SUCCESS WITH CHICKENS E-Book

JEREMY HOBSON

• Herausgeber: Quiller
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 269

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Chicken-keeping is an increasingly popular hobby as more and more people discover the benefits of raising chickens and supplying their own eggs. Written by an expert chickenkeeper of many years standing, the subjects covered include choice of breed, housing, feeding, breeding, showing and indeed all the many topics the new chicken keeper will want to understand. This practical guide incorporates much of the author s forty years of experience as a chicken keeper, as well as taking advantage of the knowledge and experience of other enthusiasts. Also included, either because of their relevance, or simply their ability to raise a wry smile, are several snippets taken from poultry books written during the first half of the twentieth century

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title Page

Acknowledgements

1: Which Came First…?

2: Why Keep Chickens?

3: Where To Keep Chickens

4: What Chickens?

5: Preparation, Purchase and Practice

6: Healthy and Happy

7: Breeding, Incubation and Rearing

8: A Little Bit of Showing Off!

9: Fowl Facts and Fancies

10: A Conclusion – of Sorts!

Bibliography and Sources

Glossary

Index

Copyright

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

If you are enthusiastic about any subject then writing about it is the easy bit. If your subject happens to include livestock of any kind – all of whom have a mind of their own, then photographing the subject becomes nigh on impossible – unless, of course, you are possessed with the same degree of knowledge and patience as Rupert Stephenson, a professional poultry photographer who has supplied virtually all of the illustrations for this book. Christened Robert, but known to all in the poultry world as Rupert, he has, as always (I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to persuade him to provide photos for several previously published books and many of my articles), come up trumps and didn’t seem at all fazed by the rather daunting list of requirements I sent him. My first and most sincere thanks must, therefore, go to him; not only his most valuable contribution to this title, but also his friendship – one day we might actually meet rather than communicate via emails!

There are a few photographs from other sources and I am most grateful to David Bland; Elliot Hobson; Flyte so Fancy Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset (who were most generous in giving me access to several photos from which to choose); Green Frog Designs, Templecombe, Somerset; Crofting Supplies, Caithness, Scotland and Osprey Plastics (BEC UK), Church Stretton, Shropshire.

Any chicken knowledge I do possess didn’t just spring into my head as a lightning flash. Over forty plus years, I have gleaned much from a vast number of people, but those who remain constantly in my mind and who are sadly no longer with us include my maternal grandfather; A. E. Walker; Jim Ellis and George Lodge. More recently (and thankfully they are all still very much alive and kicking!) my knowledge has been much enhanced by the likes of David Bland, Tony Weatherill, Peter Delaney and Charlie Sullivan. Specifically appertaining to Success with Chickens, I would like to thank Tim Nelson, headmaster of Staverton Church of England Primary School, Daventry, Northamptonshire, for allowing me to mention his quite innovative scheme (page 27) and to quote some of his words which originally appeared in Your Chickens magazine – appertaining to which, grateful thanks are also due to Simon McEwan, Your Chickens Content Editor, for agreeing to their use and to my making reference to other articles which have appeared in his excellent publication. Also, a big ‘thank you’ to all those who recounted their chicken-keeping exploits as they appear in Chapter 2.

In the past and in order to find suitable magazine subject matter, I have occasionally stolen ideas from Valerie Porter’s book Domestic and Ornamental Fowl (Pelham, 1989). If she looks carefully through these pages she might find I’ve done so again and I know she’ll have no objection – I must, therefore, thank her not only for her leniency, but more sincerely, for a friendship which has lasted for almost thirty years!

As regards any of the other books mentioned or quoted from in the text (for anything more than a few words), I have checked and they are, to the best of my knowledge, either out of copyright or their original publishers cannot be found. If I am erroneous in my thinking, or have been a little lax in my research, I most sincerely apologise and ask that anyone offended contacts the publishers in order that the situation can be rectified in future reprints.

1

WHICH CAME FIRST…?

