Show secretary and exhibitor Amanda Winney, of Rutherford, won Champion Pekin Bantam while her father Tony Mills, of Oakhampton, took out Champion Wyandotte large. 

Bill Goldman, of Paterson, won Champion Minorca Bantam, Rhonda Hooper, of Leconfield, won Champion Houdan, and Robert and Leanne Bendeich, also of Leconfield, took out Champion Rare Breed large with one of their Barnevelders. 

Renee Cizzio, of Tenambit; Brod and Rowan Ballance of East Maitland, were among the other winners.

Robert Callinan, of West Wallsend, took out the highest accolade – Champion Bird in Show. 

There were 528 birds at the May 20 show which is the second largest gathering in the event’s 12-year history. 

President Grant Andrews said the number of people choosing to keep rare breeds was rapidly increasing in Maitland and across the country. 

“It’s something that’s gaining momentum nationwide and in this local area rare breeds are well supported,” he said. 

“People have recognised that maintaining rare breeds is important for the future.”

Mr Andrews said more poultry enthusiasts favoured the larger varieties of rare breeds than the smaller kinds, which are known as bantams.

He said the show could not accommodate any more large birds, but it could accept a surge in bantam entries at next year’s event. 

Mr Grant said rare breeds could contribute to the commercial poultry gene pool in the future as new challenges like climate change became an issue.

He said some rare breeds would adapt to changing climates better than current commercial breeds. 

“The commercial poultry industry is in very few hands with limited strains of breeds for commercial production,” he said.

“In the future rare breeds may be very important for us such as in climate change … Rare breeds still have something they can contribute.”

Ms Winney welcomed the rising interest in rare breeds and said it was an important step on the path to moving them off the rare species list.

She said a company in central western NSW had been importing rare breeds in recent years which had started to transform the industry in Australia. 

Some of AVGEN’s offspring were exhibited at the show, she said.

“This is what we need and what we’ve been hoping for; the more people that have rare breeds the better chance we have of getting them off the rare breeds list,” Ms Winney said.