2025 show of the Western Cape Poultry Club (with low resolution pics)

[Gill-b]

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PART 4 – THE EUROPEAN CHICKEN BREEDS​

[These appear in the order in which I saw and photographed them.]

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 1.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 1: This Friesian pullet (under 12 months of age) caught my attention with its pretty feather pattern; even the name of its colour, ‘Chamois Pencilled’, is for me pretty. She is owned by the Schmidt family. As the name suggests, the breed originates in Friesland; an ancient Dutch breed of chicken.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 2.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 2: This traditional French breed, Houdan cockerel, in ‘Mottled’ colour, is owned by the Schmidt family. I almost categorised it in ‘Part 7 – All things weird and wonderful’, until I looked it up in my book on chickens and discovered that it is nothing new, but just new to me. It has such a fascinating look about it.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 3.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 3: I was amazed at the size of this wonderfully easy-going Orpington cockerel, in ‘Lavender’ colour, owned by Hendré Walters. He looks so huggable! The breed was created in Britain in the late 1880s by William Cook and is named after the town in Kent, in the United Kingdom, where he lived.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 4.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 5.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 4 and 5: Speaking of huggable, this Orpington hen is such an adorable fluff ball that I “had” to spend a little time with her. She seemed so happy as she potted around her pen and she was one of the few chickens at this show to take an unafraid interest in my camera and didn't shy away from it. She is in ‘Splash’ colour and is owned by Michael Chapman. Orpingtons are definitely on the top of my list as show personality favourites to spend a bit of time with. I guess that is why I included three photographs of her (the most for one chicken) in this write-up.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 6.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 6: “Is your camera edible?” (Same Orpington hen as the two pictures before this one.)

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 7.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 7: This fella would not stand still! A champion pacer as the blurred photograph shows. He is a Sicilian Buttercup cockerel, in ‘Golden’ colour, owned by A.P. Lingenfelder. As the breed name suggests, it originates from the island of Sicily.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 8.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 8: A Welsummer pullet (under 12 months of age), in ‘Brown’ colour, owned by D. Van Rensburg. One of my favourite chicken breeds; named after the village Welsum in the east of Holland.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 9.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 18, 2025

Caption 9: Mmmmmm? The label reads that this is a Barnevelder cockerel (under 12 months of age), in ‘Double Laced Black’ colour, owned by A.P. Lingenfelder, but I am thinking that either I photographed the wrong label or there is a mistake on the label? This can’t be a cockerel, can it? Anywho, this chicken’s lacing caught my attention. The Barnevelder originates from the Netherlands and I believe is a comparatively new breed.

 

[Gill-b]

I figured out this morning, while looking at my photographs, where I went wrong with the label of the Barnevelder hen. I remembered that her pen had no information label on it, and since it was next to the pen with a Barnevelder cockerel in it, I took a guess that they might be together, so I took a photograph of his label instead hoping that some of the information on it is the same for both of them. Small mystery solved.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 4 Pic 9b.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 19, 2025

 

[Gill-b]

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PART 5 – THE SOUTH AFRICAN CHICKEN BREEDS​

WCPC show 2025 - Part 5 Pic 1.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 25, 2025

Caption 1: “That looks interesting. Is it something I can eat or play with?” (Potchefstroom Koekoek cockerel)

WCPC show 2025 - Part 5 Pic 2.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 25, 2025

Caption 2: The same Potchefstroom Koekoek cockerel as the picture before this one, is in ‘Cuckoo’ colour (I think this a fun name for a colour), and is owned by Johannes Botha. I love the Potchefstroom Koekoek! I like everything about them; the way they look, move, their feather pattern, their versatileness, their hardiness, and above all the way this guy interacted with me, which was friendly and inquisitive. Developed by Chris Marais in the 1960s (with breeding having started in 1947) at the Potchefstroom Agricultural College, it is a breed very well suited to Southern African conditions. An interesting fact about this breed is apparently (I have yet to verify this) the feather colouring of chicks is sex-linked, so if a black or red cockerel is crossed with a Potchefstroom Koekoek hen, the sexes of the offspring can be identified when the chicks are only a day old, as the females are completely black, while the males have a white spot on the head. Are there other breeds of chicken that have the same or similar chick-sex-colour-identification trait?