Marco Polo described a breed of chicken that can only have been the ancestors of the modern Silkie

It is, I know, something of a cliché to ask the question but, which exactly did come first, the chicken or the egg? Without going anywhere near Darwin’s theory of evolution, one has to suppose that the chicken was needed to lay the egg; but from where did the chicken come – out of an egg is the obvious answer! Depending on how many millennia we want to go back, some authorities have it that birds of all kinds developed from reptiles and their feathers from scales, but as modern-day chicken-keepers, do we need to know even this tiny piece of information? Probably not. What is, however, generally accepted is that the ancestors of today’s chickens were almost certainly the red Jungle Fowl of southeast Asia which were reputedly first domesticated by the people of the area some three thousand years BC. In more recent times (these things are all relative!) there are records of domestic chickens being kept by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. How chickens eventually came to populate the whole world is undoubtedly a result of exploration and trading; for example, Marco Polo mentioned ‘fur feathered’ animals, which were undoubtedly the ancestors of the modern-day Silkie.

DEFINING ‘SPECIES’ AND ‘BREEDS’

Before moving on to discuss the make-up of chickens, it might be as well to make clear the distinction between species and breeds. A species will, in the wild, only ever mate naturally with its own kind, partly because it recognises the appearance of another in the same species as being similar to its own, partly because of circumstance (habits and breeding seasons must overlap, for instance) and partly because the offspring of two different species, should such an unlikely meeting ever take place, would most likely be non-viable from the moment of conception or infertile and unable to reproduce due to a mismatch of chromosomes.

Warren hybrids – good egg layers and easy to keep, but sadly not much to look at when compared with some of the pure-breeds!

Chickens were not the first domesticated poultry

Although, as I would be the first to admit, it has nothing at all to do with the origin of the chickens in your back garden, I nevertheless thought that the following might prove of interest when it comes to comparing the domestication of chickens with other farmyard fowl.

There is evidence that geese were domesticated as early as five thousand years BC (undoubtedly much earlier than chickens), as part of the process of socialisation that saw humankind move away from nomadic herding to settled farming. The remains of domestic web-footed fowl discovered among the grave goods in certain prehistoric burial sites in central northern Europe date from the Neolithic period and while the people of south-east Asia were just getting into their stride as chicken-keepers, in Egypt, wall paintings dating as early as the 5th Dynasty show the practice of force-feeding geese. This suggests that as long ago as two thousand eight hundred BC there were those who knew how to appreciate the fine qualities of foie gras!

All chickens are the same species and can interbreed quite naturally, but an Ancona is a different breed to a Yokohama. Basically then, a pure-breed is perhaps easiest to define as being a true genetic breed, i.e. when male and female of the same breed are mated together, they are guaranteed to reproduce virtually identical offspring. To define it further, one could say that a particular breed is a group of birds that have been produced over generations and nowadays possess inherited characteristics such as shape, colour and comb formation, which all help to distinguish it in some way from other birds within the same species. Just where this leaves hybrids and cross-breeds is a matter which is discussed in Chapter 4.

THE MAKE-UP OF A CHICKEN

Evolution over millennia has developed a very successful end product. The chicken’s beak is designed for pulling at vegetation and pecking around for grubs, on-ground seeds and grain; it is, therefore, relatively thick-set and fairly robust – more like that of a berry-picking finch than a probing long-beaked insect-seeking woodcock. Technically, the beak is split into what are known as the upper and lower mandible, and the mouth part, of course, contains no teeth – instead food is passed directly to the crop and subsequently into the gizzard whose rough interior will, with the aid of grit, grind down the food into a sort of paste, the nutrients from which can then be used by the bird’s system.

More or less all-round vision is vital to what was once a wild bird, which needed to be constantly on the look-out for potential predators as well as food, and the eyes are set into the side of the head rather than at the front where vision would be limited. Tucked away behind the eye, and just above the wattles, are the ears – not always immediately obvious unless you know which feathers to brush aside in order to look.

Despite what people may think chickens are quite brainy birds and, according to Siobhan Abeyesinghe of the Silsoe Research Institute, ‘do not just live in the present, but can anticipate the future and demonstrate self-control, something previously attributed only to humans and other primates’. Her findings, as a result of research carried out in 2005, suggest that chickens are ‘intelligent, forward thinking creatures and may therefore worry and be capable of expectations, leading in turn to feelings of thwarting, frustration and pre-emptive anxiety’. Research undertaken at Bristol University in 2011 has also shown that chickens are able to empathise with one another – a hen, for example, has been proven to feel stress and her heartbeat increases when one of her chicks is even slightly distressed. Although there is still more work to be done, it seems likely that unrelated birds will feel the same empathy – a point to bear in mind when catching a chicken for whatever reason.

