BBC Countryfile Live

I've been at Blenheim Palace for BBC Countryfile Live this week, giving talks for #TeamPoultry in the Adam's Farm area.

The show was huge and nothing like I've been to before. Loads of things to see and do, activities for the children and loads of great trade stands.

The talks went down really well and we had thousands of people visit our stand.

As always we had day old chicks, pure and rare breed poultry, ex commercial hens and new for this year, Call Ducks and Sebastopol geese.

The chicks were very popular with the public, everyone wanted to hold them so we had to restrict handling times to give them a rest!

We met Adam Henson

and Ellie Harrison

I even did an interview for That's Oxfordshire which went out on TV and is on their YouTube channel

BBC Gardeners' World Live 2015

I'm back at BBC Gardeners' World Live and BBC Good Food Show at the NEC this year with PoultryTalk.com and it's been a great week. 

I've been attending the show for the last 5 years and still find new and exciting things to see each year; this year was definitely the year of Salted Caramel and I paid several visits to The Brownie Bar and the Little Round Cake Company...

We're basically there to promote back garden poultry keeping, giving advice and answering any questions people may have.

I'm obviously a little biased but really believe chickens are great garden pets and can help gardens become more productive and people become more sustainable; not only with the fresh eggs daily but also manure as fertiliser, weed and pest control.

There have been a few upgrades to the stand this year with a 50" Plasma screen and a wireless PA system for giving talks and presentations.

We held 6 talks on the stand each day on "Set-up & caring for chickens" and "Choosing your chickens"

The talks were really well attended and we had lots of people asking questions after each talk, coming to meet Tallulah and to buy our new Poultry Handbook.

I also did a few talks in the VIP Lounge which had a more relaxed environment where people were I was able to walk around the room letting people hold the chickens, advise on where they can get chickens and answer specific questions.

Tallulah the Frizzle Poland was the star of the show as always and she was great with the visitors, letting them stroke her and posing for photos.

She even had a visit from celebrity Skinny Jean Gardener Dale from CBBC's Blue Peter!

It was really nice to catch up and spend a week with friends Jamie, Wendy, Paco and Jenna.

The Pet Show 2014

I've been working at The Pet Show in Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire this weekend, with PoultryTalk.

We took along our ChickenWall with photos and information of 60 Pure Breeds of Chicken in the UK, as beautifully modelled here by Flower the Chamois Thuringian hen.

We were at the show to promote keeping chickens as pets and rare breed poultry at the show and took along a selection of day old chicks as well as adult birds to show children (and adults) the massive variety of breeds available.
It's amazing how many people have never seen a chicken up close and personal, let alone get them mealworms:

We had of interest in the chicks with all the children wanting to hold them so while they were doing that it gave us a chance to talk to their parents about keeping chickens and the work involved should they wish to keep poultry in the future.


The show was fantastic and much improved on last year's show.
It was held in the massive indoor hall (where we were) as well as outdoor areas leading to more buildings housing the dogs and horses and the courtyard with food stands and picnic benches. They also had a doggy day care for people who didn't want to leave their dogs at home, so they could be kept safely while owners walked around the show which was a really nice touch.
A few family friends were there with their kids and they all said they'd had a great time.

I fell in love with this guy, Sunny the Senegal parrot on the Problem Parrots stand...

I've always loved birds and would be really keen to rehome a Senegal from them but need to do a lot of research first!
Parrots are really intelligent so it's like having a toddler around the house, meaning they need a lot of space and environmental enrichment with about 4 hours flying out of his cage each day.
I was reading that they should get new toys every week, so rotate through various toys, so they never get bored of the same things. Even moving perches around, adding new toys which make sounds and new feeds to their diet make a big difference to the bird.

He'd be awesome if he was in Slovakia but I'd have to get him a passport to come home at the end of my degree!

I spent about an hour each day talking to the Tamworth and Leicester Tortoise Society who had these 8 week old hatchlings on their stand...

Not sure which are cuter, our day old chicks or these hatchlings!

I spoke to Paul from the society and they meet not far from me so I'll see if I can go along to some of their meetings.

Anyway, its been a mad weekend rushing around sorting things out but we had a great time and can't wait to be back next year.

For more information visit www.thepetshow.co.uk or check out #ThePetShow on Twitter and Instagram!

BBC Gardeners' World Live 2014

I've attended BBC Gardeners' World Live this week at the NEC with PoultryTalk and had a great show.

We were there to educate the public about pure breeds of poultry, the massive variation in size, shape and colour, as well as promoting chicken keeping in the back garden enviroment.

