Into ‘The Fancy'

So, needing a new wheelbarrow we head off to a farm sale in the hills, where a wide assortment of goodies availed and then to my surprise a quantity of fowl - right at the end of the sale.

- Gabbie Franklin

Little did I realise at the time, that would be the start of it. Home we trundled, the truck full to the gunnels with all sorts of things, yes 2 wheelbarrows and… 4 Silkies.

Being totally addicted to showing (anything - horses, goats...) it was inevitable that I was going to want to show these 4 Silkies, however I quickly realised that they were not up to ‘the bench’ and so the quest to get something that gave me a fighting chance began. Although this was now about 10 years ago, it is, I feel, relevant to today's new fanciers as actually ‘getting into the fancy’ still apparently seems to be a bit of a secret code job. I receive many phone calls from people who simply cannot find quality stock, or is it that we as breeders won’t let any thing go to a possible competitor? As they happen to mention that they would like to maybe do a few shows (as I did), so the door seems to be firmly closed! I quickly learnt not to mention the ‘show’ word!