National Federation of Poultry Clubs Championship Show Organisers of the Federation Show have been taking advice from all the appropriate authorities and the event is still on. Importantly, the organisers have taken numerous precautions on-site to minimise risks to poultry, poultry exhibitors, and poultry enthusiasts visiting the event. The numbers of turkeys being exhibited were low this year anyway, and following recent…
The Sunday Times carried an interesting article today that identify Prince Charles plans to include traditional heritage turkeys as part of the rare breed livestock to be kept at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, the property he bought for the nation in 2007. Prince Charles, along with other key organisations and individuals such as Jimmy Doherty and Tom Beeston from RBST,…
With outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N8) confirmed in poultry and wild birds in several countries across Europe the government has imposed a ‘lock down’ of all poultry. As a responsible poultry keeper you have to undertake all that is reasonable, and for most this means keeping their birds locked in. For birds used to free ranging this can…
As you will probably be aware outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N8) have been confirmed in poultry and wild birds in several countries across Europe. Please follow the link below to the DEFRA website where they offer guidance and advice. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-protect-poultry-against-avian-flu More information on the situation in England can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu#biosecurity More information about Avian Influenza – including biosecurity…
2016 National Poultry Show Best Turkey at Show Diane Tanners Crollwitzer won Best Turkey at show.Very well deserved, a super example combined with an immaculate presentation.. Heritage Turkeys: Well, what a great show it was for us; Reserve Champion TurkeyBest Opposite SexBest FemaleBest BlueBest NarragansettBest Bourbon Red A full list of show results will be posted on the TCUK website in due course.
Just a quick ‘good luck’ to everyone who have entered birds into the National Poultry Show this weekend. There are 35 turkeys entered so it’s a good opportunity for potential keepers to see what are available and to talk to other enthusiasts.
As you can imagine we regularly take calls from people asking us what we do here. This then leads on to an interesting chat about our traditional turkeys, their history and the breeding projects. To support our conversation we point them towards a short video we made for the Countryfile Easter Diaries that went out in May 2016. Ok, most of the birds were bedraggled from breeding,…
It was an absolute joy going around the turkeys yesterday morning and seeing just how they are all progressing. This years poults have done really well, and the promise they originally showed early in the season seems to be coming to fruition. I like to see another full moult before I am totally convinced and satisfied, but they are doing well…
Turkey Keeper Courses As many of you will know earlier in the year we ran a ‘training event’ as part of the TCUK, RBST and PCGB projects. The feedback from the event has been excellent and this, coupled with the regular requests we get at Heritage Turkeys, has encouraged us to offer regular courses. The courses will cover everything from…
As we usually do at the end of the season we give the hens the opportunity to rear a brood naturally. Importantly it shows us that they still retain the capability, and it is always such a delight to see these family groups as they develop. Of particular interest has been a Slate hen who along with another started sitting in…