The head of a Spanish cock bird clearly showing the beak, comb, eye and wattles

Sometimes known as ‘head furnishings’ or ‘furniture’, the most distinctive feature of a chicken is probably its comb and wattles. The main reason for their existence is to act as a cooling system because, like a dog (which uses its panting tongue to lose heat), birds cannot sweat, so the chicken cools itself by circulating blood through the comb and wattles, thereby dissipating body heat. Bearing in mind that breeds such as the Ancona, Minorca and Leghorn originated in Mediterranean countries, which are hot for a good portion of the year, it is logical that their combs should be, in general, large – and they usually stand proud or flop away from the head, giving the largest possible expanse of area through which heat can be lost. What makes less sense, however, is the fact that some breeds such as the Malay come from even hotter places and yet only have a walnut comb and virtually no wattles to speak of – they are relatively sparsely feathered though, which may help. Comb types are many and varied, but include what are known as single, horn, rose and pea – as will become more apparent in Chapter 4.

The cockerel waltz

Some of the more aggressive males will not only raise their hackles, but also drop and extend both wings and puff out all their body feathers to give their harem (or other cocks) the impression of greater size. In what is sometimes known as the ‘cockerel waltz’, a cock bird will drop the feathers of just one wing and scuttle round an individual hen in a display of dominance. More often than not, the female will either move away or more likely, squat in submission, making it much easier for the cockerel to mount and mate with her.

Feathers provide both insulation and waterproofing. The colour of a feather to some extent affects its resilience; for example, black feathers are thought to be more resistant to wear and tear than white ones because they contain more pigmentation. The main pigments are melanin (manufactured in the bird’s body) and carotenoids (which are absorbed from foods, especially greenstuffs and roots). Not all birds have the same amount of feathers – some breeds have them all the way down their legs and may also have feather beards and crests for protection in winter weather (most of these also have almost non-existent combs, so the combination of small combs, muffs, beards and crests must be Nature’s way of preventing heat loss). The need to fly has become redundant in many breeds, but the wing feathers are split into what are known as ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ (the large ones that can easily be seen along the outer edge) which developed in such a way as to make flight possible. Some feathers are, of course, purely ornamental and designed to attract the opposite sex: the sickle feathers in the tail, the saddle, wing shoulders and the neck of the cock bird, for instance. Neck hackles, however, have not only a sexual purpose and they are also intended to make the cock look far more aggressive in response to any possible threat to his harem. It is not only the obvious contenders that might face a sparring cock bird with his hackles raised and, despite generations of domesticity, a cockerel in India will adopt exactly the same position upon encountering a snake. Anyone who has kept chickens for many years (especially the often tenacious bantam) will, no doubt, have suffered at some time or another as a result of a particular male bird who insists on flying at the back of their legs, hackles set in a ruff formation and spurs ready to do the maximum amount of damage!

Most breeds have four toes, but some, such as the Dorking and Faverolles, have five

The chicken’s legs are scaly and, as has been pointed out, may have a covering of feathers. In fact, some breeds have not only feathered legs, but feathered feet as well – which does not always make them an ideal bird for the inexperienced chicken-keeper (as will be explained later). Cock birds possess spurs (which, as the bird grows older, may cause problems when mating if they are not trimmed occasionally) and on some hens, little nodules can be seen at the back of the legs. The toes are strong and perfect for scratching about in order to find food or to create a shallow basin in which they can dust-bathe and help rid themselves of parasites. Most breeds have four toes (one being at the back) but some, such as the Dorking or Faverolles, quite famously have five.

THE MAKE-UP OF AN EGG

There are so many references to eggs in common usage nowadays and yet so many originate from many years ago – and not necessarily from the UK. ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’, was not, as might be imagined, one of a prudent Victorian grandmother’s old saws, but was first mentioned as an Italian proverb of 1662. For other proverbs concerning eggs, look no further than the practicalities of cooking: ‘You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs’ is a simple and most logical statement.

