Practical Poultry Magazine Back garden beauties August 2013 Back Issue

Wendy Shackel’s inspiring story about her devotion to the currently rare Thüringian breed from Germany (Lucky dip, page 22), illustrates not only the ‘power of poultry’ to influence peoples’ lives,
but also the way in which this hobby can progress so positively. However, there are those who still worry about the future of the Fancy; people who are concerned that keeping pure breed chickens is the preserve of a rapidly diminishing number of ageing enthusiasts. Well, they’ve got a point, haven’t they? Go to almost any traditional poultry show these days, take a few minutes to look around the hall, and the chances are that you’ll be able to count the number of young exhibitors on
your fingers. The potentially worrying consequence of this is that as experience is lost at the top
end of the hobby, through ‘natural wastage’, the lack of natural replacements might put the very survival of our standard-bred pure breeds under threat. But it’s not all doom and gloom, of course. There are positives to be picked out, like Wendy, who started with hybrid layers, got the ‘bug’ then found herself a pure breed to concentrate on, breed and exhibit. What’s more, she’s doing a fi ne job. However, one on-going danger may just be that not enough newcomers are choosing to specialise in the more traditional breeds; the birds that historically represented the bedrock of the hobby, and also played such important roles in the pre-hybrid poultry industry. While it can be great fun to pour one’s enthusiasm into something that’s out of the ordinary, we should all spare a thought for those important but less unusual breeds that remain just as deserving of our attention. Far be it from me to dictate who keeps what, but all I will say is that it’s very necessary that, collectively, we spread our effort. It’s essential that there continue to be breeders who are as dedicated to the Sussex and the Rhode Island Red as to the Thüringian and Serama.