“It only seems like yesterday”

by

Mr Brian Sands, President and founder member of the

Lincolnshire Buff Poultry Society

 “It only seems like yesterday” how often do we say this, but how true it really is in my case. It was 25 years this last summer since I picked up the remnants of the attempt by the Lincolnshire college of agriculture and horticulture at Riseholme to recreate the Lincolnshire Buff fowl.

In 1985 whilst showing poultry at the Lincolnshire agriculture summer show (at that time they did have a poultry show not just a sale) the Riseholme college had a large outdoor display of varies types of poultry, ducks, turkeys and some odd looking buff chickens on asking what they were I was tolled they were Lincolnshire Buff.

The following year 1986 whilst attending the same show I found no signs of any display from the Riseholme college, on making enquires at the Lincolnshire county council marquee I was put in touch with a Mr Tony Ducker who informed me that the small livestock section at the college was being phased out and most of the poultry had already gone and if I was interested I could take what was left, so I quickly made an appointment to meet up with him at Riseholme to pick up the birds.

The meeting took place and I arrived home with one young cockerel very dark in colour with five toes and feathers on it’s legs, also four hens, two of which were good size, type and colour with yellowish legs but only four toes on each foot, another hen of good colour and type, with five toes but heavy feathering on her legs and the last one was smaller in type, with clean white legs, five toes on each foot, but very bad colour, more wheaten than buff. As there was no information forth coming as to what they were aiming for I was pretty much on my own, so I made the decision to breed for five toes on each foot, clean white legs and this became the standard as to what we see today and the rest is history, but I still can’t believe it’s 25 years.

“It only seems like yesterday”

Brian Sands.