Eggs, therefore, are all things to all people: the back garden chicken-keeper will expect great things of theirs, irrespective of whether they are intended for eating purposes, or to be collected and carefully saved for hatching. Eggs, to a lesser or greater degree, provide all the essential amino acids and minerals required by both the developing chick (in the case of a fertile hatching egg) and the human body (when used for cooking). They are an important source of vitamins A, B, and D for humans as well as supplying a complete, high-quality protein source. Some people avoid eating eggs in the belief that they contain high cholesterol levels; however, egg-lovers will no doubt be pleased to know that the cholesterol content is much lower when compared with ten years ago – at least according to a study carried out in early 2011. The reason eggs have apparently become better for you over the past decade is that hens are no longer fed bone meal, which was banned in the 1990s following the BSE crisis – so now you know.

Egg-lovers will no doubt be pleased to learn that research has proven that their cholesterol content of eggs is nowadays much lower than a decade ago!

Eggs over the roof-tops!

In the past, a yolkless egg has been the subject of much superstition and been given many names such as ‘wind’ eggs or even ‘cock’ eggs – the latter because the ancients thought that, as the shell was yolkless, it couldn’t have been laid by a hen and must, therefore, have been laid by the male of the species (no doubt there was some logic to their argument, but I fail to see it). Worse was the belief that these ‘cock’ eggs would, if set, hatch out a huge, evil, snake-like creature that was capable of causing death by just looking at someone. The only sure way of avoiding such a fate was to throw the egg over the roof of the family residence so that it broke into tiny pieces on the other side. The thrower had to take great care that it didn’t hit the roof; fortunately, that was less likely then to have required the skills of a rugby player as the dwellings of the time would have been low, single-storey affairs.

Structurally, an egg is quite a simple piece of kit. Protected by a porous shell (made up of calcite – a crystalline form of calcium carbonate), its contents include not much more than the albumen (or white), made up of water and protein, and the yolk, all of which is protected by ‘shock absorbers’ known as chalazae. This simple form, which is nevertheless capable of producing the miracle of life, has been a source of wonder and a symbol of rejuvenation for thousands of years.

Occasionally, and most likely at either the beginning or the end of a period of laying, a hen may produce an egg with no yolk at all or, conversely, one with a double yolk. An egg with no yolk is quite likely to be smaller than average, whereas a ‘double-yolker’ will, more often than not, be larger than the norm. The minimum weight that used to be aimed for when it was common practice to trap nesting birds in order to keep a record of their egg production was 55g (2oz), but the newcomer to the trap record system was always urged not to be too severe on young pullets because, until a bird is fully matured, the eggs she lays are often a little smaller and lighter than the ones she produces once she has reached adulthood.

Eggshell colour

Egg colour depends mainly on the breed. As a general rule (but not always the case – see page 152), the lighter Mediterranean breeds all lay whitish eggs, those heading towards being dual-purpose lay creamy, tinted, or light brown eggs, and some of the heavy types lay brown, occasionally bordering on deep chocolate eggs – the most notable of these being Marans and Welsummers.

What is it that makes a tray of dark brown eggs visually more attractive than a tray of white ones? Provided that the hens that lay the brown eggs have been given exactly the same environment and feeding regime as the ones that laid the white ones, they do (and it has been scientifically proven) all taste the same. Nevertheless, position a basket of white eggs at the front of a stall at a farmers’ market and one of brown eggs at the back and you will find that, despite being less prominent, the brown eggs sell more rapidly than the white. Interestingly, were you to conduct the same experiment in America, you would most likely find that the white ones were favoured – something to do with white indicating cleanliness and purity in the mind of the average American consumer, or so I’m told.

The colours of eggs vary greatly from breed to breed

Blue eggs are sometimes laid. The Araucana Club of America (see also page 75) has carried out a great deal of research on the subject and, until relatively recently, thought as I did, that their particular breed was the only blue egg layer in existence (with the possible exception of the blueish-coloured eggs laid by Cream Legbars, a hybrid). Their research has, however, discovered another source from the Jiangxi Province of China. Known as the Dongxiang, the breed, or something approximating to it, has apparently been around for several thousand years. It is black fleshed rather like the Silkie and is slightly smaller, but nevertheless more heavily built than the Araucana. Dr Ning Yang is a poultry and genetics expert responsible for the well-being of the gene pool of all seventy-eight species of native Chinese chicken breeds and he says that, as far as he can ascertain, none of these birds has ever left China and, in addition, there is no history of an Araucana-type bird ever being introduced to China. It seems likely, therefore, that these are two completely separate breeds.

