Yes poultry is shown at all the local shows. Quite a lot of keen Poultry breeders in Orkney. My hens are mainly Marans, with two regular brown hens. The Brown Hens are cross-breeds and are very friendly birds, consistent layers too. The Marans have a tendancy to go broody which can be a bit tiresome. But all my birds are completely free-range, as are all the chickens on Graemsay. Gardening can be a bit of a challenge as you need to protect young plants from chickens scratching them up! We have no predators here so they can roam safely. Usually each summer I have one or two hens that wander off and sit on a clutch of eggs and return with a small brood of chicks. Again I let the hen do what comes naturally. Normally she will take them into one of the barns and keep them in a corner, where I provide water and food. Then she returns to the hen coop after a few weeks and the new chicks integrate with the regular flock. We swap new hens around on Graemsay to keep each flock's gene pool fresh. If there are too many cockerals they get offered to whoever wants them. Undoubtedly some end up in the pot. But I make a point of not eating anything I have been personally acquiatined with. :-) Sian ----- Original Message ----- From: "stephen davie" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 5:13 PM Subject: Re: [ORCADIA] Intrigued with Graemsay? > Do they have a poultry show in Orkney at any of the fall fairs? Our > smaller rural fall fairs here are big on fowl. We raised Auracanas, a > south american bird that lays blue eggs low in fat. At least that was > the story, but the eggs were blue to be sure. > Do your birds run free? Free range birds taste so much better. > Interesting note....thanks Sian...Stephen >