Richard, a great Ulsterachievement and pretty close atthe other Nationals. How doesthat feel?

Ulster was a great day which Jadeand I thoroughly enjoyed and we werepleased that the birds travelled reallywell and came out of the boxeslooking good. The Ulster Fed is one ofmy favourite shows as they are a greatbunch of people and they could’t bemore helpful or welcoming; it seemedas though everyone was happy thatwe’d made the effort to go over. I feelthat perhaps we don’t always showthe same appreciation for thembringing their birds to shows here.

The Gold Brahma male that won showchampion was in top form and lookedbang on. I think he should have wonat an earlier show but wasn't perfect

on the day, however he was here andnot a feather out of place. It was afitting end to the show season forhim and myself as I had rated himvery highly when I was choosing theshow team. The Black Pekin wasreserve show champion and I wasreally pleased as she had a torridshow season. She looked on top format every show and was commentedon by many exhibitors who, like me,couldn’t understand why she had notbeen placed, but thankfully at thisshow she was picked out; again agood end to a poor season for her.

For your last interview in 2015(after winning the ScottishNational), you were having backtrouble and planned on cuttingdown. How’s the back? And didthat happen?

The back is still an ongoing issue. Ihave injections and take painkillers asand when; it’s just something I put upwith. Regarding cutting down on theworkload - short answer is no. I’vestill got just as many, but as long as Ican keep them in good breedingconditions then I will; they’re my life.

How many birds do you take onaverage to these big shows, androughly how much does that costyou?

I take over 100 to the big shows;Stafford, National, Scottish National,Ulster and the Welsh National, wheremy entries are usually £500-£600 pershow plus travel and accommodation!I have to use the cattle trailer to fitthem all in and there's not muchroom spare for anything else.

22 - Fancy Fowl Magazine, May 2018 Fancy Fowl Magazine, May 2018 - 23

By: Grant Brereton Photos: Joshua KittleFEATURE

Richard Bett is well-known to many in the Fancy. He is renowned for showinghuge teams of birds (most of which are very heavy and feathery) at showsacross the country, and he’s regularly up there amongst the top honours. Hislatest big win was at the Ulster Federation of 2018, where he was ShowChampion with one of his fine large Gold Brahma males. He also took theaward for Reserve with a Black Pekin female, Best Buff Orpington, Best SoftFeather Heavy Bantam (Brahma), Best Cochin, Best Light Duck (Trout Runner),and Best Goose with a Steinbacher. Previous to that he won: Best of BreedBrahma at the National Poultry Show with a Gold male - that went on to beBest Large Heavy Breed. He also got Best Opposite Size Brahma with a Goldbantam pullet, as well as Best Call with a Mallard Duck and Best Dorking witha large Silver-Grey male. At the Fed he got both Brahma awards again, withhis large Gold male going on to win Best Soft Feather Heavy Breed - his BestOpposite Size Brahma this time being a Gold bantam cockerel. His Cuckoofemale took Best Cochin. He also got Best Large Trio with a fine threesome ofBuff Cochins. In Waterfowl he got the award for Best Steinbacher and BestNon-Standard Call. In Rare Breeds he won Best Large Transylvanian NakedNeck male. At the recent Scottish National show he won Best Brahma again,with a large male and Best Opposite also with a male. He also won Best BuffOrpington with a large male and Best Cochin with a Black female, as well asChampion Large Waterfowl with a Rouen Duck. While I get my breath back, Iwill let the main man answer some of the questions we put to him...

Ulster Show

Champion

Richard’s multiple-winning Gold Brahma males

24 - Fancy Fowl Magazine, May 2018

The feed bills must beastronomical, not to mention allthe conditioning and time?

Yes, can’t argue with that one. Ifyou’re wanting a figure, I spendabout £650 a month on food, that’sjust to feed everything to a basicstandard. I’d say it easily doublesaround show time and I do have alady from the village who cleans outand feeds for me every day. To see itin black and white I’d say it’s a veryexpensive hobby, and I’m lucky thatmy wife Jade doesn’t read FancyFowl!

Presumably the Trio of BuffCochins at the Fed are related tothe 2015 Scottish-winning male. Iimagine it must be tricky retainingthe size year on year with theright colouring. Do you hatchearly?

Yes, all the same line. I’ve had thesame strain for 14-15 years andkeeping the size is a challenge, butthe trick is in the feeding. I’ve got afeeding programme and the birds dovery well on it. I've found that youcannot scrimp when it comes to largefowl. I start hatching in January for 8weeks; that’s providing that the hensare laying and that the cockerels aredoing their job.

How many breeds and varieties,including Waterfowl, do you nowhave on - or is it too many tocount?

It’s too many to count! I’m a bigbeliever in keeping a breed beforeyou show or judge it as you get toknow all its faults and quirks. There'stoo many judges on the circuit withlittle or no knowledge of certainbreeds, and it just means that theyput up a safe bet rather than the bestbird. Ian Kay always told me to bebrave, don’t stand in the crowd whenit comes to judging and selecting yourwinner. I once placed a juvenile showchampion a couple years ago andwouldn’t hesitate to do it again if Iwas certain it was the best bird onthe day. I also placed a Buff Brahmaclub champion at Stafford - I think itwas a first for a Buff to be champion,but in my eyes she was the best birdthere, and some other exhibitors had

the view that she should have onlywon the class, but I would argue allday that she deserved it, as she wasthe best on the day and it's myopinion that counted at that time!I’ve kept a great many breeds overthe years and many great breeds, butit's the large heavies that I think aremy favourites.

Would it be a fair assertion to saythat your Buff Orpingtons stillhave a British stamp about them,with very recognisable heads anda small degree of leg on show?

