Caragabal's Colby Pout has demonstrated age isn't everything when it comes to raising and showing poultry, with some of his animals named among the best in the state.
At the NSW State Junior Championships at Dapto Show hosted on 18 May, he came home with a range of awards for his roosters, ducks and geese.
Colby won champion with his silver spangle Hamburg bantam rooster and reserve champion black Hamburg rooster under 8 yrs of age with his first rooster he bred.
He also won champion and reserve champion Hamburg of show. His Sebastopol goose got first place and his little call duck also received a first place.
Colby has had chickens since he was little but didn't start raising roosters until after a twelve month off and on stay at the Westmead Children's Hospital burns unit after walking through hot ash which caused burns to his arms and legs.
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When Colby was two years old, a family friend whom breeds and shows standard Hamburg brought him his first trio of silver spangle Bantam Hamburgs (hamburgers as Colby calls them).
After a while he was ready for his first show which he took his rooster and two hens along to, doing really well at the Canberra based show bringing home a champion and a first and third place.
Colby and his family have travelled to many shows since and mostly come away with great results.
Colby's mum Anita said the best part is where his older fellow competitors take him under their wings and talks to him teaching how to better handle the poultry and what he can do better for his next shows.
"We love how the older poultry fanciers take the younger generation under their wings helping to keep the poultry world alive," Anita said.
Even when judges have asked questions about if he had help washing the hens from his mum, Colby has replied "no, she’s too lazy".
Colby currently has a few different colours which his working on with his chickens, but the silver spangle are his great achievement at the moment.
Judges have different standards for different breeds of poultry given that are used for different things and climate.
Bantam Hamburg are relatively new to the show and bred industry due to them been rare and only a few brought into Australia and mainly been developed from other breeds
Colby claims the family and family friend's Sebastopol geese and call duck so he has taken over them, though all of the chickens he raises are his.
Colby takes winning and losing with the same enthusiasm he is happy to just bring home a place card, and isn't never upset if someone beats him at a show
His family say Colby is very easy going and just happy to bring his birds home, though he does get excited when he wins something different including the recent win last weekend at the Hamburgh Club of NSW Inc's Peter Williams Memorial Show
At this show, Colby got champion junior bird of show under age of 17 yrs with a silver spangle Hamburg Bantam Cockerel that he bred from a line of birds he bred himself.
Colby also attended the Hamburg NSW and Great Britain club Show last year taking out Champion Junior, Champion Silver Spangle Bantam Cockerel and then Champion Bantam Over All with a bird he bred ( which is the sire of his latest winners).
He will be returning to Dapto again this weekend for another show this weekend, which will be his last until the Grenfell Show. Until then then he will concentrating on breeding next year's winners and project bird.