WCPC show 2025 - Part 5 Pic 3.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 25, 2025

Caption 3: “Where are you going? Come back.” (Potchefstroom Koekoek cockerel)

WCPC show 2025 - Part 5 Pic 4.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 25, 2025

Caption 4: A Potchefstroom Koekoek hen, also wonderfully friendly, scratching around her pen which was next to the Potchefstroom Koekoek cockerel.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 5 Pic 5.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 25, 2025

Caption 5: A Venda pullet, in ‘Tri-colour’, owned by Otto Steinhofel. I did a search for this breed on the BackYard Chickens website and at the top of the list of search results was a thread titled ‘Venda Chicken’. Reading through this thread, I noted there was a reference to a website which states that this breed has a fifth toe. I got all excited to mention this trait here as an interesting fun fact, until I visited the suggested website and discover a bit of misinformation about this breed’s origin, as there is no ‘province of Venda’. This led me to question the information about the fifth toe. I did some more research and found the official ‘Southern African Show Poultry Organisation Breed Standard’ for the Venda chicken, and I can now state with some confidence that this breed should only have four toes on each foot. Huh. A tad disenchanting, but at least researching the fact has been enjoyable. So, the Venda chicken was originally discovered by Dr Naas Coetzee in 1979 in the Venda area of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Similar chickens were later identified in the Southern Cape and the Qua-Qua region of the Free State Province, South Africa, however the name derived from Dr Coetzee’s original description has been retained. This breed has impressive qualities in egg production, broodiness, resistance against diseases, self-sustainment and low need for food.

 

[Gill-b]

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PART 6 – THE ASIAN CHICKEN BREEDS​

WCPC show 2025 - Part 6 Pic 1.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

Caption 1: Another champion, found in among the “crowd”, a Cochin cockerel, in ‘Buff’ colour, owned by A.P. Lingenfelder.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 6 Pic 2.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

Caption 2: Take a look at this Jap/Chabo - Silk Feathered, in ‘White’ colour, owned by A.P. Lingenfelder. What a fluff ball. It had the look of, “I don’t want your attention, I want to go home”, so unfortunately it refused to face the camera.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 6 Pic 3.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

 

[Gill-b]

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PART 7 – ALL THINGS WEIRD AND WONDERFUL​

[Once again, these chickens appear in the order in which I saw and photographed them.]

WCPC show 2025 - Part 7 Pic 1.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

Caption 1: A strange, but not too strange, looking chicken is this Frizzle/Strupphuhn, in ‘Buff’ colour, owned by the Schmidt family. While the frizzle gene can be seen in many breeds, the ‘Frizzle’ is recognised as a distinct breed in a number of countries, whereas in other parts of the world, frizzled chickens are not considered a breed and at shows are rather judged by the standards of the breed which they belong to. This also hopefully explains why I placed it into this part of my writeup.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 7 Pic 2.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

Caption 2: This Herero ‘Trial’ cockerel is in the colour ‘A.O.C.’, which I am guessing stands for ‘Any Other Colour’? For now, I am reframing from giving the name of the owner as I do not wish to create perhaps an awkward situation for them by my discussing this chicken as I am about to? The thing is that this chicken confused me when I saw it as I could not make out where its beak is. I have since looked up the Herero breed, named after an ethnic tribe found in Ovamboland of northern Namibia, and I think the breed, at a glance, looks somewhat like the Dorking breed only perhaps a little ‘rougher around the edges’. Now this particular chicken maybe has the lower body (from the neck down) of the Herero breed but that is where the similarity ends. It was a DQ (meaning disqualified) for being ‘Blind’, and this leads me to wonder if it even has eyes at all? Though it looks otherwise healthy and well taken care of, judging by the condition of its feathers, I have to ask what is it doing at a show? I am not even sure I can explain my conundrum over this … well, I am assuming that it hatched with these shortcomings and for whatever reason it was not culled? I am also assuming that it cannot feed itself and is therefore being hand fed every day, which is all good and well, but how is it that it is entered and presented at a poultry show as a breed? It could be that the owner brought this chicken with them to the show so that they themselves could take care of it because of its special needs? I am perhaps not understanding how a poultry show works and I am hoping someone can please give me some clarification? Anywho, unhappily this is the weirdest chicken that I saw at the show.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 7 Pic 3.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

WCPC show 2025 - Part 7 Pic 4.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

Caption 3 and 4: This cockerel falls into ‘A.O.B.’ or Any Other Breed, in ‘White’ colour, owned by Johannes Botha. My rating of second weirdest chicken at the show goes to this guy who had me giving him a double-take as I almost rubbed my eyes, like a cartoon character would have, before looking at him again to make sure I was seeing correctly. It is as if someone imported him into a photo editing app and desaturated all his colour! He also appeared very put-out by his situation as he vigorously clucked and strutted about his pen.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 7 Pic 5.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

WCPC show 2025 - Part 7 Pic 6.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 27, 2025

Caption 5 and 6: Appenzeller Spitzhauben cockerel, in ‘Tri-colour’, owned by Otto Steinhofel. Just simply wonderful.