I’ve had the same strain since IanDavis came out of the Fancy.However, they now have an increaseof Continental qualities within theline, as Ian's original strain hadGerman blood in them. Many of theEnglish type are higher off the groundand have less feather; whereas theContinentals are lower to the ground.I'm not so keen on the way they tiltforward and I’m trying to breed thatfactor out of them, which isn’t easy,as selecting the correct type of birdsfrom fellow British fanciers is not asforthcoming.

Are your Silver-Grey Dorkingsrelated to your Godfather’s birds,the very pleasant late JimMarland? What are they like tobreed for size, with shortness ofleg and a long body?

Yes they are his line. Jim left all of hisbirds to me (although there were acouple of his friends who had askedJim for stock that I did honour), andbetween them and myself we chosesome birds for them to continue hiswork. I have found that they are adifficult breed to keep with manyfaults and it’s really hard to breed agood one, but when you do, thenthey really are good and I’ll continuetrying for him.

With having ‘Beast’ and ‘MiniBeast’ this year (and living on theEast), has it been tricky tokickstart the breeding season?

I planned to start breeding early thisyear so had some breeding penstogether, which meant a goodnumber of chicks before both ‘beasts’kicked in. Since then, though, fertility

has dropped and I have to admit thatit was most certainly the worst ‘beast’I can remember, as it really wasrelentless. I keep other livestock, andbetween shed roofs coming off andfrozen water pipes it really was agruelling few weeks - running a hosepipe out of the kitchen window andgoing from crew yard to duck pondsto cabins and then back again as thecattle, sheep and pigs had drankwhat was before them. That side isnot as glamorous, and one that's bestforgotten and to concentrate on themore enjoyable side of breeding andexhibiting.

How many do you breed in eachvariety of poultry and waterfowl?

There’s no set number so I aim for asmany as possible. Some breeds aregood, some not so good but I’d like50 of each as a starter (but that neverhappens in some of them). However,altogether I breed in the hundreds oflarge heavy breed poultry and alwaysin the hundreds of waterfowl, headedup by my Calls and Runners. I alsolike to breed a good batch of Rouens.

I notice you are still doing wellwith your Steinbacher Geese.What’s it like breeding them?

To be fair, I pretty much leave them toit. Fertility is very slow but the breed ison the up and there’s usually a highdemand for them, but trying to breeda good one is very difficult.

Is it true that you owe Stuart Kaya pint for all his hard workhelping you pen the birds at theFed, or is he exaggerating hisefforts a little?

Yeah, to be fair I owe him a lot morethan a pint! He’s a great friend andhe does a lot for me. Penning andunpenning is a challenge with meentering such a large team of showand sale birds, so the help is muchappreciated, although he did manageto leave my pair of Rouens behind atthe Federation, so he’s fired!

What gives you the best buzz outof this hobby?

Winning! That’s what it’s all about forme. I have also met some great

people and have a lot of them who Iappreciate their friendship andcamaraderie, even though some ofthem know I get drunk smelling abeer mat, so I'm not normally thatgood the following morning if we'vebeen out celebrating a win.

With all your entries being showcontenders, one would expect youto be rigorous when it comes toselecting out faults. Is this thecase, and at what age do youknow if something could be astar?

Yes. I pick out faults from day-oldchicks onwards. I do cull hard forserious faults; it’s the only way whenI’ve got so many breeds. Then I don’ttake too much notice until they’rehalf-grown and have another session.

What about breeders pellets?What are your thoughts on them?And ACS crumb or without?

No, I don’t use them. I use my ownration which is milled locally and tomy specification. I do use crumbs thatcontain ACS and they do fine, butagain I’m a believer in grass andsunshine, so I get them out as soonas the weather lets me and theygenerally thrive.

Are there any breeds that youkeep which you feel are beinginfluenced by fashion - in otherwords looking different to howthey did 20 years ago?

I don’t think it’s a fashion problem:Brahmas and Cochins, to my eye,did deteriorate looking back andare now catching up to how theylooked 50-60 years ago, wherethey looked a lot better type, but Iguess you can’t judge the size of abird looking at a photo. Butlooking at old photos, type is king.Other breeds are much improvedand look totally different, likeWyandottes and Pekins, and againit’s the type that’s improved.

What incubators do you usenowadays?

I’m still using an old Hamer that holdsabout 2,000 eggs. I’ve also got aFIEM (an Italian brand incubator)

which is fully automatic and I getgood results from both.

Do you think your recent largesoft feather heavy wins willinfluence others to start keepingBrahmas and Cochins?

No, sadly, in terms of newcomers, I’vefound that there’s a decline in peopletaking up large fowl. I’ve put it downto high feed bills and the amount ofspace they like. Saying that, I thinkmy wins are good for promoting thebreed(s) so hopefully this will change.

It’s good to see large Brahmasflourishing at the moment, withreal size and bone. Is thecompetition hotting up? Whatabout the bantams?

Yes, definitely! There’s some strongcompetition with some good breedersaround, although I think we shouldconcentrate on the standard coloursmore. I find too many peoplebreeding silly colours whenwe'd be betterimproving thestandard onesfirst.

In the bantams there’s 2 or 3 newfaces promoting them well, and ifthey have a good breeding season weshould have a great club show againthis year.

How’s the order book looking?

It’s looking good and I think becauseof having a good degree of success inthe shows I’ve always had a demand,but I just hope that I’ve got thequality again to keep up due to meselling so many of my show and stockbirds last year. I don’t want to countmy chickens…

Do you have any parting words?

I’d like to wish everyone a successfultime breeding and good luck for nextshow season! At the end of the dayshowing birds is a hobby and weshould welcome healthy competition.

Happy hatching!

Fancy Fowl Magazine, May 2018 - 25

Richard’sBest Cochin atthe ScottishNational