There are many advantages to having chickens in the garden such as free manure for vegetables and the compost heap, fresh eggs every morning, a free weeding and slug control service and most of all, they make great pets with massive personalities.

The main feature of our stand was ChickenWall, a giant display showing photographs of 60 Pure Breed Chickens in the UK.

We also took along some day old chicks and a selection of adult birds to show the variation of breeds and to allow people to interact with them.

So many people came over to the stand throughout the week to say they didn't realise chickens were so big or that they thought chickens only came in the bog standard red hybrid variety people associate with battery hens.

It was also lovely to hear the older generations come over to the stand to tell us about how they used to keep a flock of Rhode Island Reds or Light Sussex when they were growing up.

The PoultryTalk.com team have spent the last few months working hard to publish a new book, The Poultry Handbook and after launching at the start of the week we had copies of the book at the show for people to see in the flesh; and it had an amazing response.

I gave a few talks throughout the week in the VIP Lounge followed by a Q&A session.

I took along a few Belgian Bantams with me who stole the show and were definitely centre of attention!

He even got to meet Monty Don and Carol Klein...

Looking forward to next year already!

The Edible Garden Show 2014

I've had a great weekend at The Edible Garden Show, with a right Royal visit.

This year the show has moved from Stoneleigh Park to it's new home at Alexandra Palace, so I went down to London on Thursday night to help set up our stand. As usual we were running late so most of it was done on Friday morning but it all came together in the end!

We were at the show to promote the keeping of chickens in the backgarden as well as showcasing some of the pure breeds of poultry.

We took along our signature ChickenWall containing 60 photographs of pure breed chickens in the UK as well as a table of day old chicks I hatched in my antique incubator and some adult birds too.

As we were at Alexandra Palace, HRH Prince Charles and Camilla visited the show on Friday morning and came over to the PoultryTalk stand to meet my Pekin Bantam chicks...

Prince Charles asked Jamie all about what we do, how long the chicks take to hatch and about the incubation process while Camilla held a chick and spoke to the school children on the stand.

The chick she held she also named with the school children; they decided on Rosie!

After that the rest of the weekend seemed to fly by and we had a great response to the stand.

I had a great time walking around the show networking, speaking with other stallholders and befriending celebrity botanist James Wong.

I did a talk in The Experts Theatre on Sunday afternoon with Naomi from British Hen Welfare Trust talking about the basics of how to keep chickens, what they eat and require for housing, where to site them in your garden followed by a Q&A session.

Looking forward to next year already!

For more information visit www.theEdibleGardenShow.co.uk or @EdibleGardenSho on Twitter.

BBC Gardeners' World Live at the NEC

I've been working on the PoultryTalk stand at BBC Gardeners' World Live and Good Food Show at the NEC this week - has been really good!

Pure breed eggs on display from The Rainbow Egg Company:

We spent HOURS setting the stand up only to come in the next morning to find the roof had leaked all over it so had to move it all in half an hour, but other than that we've had a great week.

I did 4 Chicken Keeping for Beginners talks on the stand everyday which were really well attended, as well as a few talks in the VIP area.

I took Mabel and Doris the Pekins with me and we had a table full of chicks for people to touch and see; I think we were the most photographed stand at the exhibition!

We also revealed #ChickenWall at the show - a 4 x 2 metre long display with 60 photos of pure breed poultry in the UK!

It was great to be able to show people the variation in size, breeds and the different uses for poultry!

We had a PetzPodz animal house on display to show people different types of housing available

...as well as a more traditional wooden ark (with Mabel + Doris on top) and an Omlet Eglu in the background!

BBC Gardeners' World Live 2013

I've been at BBC Gardeners' World Live and Good Food Show at the NEC this week with PoultryTalk and had a great time!

Pure breed eggs on display from The Rainbow Egg Company

We set up the day before the show, planted all our new raised beds and came in on the first day to find a leak but the staff were great, sorted us all out and managed to move our stand to a new site in less than half an hour, other than that we've had a great week.

I did four Chicken Keeping for Beginners talks on the stand everyday which were really well attended, as well as a few talks in the VIP area.

I took Mabel and Doris the Pekins the Pekin Bantams with me and we had a table full of chicks for people to touch and see; I think we were the most photographed stand at the whole of the show!

We also revealed #ChickenWall at the show - a 4 x 2 metre long display with 60 photos of pure breed poultry in the UK!

It was great to be able to show people the variation in size, breeds and the different uses for poultry!

We had a PetzPodz animal house on display to show people different types of housing available

...as well as a more traditional wooden ark (with Mabel + Doris on top) and an Omlet Eglu in the background!

We've loved chatting chickens to people all week and think we've definitely encouraged people to think about keeping chickens in their backgarden.