Buff Laced Polands (Chamois)

Starting over with the Large Fowl...

- Grant Brereton

It was a cold and wintry Sunday and I had just pulled up at Andrew Ball’s gate for a day discussing Chamois Polands. No sooner had I reversed my car in, when friend Simon Pickles was pulling up in front of me, with Cyril Rimmer arriving a few seconds later. After greeting each other, Andrew led the way to one of his large cabins where all of us were blown away by the sight inside.

See, it doesn’t matter what breed you keep - one thing that binds us breeders and fanciers together is seeing flourishing pure-breed poultry in neatly-kitted-out quarters. The sight of many Poland males and females (50 - all Chamois) in raised 3x2 Ft pens was one to savour for me, and I knew that the camera wouldn’t be able to do it justice.

These birds were all large fowl and had been bred from a trio that mutual friend Richard Bett had spotted in Melton auction and thought: ‘I know who could do something with those!’ Andrew, speaking of the unexpected gift, said: “It was certainly a surprise, but he must have seen something in them. Richard can recognise quality, and it was my job to see what genes were hiding in there. There aren’t many what I call ‘Buff Laced Polands’ out there these days, particularly large!”

Andrew’s father was a keen supporter of this variety, and 25 years since his passing Andrew felt that it would be a great tribute to him to try and get the Chamois Polands going again.