It is, after all, the contents of the shell that we eat!

However, unless you are committed to showing eggs (see Chapter 8), provided that you are doing all that is possible to ensure that good sized eggs are being hatched, that their colours are as defined by the breed standard and they come from hens that are producing the number of eggs expected from the particular breed, the depth of shell colour is not so very important – it is, after all, the contents of the shell that we eat (or hatch) and not the shell itself.

Egg yolks

The yolk is made up of vitamins, minerals, protein, water and fats, and is intended for use as a food store by the chick on hatching (it absorbs the yolk prior to chipping through the shell). The colour of the yolk is directly associated with the hen’s diet. F. E. Wilson, writing in 1903, claimed that: ‘it should not be forgotten that the colour and flavour of eggs depends very much on the type of food used. Hens fed largely on wheat frequently lay – especially if kept in confinement – eggs in which the yolk is of the palest yellow; whereas hens at liberty, getting plenty of worms and insect food, lay eggs with rich dark-coloured yolks…it will therefore be readily seen that care needs to be exercised if well and finely-flavoured eggs are desired.’

Provided that a bird is given ample opportunity to scratch about and find natural food for itself (and some seeds and insects on which it feeds are not immediately obvious to the human eye) and is fed a balanced ration bought from a reputable feed manufacturer, there should be no problems with the quality or colour of the eggs. On occasion, when showing eggs for example, the addition of a small amount of maize to the diet will help to give the yolk an almost golden colour but great care must be taken when feeding this particular cereal as too much will result in vast amounts of fat being deposited in the bird’s body – which will do no good at all.

Bantam eggs are thought to contain a much larger yolk-to-white ratio than is normally found in the eggs of large fowl. When it comes to the question of whether or not bantams lay as many eggs as their large fowl counterparts, some breeds do in fact perform remarkably well. Naturally they have not been bred for egg production in the same way as some of the commercial chicken types, and of course what eggs they do lay are proportionally smaller. Nevertheless, many bantam breeds can match their larger cousins when it comes to the number of eggs laid. They are therefore worthy of consideration if space is limited and you simply require a few birds that will enhance your garden, create interest and give pleasure, plus a reasonably regular supply of eggs.

BANTAMS – WHAT ARE THEY?

The generally accepted definition of bantams distinguishes ‘true’ bantams (for which there is no large breed counterpart) from ‘miniaturised’ or ‘diminutive’ fowl which are anywhere between one quarter and one fifth of the size of their large breed equivalent. The miniaturising of large breeds probably began in the late sixteenth century, but it was not until the Victorian era that bantams became really popular and breed standards began to be set; these standards may have changed slightly in the intervening years but I think that most breeders and enthusiasts back then would, by and large, recognise the majority of those we see today.

As most (but certainly not all) large fowl breeds have been miniaturised, you should be able to find a bantam version of the breed that particularly fascinates you. In addition (although I might be biased as they are my first love), they are, I think, possibly just a little more characterful than some of the large fowl breeds and will most certainly keep you amused with their antics as they follow you enquiringly around the garden. W. H. Silk, in his treatise Bantams and Miniature Fowl (published in 1951) was, I think, waxing lyrical when he penned his personal definition of bantams.

Bantams are perfect in a garden environment

‘WHAT IS A BANTAM? The old-timer will glibly tell you that it is a genus of miniature fowl which originated at Bantam in Java. He won’t know whether he’s right or not; and it is much more likely in truth that the Japanese were mainly responsible for originating them.

The die-hard exhibition man will describe it as a species of small fowl…oblivious of the fact that bantams originally had no counterparts in big poultry.

The farmer will say it’s a child’s pet. Many breeders of large fowl will call it a pest that should be discouraged; but that is because nowadays bantams have usurped the popularity that large breeds formerly held at shows.

All of them, of course, are wrong to a greater or lesser degree. The bantam is no mystery, neither is it a commercial money-spinner. On the other hand, it isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a freakish unproductive dwarf.