Side note: I did not see any ‘Phoenix and Onagadori’ chickens present at this show. The exquisite looking birds were missed.

 

[Gill-b]

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PART 8 – THE SECOND HALL​

By the time we were done in the “main” hall, I was ready for a refreshment break and we purchased something to drink from the tuck shop which adjoins the “main” hall, but it was a really nice surprise to find in the entryway of the second hall, a barista style coffee bar, a stand selling Western Cape Poultry Club branded clothing and stall selling the best pancakes I have tasted in a long looooong time. Everyone we had met at the show so far was polite, helpful and friendly; and the woman selling the pancakes was no exception.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 8 Pic 1.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 1: The outside of the second hall where the ducks, geese, bantam chickens and one champion turkey were on show.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 8 Pic 2.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 2: The second hall was divided into an entryway and the show area. Hot coffee from the barista style coffee bar found in the entryway was a welcomed pleasure on a cold rainy winter’s day. You can see the pancake stall in the back corner.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 8 Pic 3.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 3: The pens in the second hall.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 8 Pic 4.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 4: Large geese size pens.

 

[Gill-b]

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PART 9 – GEESE AND DUCKS​

Upon entering the show area in the second hall, the first pen that I looked at contained an Indian Runner duck. I immediately recognised the breed from a video that has been doing the rounds on social media, about a wine farm that keeps these ducks as a means of pest (snails, insects and weeds) control in their vineyards, while the ducks’ waste enriches the soil there. A man saw me standing by the Indian Runner ducks’ pens and he introduced himself to me as the person charged, from that very wine farm, with bringing some of those very ducks from the video to the show. He kindly answered any questions I had regarding these ducks and I appreciate his courtesy. I herewith include a link to the wine farm’s website where you can read more about their eco-sustainability, as well as a link to a delightful YouTube video about the ducks on this farm, which I think is worth a watch:

https://vergenoegd.co.za/

We moved on to viewing the geese and we spent some time “chatting” to a Pomeranian goose, a Chinese goose and an American Buff goose. All three seemed to have sweet temperaments as they “told” us all about their time at the show and they appeared to enjoy the attention we gave them. Their ganders, however, were not at all happy about the attention we were giving their lady loves and hissed at us.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 9 Pic 1.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 1: An Indian Runner duck, in ‘Blue Trout’ colour, owned by Vergenoegd Low Wine Estate, in the first pen I looked at in the second hall.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 9 Pic 2.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 2: More Indian Runner ducks, right down the line, that Vergenoegd Low Wine Estate had brought to the show.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 9 Pic 3.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 3: Pomeranian goose, under 12 months of age, in ‘Pomeranian’ colour, owned by the Schmidt Family.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 9 Pic 4.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 4: Chinese goose, in ‘Brown’ colour, owned by Otto Steinhofel. Chatting away.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 9 Pic 5.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 5: Her gander was not happy at the attention she was getting.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 9 Pic 6.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 6: American Buff goose, in ‘Buff’ colour, owned by the Schmidt Family.

WCPC show 2025 - Part 9 Pic 7.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jun 30, 2025

Caption 7: This Call drake, in ‘White’ colour, owned by A.P. Lingenfelder, caught my attention by simply looking so adorable.

 

[Gill-b]

@fowltemptress, I thought of you while I was spending time with the geese at the show. I can understand why you adore yours so much.

 

[fowltemptress]

I've been enjoying the pictures and descriptions. It looks like a nice show, and I enjoy seeing the breeds I've never heard of before. I was under the impression leghorns were developed in Italy, but double check before you quote me on that!

With that barefooted kid with a jacket in the one photo, y'all have the dress code down pat for Texas winter weather!

 

[Gill-b]

The next part, Part 3, will be on the chicken breeds originating from America, like the Brahma and Leghorn.

(Please correct me if I mistakenly categorised a breed here that does not originate from America.)

I was under the impression leghorns were developed in Italy, but double check before you quote me on that!

Perhaps our resident Leghorn expert, @The Moonshiner, can help us out?

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Edited to add:

I discovered where I went wrong... I read this, 'The breed was introduced to Britain from the United States in 1870.' and incorrectly assumed the breed originated in America.

Thank you, @fowltemptress, for pointing out my mistake.