When 15-year-old Hamish Stanford competed in the junior poultry judging at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, he thought it was just for practice - but he won.
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The Leadville resident grew up with chooks around him, so his love of the birds began early.
"Mum bought a group of 20 chickens, all different pure-breeds, in 2019," Hamish told the Daily Liberal.
"There were four anconas [a breed of chicken] in there and as they grew I really liked them and I ended up getting a rooster from a fellow in Rylstone and I ended up breeding them."
And he was hooked.
Hamish is one of many keen competitors from the Central West who travelled to Sydney with their animals for one of the most important agricultural shows in the country.
Among the Dubbo contingent were dairy farmers, members of the Australian Stock Horse Society, sheep dog breeders, a team from St John's College Dubbo showing cattle, and more. Plus, there were the members of the Dubbo Poultry Club, of whom Hamish is one.
Hamish began breeding ancona chickens - which can also come in bantam, which is a smaller, variety - four years ago, and this year he flew the flag for the local poultry club with multiple wins at the show.
"I just like breeding the chooks, talking to other people [about them], and going to shows," Hamish said.
This type of bird has a good temperament, he said, and they like to be picked up and held.
"I like their colour because they're black with white dots all over them, they're really showy and they lay lots of eggs," he said.
Hamish won champion bantam ancona overall with a bird with particularly good leg colour, and also obtained first and second in the class.
"I was pretty surprised because they're such a big class with lots of breeders there," he said.
He also won standard red ancona, and champion red ancona.
Winning the state junior poultry judging, a competition for under-25s, was also a highlight.
"We had three different breeds to judge. You were scored on different things like how you handle them, their type, and you had to do a presentation on one of the breeds. I picked the Australorp bantams," he said.
Preparation for the show included washing and cleaning the birds, paying particular attention to their legs.
"You've got to train them in a show pen to make sure they're quiet and stand out and they're not real flighty," Hamish said.
Next, Hamish will be heading to the Gilgandra Show in April, followed by the Dubbo Show in May, and the NSW State Poultry Championships in Goulburn in June, where he thinks he has a "pretty good chance" of pulling some more awards.
Ryan Harris, a fellow member of the Dubbo Poultry Club, brought 34 birds to the show, including orpingtons, bantams and modern game bantams.
He came home with champion and reserve champion orpington bantam, champion blue and champion black in these categories, as well as modern game reserve birchen, reserve black kale wheaten, and champion and reserve champion any other colour modern game.
He said it was "a hard year" for bird breeders in the central west, given the hot weather, which made the awards that little bit harder-fought.
"It was a hard year this year to get poultry prepared. [The Sydney Royal] was a lot earlier this season than what it has been the last couple," Mr Harris told the Daily Liberal.
"With the temperatures Dubbo has had over the last three months, it's been hard to get feathers on them, with a lack of rain and temperatures over 35 degrees has been a struggle.
"That's why it was a bit sweeter to win some prizes knowing it's taken a lot of work to get the birds down there this year."
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