It is capable of production as well as reproduction, and is, in fact, a fascinating hobby, and a bundle of charm. It won’t read your thoughts like a dog, or purr against your legs like a tame cat…but within its sphere those with limited space and little cash will find it supreme as a combined source of relaxation, home profit and amusement.’

SOME ‘CELEBRITY’ CHICKEN-KEEPERS

Keeping chickens is, or should be, a restful pastime. If work commitments dictate that you are away for much of the time and there is no one in the family likely to share your hobby, or you are of an impetuous, loud and blustery nature whereby dogs cringe when they see you and cats just slope off somewhere quiet, then perhaps you are not best suited to the keeping of any kind of livestock at all. Thankfully, the majority of people are, and even the busiest and most famous of people find some sort of calm, refuge and amusement down in the chicken run.

Apparently, as a child, the Irish novelist Cathy Kelly (appropriately enough, a writer of what is now often referred to as ‘chick-lit’) spent a great deal of time with her grandmother who kept chickens: ‘…it was my job to watch the young chickens in the morning because they’d rush off to lay their eggs in hidey holes and I was supposed to find them. I loved those hens. I taught them to jump for blackberries and gooseberries. You wouldn’t think hens could do that, would you?’

Surprisingly, given her obvious interest in cooking and obsession with the countryside, Clarissa Dickson Wright has yet to succumb to the charms of the hobby, but, as she remarked in her book Rifling Through My Drawers (Hodder & Stoughton, 2009), ‘one of the things I want to do before I die is keep chickens…’. Pam Ayres, Amanda Holden, Billie Piper, Sadie Frost, Kirsty Gallagher, Julia Kendell, Anthony Worrall Thompson and Jamie Oliver are all well-known back garden chicken-keepers, as is TV presenter Philippa Forrester who has several rescue hens from the British Hen Welfare Trust as well as a ‘crazy Silkie bantam who looks like a white feather duster on legs’. Asked why she chose the rescue birds, Philippa says, ‘When they first came they had never felt the sunlight on their backs or had the room to scratch or spread their wings and every time I watch them now scratching in the grass, pecking up bugs and having a sunbathe, every morning when I let them out, it gives me a deep satisfaction that I have transformed their lives.’

2

WHY KEEP CHICKENS?

A breed such as the Sussex is an attractive proposition to anyone who wants eggs, a garden pet, or to exhibit at show standard level

While some people are pleased to have transformed the lives of their rescue hens many more claim that chicken-keeping has transformed their lives. One high-profile owner who, understandably, asked to remain anonymous, states that she ‘was in a dark place until a friend turned up one morning with a trio of hens, a coop and run and a bag of food – together with the comment “if I find you’ve not been looking after these, there will be big trouble”. Having to be responsible for something other than myself was a good incentive to get up in a morning without first going in search of the gin bottle.’

Less dramatically, countless back garden chicken-keepers (it is estimated that there are at least half a million such people in the UK) have found a great deal of fun, achievement and contentment from their hobby. Whilst there have been times (during World War II for example) when they have been kept by all who could as a valuable source of eggs and meat, it seems that never before have so many been kept simply for the pleasure they give. The hobby appears to be a growing trend on both sides of the Atlantic, and even in Europe – where it has always been common amongst rural dwellers – there is an ever-increasing interest in pure-breeds, rare breeds and exhibitions.

Not so ‘common or garden’ bantams enjoying the garden! These are, in fact, a prize-winning trio of Dutch lemon porcelain

Perhaps rather than ask ‘why keep chickens?’ it might be of more value to ask ‘what do you expect from your chickens?’ because from the answers will come most of the reasons why you should keep chickens! It could be the simple enjoyment of having a few attractive birds in the garden and being able to enjoy a home-produced egg or two for breakfast or when cake-making. Parents worried about their children’s seeming addiction to electronic games and gadgets might think that getting their offspring interested in a new pastime will make them fitter and more interested in life outside the sitting room (and so it will – chicken-keeping is a brilliant way to teach youngsters to be responsible). Others, inspired no doubt by the welfare issues concerning commercial poultry production, profiled in recent years by the likes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver, wish to give ex-battery or otherwise intensively housed chickens an extended period of life, whilst some are fascinated by the breeding side of things and want to perpetuate the genes of a rare breed. Yet more people hope to combine several of these aspects and show their birds at local, county and national level.

The most popular bird in the world