Janis Cusack says the group "started from scratch, with minus $20 in the bank". Photo / Mike Tweed
This summer, Chronicle reporters have been visiting Whanganui’s lesser-known clubs. Mike Tweed went along to the Whanganui Poultry Group.
Once a month, a central Whanganui yard is full of chatter and clucks, as people flock to buy and sell chickens, ducks and quails.
The Whanganui Poultry Group has been running for more than 10 years.
Co-founder Janis Cusack said it “started from scratch, with minus $20 in the bank”.
“Most of us are breeders, and you usually get 50-50 male and female in a hatch,” she said.
“If you’re showing, you pick the best ones, and you always have plenty left over, that other people want for pets and stuff.”
She said “a whole variety” of people came to the monthly event, from Whanganui, Fordell, Rongotea, Tangimoana, Patea and Raetihi.
Margaret Fullerton-Smith, who runs Taurimu Poultry and Grains, said the event had grown into a fully fledged market.
She had been in the industry for around 30 years – “we’re called poultry fanciers”.
“I’ve been a farmer all my life. My parents had poultry, and I’ve always loved animals.
“I show at a very high level.
“At the last show, I got best variety bantam, and at the show before that, I got best bird in show with a pekin.”
Bantams are a smaller breed of chicken, usually around a quarter to half the size.
Pekins are a type of bantam.
Aaron La Roche, the third generation in his family to keep poultry, said he helped set up the group.
“Originally, it started because people wanted to ask questions and learn a bit more, so a few of us got together,” he said.
“We had a meeting with a bit of a sale and a Q&A, and it branched out from there.
“People just keep coming along to buy chooks, ducks, feed, whatever.”
La Roche said breeding poultry was an addiction.
“Some people watch sports, go to the pub or play golf.
“Why do they do it? Because they enjoy it.”
The show season ran from May until late July or early August, when the birds were in their best plumage, he said.
“There are shows all over the place.
“In the North Island, it’s Whanganui, Palmerston North, Central Districts, Hastings, Hamilton, and Auckland.
“I usually go to three or four shows a year, but it’s getting quite expensive these days, with accommodation and travel.”
The 2024 National Poultry Show in Waikato attracted 130 different breeders.
La Roche said he did not show birds as much as he used to, but still enjoyed breeding them.
“You try to develop different colours and different types.”
Club events are at 12pm on the second Saturday of the month, at the old hall at 5 Mathieson St.
Entry is $2.
According to the Whanganui District Council’s Keeping of Animals, Poultry and Bees Bylaw, you can keep up to 12 hens in an urban area, but not if “noise, odour, flies, insects, or vermin causes” is likely to cause a nuisance or create a danger to public health.
Poultry houses, aviaries, coops or runs have to be at least 10 metres from any neighbour’s principal building, and two metres from the boundary of adjoining premises.
Cusack said younger, smaller chickens could go into a rabbit hutch, “then you move the rabbit hutch around”.
“For bigger ones, a chook house with a secure run is recommended.”
She said pekins made good pets.
“They’re not very big, and they’re great for kids to start with because you can tame them.
“Pekins do like to perch up, so make sure you have one in their house.”
Keeping one or more roosters in the Whanganui urban area is prohibited.
Fullerton-Smith said roosters were sold at the event, often for food.
“It’s better for them to be used for something, rather than being dumped on the side of the road.
“People can bring them along here once a month, sell them, and get money for them.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.