the sides of the house and the off cuts used as the perches (they prefer flat perches as opposed to curved ones). Two 1x845m pieces of tin are used for the roof, one is screwed in the other is used for the access into the pen.

So far five have been built with one being used for chicks and four for adult birds. My goal is to build two of these a week. The show pairings don’t need to be seperated straight away as they already are in their main breeding groups but sooner the better as older birds are better for size. The ones for chicks will just be built as needed as they only take a day to build.

Would possibly be able to build some for sale as well. A few things would have to be built a bit tidier but they’re solid and will last, a lot better than the kit set ones from China!

16/07/2024

Chicks!

These will probably be our last big lot available for the next few months as we have had a dip in eggs and then now they’re laying again we will start putting aside chicks in mass for next season.

They are either 3 days or 6 days old. They need heat for 6 weeks and chick crumble for 8 weeks. Unsexed but we can take back any roosters (no swaps or refunds).

Located Helensville, Auckland

1️⃣6️⃣ ea for purebreds 1️⃣2️⃣ for crosses

Splash Orpington x3
Blue Orpington x4
Black Orpington x4
Splash Laced Gold Wyandotte x1
RIR x3
Blue Araucanas x2
Cuckoo Araucanas x2
Bantams (chance of frizzling) x2
Crossbreeds (no idea what they are) x4
White Leghorns- Every 5 chicks get 1 free- x21

16/07/2024

Well I definitely jinxed it with our last post on fertile eggs! Was getting up to 30 eggs a day 4 weeks ago and last week was down to one hen laying! They’re picking back up again now with 10 hens laying as of today. I did find the first broody of the season today though, a white Wyandotte bantam nesting just above the pond. Fingers crossed they’re pure!

Usually the breeding groups are all out together in late Autumn and then put back into breeding groups in early July. The main aim of this was to grass out the runs but that never worked so this year everyone stayed in the runs. We do have a fair amount of new breeds though and the tempoary runs from last season were pulled down so a LOT of building work has and still needs to be done! Will do another post on what we are using this season for the pairs and trios, 4-5 bird groups, 7 bird groups and then the larger groups.

Photos and descriptions of the breeding groups will be coming out soon like we did last year!

09/07/2024

Chicks ready for their new homes!

-4x Silver Laced Wyandotte
-4x Splash Laced Gold Wyandotte
-2x Black Orpington
-1x Blue Orpington
-5x RIR
-12x White Leghorn

They will need heat for 6 weeks, chick crumble for 8 weeks and then should be moved onto pullet grower.

Unsexed but we can take back any roosters. No swaps or refunds.

1️⃣6️⃣each

Collection from Helensville, Auckland. A box will be provided on collection.

07/07/2024

Well that’s the end of showing for me for the show season! Started off with our young bird show in March then Whangārei, Hastings and Auckland.

Yet to get a bird on the champions row unfortunately but it is only my third year showing birds. It definitely didn’t help that a lot of our pullets and cockerels were killed by feral cats! This season I showed my Black Araucana, Bantam Frizzle, Golden Campine, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, White Leghorns, Black, Blue and Splash Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, Gold and Silver Laced Wyandottes and White Wyandotte Bantams.

I do believe there is some merit in most of those breeds but to actually do well at a show I’ll need to focus on just a few. I’ve known this since March but have changed my mind after each show on what exactly to breed for show. I’ve thinned it down to the following-

Definite Show Breeds-
Black Araucana
Golden Campine
White Wyandotte Bantams

I’ve chosen the Wyandottes as they’re already pretty good, they’re easy to handle and they can be bred in a smaller space meaning we can make more groups of them. Araucana are pretty good, the last two years they’ve gotten best light breed at our young bird show. If I actually keep a large amount of them then I should get some much better birds as the genetics are there. Golden Campines are my favourite breed and they have so far gotten best Campine at any show they’ve been too (yes there usually isn’t any competition except for Hastings). Next goal is to get them into being a contender for best light breed!

Possible Show Breeds-
Cuckoo Araucana
White Leghorn
BBS Orpingtons
RIR
Silver Laced Wyandotte

All of these breeds have merit to them. The Cuckoo Araucana would be easy as have good quality stock at the moment and can cross to black to improve as well. The white leghorns are quite good but are a pain to wash though and have to worry about brassiness from the sun (same with splash Orpingtons). Orpingtons I will probably do, but they are big birds and a lot of other better birds out there. RIR and Silver Laced Wyandottes are good type and I would really like to beat the White Wyandottes.

I am also looking at getting into more Wyandotte bantams especially the Partridge and Silver pencilled. I like my whites and would be good to have more!

To breed a good bird for show multiple, small groups should be run. I plan on having one group that has my best birds in it and two that have birds with opposite features in it. Having a Wyandotte with excellent lacing but poor shape being out over one with poor lacing but excellent shape will possibly produce some birds that have both excellent shape and excellent lacing (and a lot of average and crap birds too). When it comes to raising they need to be fed a seperate diet to get the birds to their ideal shape and size. Some of my Orpingtons are quite small and that will be partially due to the way they’ve been raised.

Was a massive season for learning, both when it comes to breeding birds for show as well as the ins and outs of showing. This is only my third year showing and have never done more than one proper show in a season. It’s been interesting to see that a bird can do well at one show, get disqualified at the next then do ok at another!

Next season I hope to have some good Pullets and cockerels come through, properly prepare them and make my way around an extra couple of shows. Will definitely do Whangārei, Auckland, Hastings and Waikato. I will also try make it down to Central Districts to help support them as they’ve supported our Auckland show this season as well as another one or two down that way.

As for our other breeds we will continue to breed them, selecting the best stock that comes through to breed from. There just won’t be as much time and effort put into breeding them as there is the show lines!

A big thanks to the Auckland Poultry and Pigeon Association, the Hastings Poultry and Pigeon Club and the Whangārei Poultry and Pigeon Club. A massive thanks to Jay Smith, Kathleen Bayliss, Toni Huband and Zeff Jeeves for the wealth of information that I have learnt this season. And of course Wolf Hurschler for getting me into showing!

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