17 SWEDISH FANCIERS VISITING Above: The poultry fanciers from Sweden. Photo: Dirk de Jong. By: Dirk de Jong and Kenneth Broekman. On the 19th and 20 th of March, several members of the Swedish Poultry Club Bergslagens Rasfjäderfäförening from the centre of Sweden came to visit Holland, to experience the spring feeling. Frank Juppe, the Swedish tour-conductor had contacted Kenneth Broekman and asked if he could arrange a two days poultry tour. It resulted in two unforgettable days for the 17 poultry lovers from Sweden. On Friday the 19 th, early in the morning, the group met in Chaam, at the foundations of the old church the Pelicaan in Chaam. Ad Taks, the PR man of the Dutch Poultry Union planned and organised this first part of the tour. In perfect English, Ad explained the history of this part of Chaam, the village of origin for the Chaam Fowl. And of course the Chaam fowl would be one of the first breeds to look at, you can trust Ad on that subject, as it is his favourite breed! Right: Ad Taks (partly visible in the right, with glasses) knows how to catch the attention of the audience. From the constitution of the group we learned that keeping poultry in Sweden is mainly a women s hobby.
The next appointment was also arranged by Ad Taks: a visit to Ties de Ridder in Belgium, at the castle-farm Zwart Goor (meaning Black Clay ) Ties de Ridder is the former managing director of Bogena (today Beaphar) and a great lover of the Dutch animal breeds. At arrival we were welcomed by a Kooiker Dog (small Dutch Decoy dog) and a Dutch Shepherd Dog. Right: Ties de Ridder (left, in the wheel chair), the landlord of Zwart Goor. Standing in the right is Ad Taks. Below: A Dutch dog breed: the Kooiker dog. After a word of welcome we started the tour. All eyes were filled with amazement; so many beatiful animals! To begin with, Haflinger horses, and their beautiful antique coaches and carriages. The Drenthe Heath, the oldest sheep breed of the continent. In the photo, 1 ram and 2 ewes and their lambs. Both sexes have horns. After passing the old, but fully intact smithy we arrived at the poultry houses. In the runs we saw various rare Dutch poultry breeds, like Chaams Fowl and Lakenfelder. (photo on the right.) Meanwhile, high from the roof, a beautiful white peacock kept his eyes on the unknown trespassers. Hyacinth pigeons, a rare Dutch
pigeon breed, flew their rounds above the aviaries. And the Ronquières turkey stag displayed for his hens; after all, spring had begun! Right: A white peacock. Left: Hyacinth pigeons. At the pond were all sorts of ducks and geese, like Common Shelduck, Horned Grebe, Emperor Goose and Ross s Goose. Our Swedish visitors very much enjoyed the view. On our way to the next visit. Thanks to the strict schedule we managed to stop for a coffee break in Meersel-Dreef, a small village close to the Dutch/Belgian border, a known pilgrimage village for the Virgin Mary devotion. Of course a chicken tour is no pilgrimage but after our explanation that things like this are still very common in the south of the Netherlands they loved to see the chapel and even burned a candle for a safe journey. Lunch was planned at the M.E.C. Environmental Education Centre in Breda, at the Wolfslaar Farm, which is part of the visitors centre. Many old and rare Breeds of Livestock are kept here, in particular from Brabant. One of the poultry breeds is typical for the village of Breda. After the lunch our guests were taken on a splendid tour by two charming hostesses: Gissela and Simone. Right: At the MEC Breda. Left: Barnevelder chickens at the MEC.
Left: Original Breda Fowl at the MEC in Breda. Again on the coach, on our way to Diessen, where we visited Josef Vingerhoed. Chicks, chicks and more chicks; we had never ever seen so many chicks from so many breeds and neither had our Swedish friends. Orpington, Australorp, Welsummer, Barnevelder, Leghorn, Dutch bantams, Antwerp and d Uccle bearded bantams. All in various colours and I might even have missed one or two breeds! Especially the Leghorns were to the liking of the Swedish, eliciting the first modest questions: Are any eggs for sale? Then, wavering: Only 4 or 5? Of course, is the answer, They are free for you to have. Our Swedish friends are amazed, is this Holland? Well, let s just say, Jozef Vingerhoed is a very special man and a gifted poultry breeder. It was a memorable visit. Above: Chicks of all sorts of breeds at Jozef Vingerhoets. In between, something about the Hobby in Sweden. As mentioned earlier, many women are active in the poultry hobby. Also, the board members of the Clubs are often women. For each poultry breeder that we visited today, they brought a nice souvenir, in the shape of a T-shirt from the Swedish Club, a button and an engraved mug. The latter reminded me of the original intention of the goblets: a drink together to toast for a happy ending. The tin or plastic gewgaws that we in Holland award as prizes nowadays are totally unsuitable for that. Shame.
Dirk de Jong, our reporter/photographer could not be present on Saturday, so our host Kenneth Broekman volunteered as our reporter and Ad van Noort assisted as photographer. Bladel As early as 9 a.m. the group was welcomed in Bladel at Stijn Lemmens. His beautiful ponds with all kinds of waterfowl immediately grabbed the full attention of the Swedish fanciers, followed by a shower of questions that were translated and skillfully answered by Stijn. Supplementary he also had several interesting stories at hand, concerning his many breeds, about his Toulouse geese in particular, which are his favourite. The interesting tour around the various ponds was rounded off with coffee and cakes. Left: Turkeys and Guinea Fowl at the Weverkeshof. Photo: Ad van Noort. Someren From Bladel we set out for Someren, the home town of Kenneth Broekman. Uopn arrival at his premises De Varsel, Kenneth s two ferrets immediately stole the show. Each and everyone had to have a close look at these two cute animals that were cast-off and adopted by Kenneth. They even lined up to have him/herself photographed with one of the tame ferrets! The Mondain pigeons wisely decided to stay out of the crowd and never showed; they didn t leave the loft! But there was enough to see, for instance the little Seramas that are temporarily housed at De Varsel. This is the smallest chicken breed in the world, not much larger than a tin of Cola, and these jaunty and super-tame little bantams are becoming as popular in Holland as they are in Malaysia and the US. From extra small to extra large, all is possible here, thus we admired the Jersey Giants, followed by the Pekin and Rouen Ducks and the Toulouse geese. Then we had to hurry inside, surprised by a sudden rainstorm, and were welcomed in the house where Kenneth s wife Jacqueline had already been awaiting us with more coffee and sweets. Right: Peacocks at the Weverkeshof. Photo: Ad van Noort. Nuenen From Someren, the coach took the touristic route to Nuenen, along the idyllic country roads with typical farm houses. The next stop was the Weverkeshof; a children s farm in the centre of the village Nuenen once hometown of the painter Van Gogh. The farm is
runned by 120 volunteers. After a warm welcome, Ad van Noort, board member of the Weverkeshof Foundation, invited the Group for a Typical Dutch Lunch at the Farm, after having finished the tour around the premises. Again many Dutch poultry breeds were admired: Lakenfelder, North Holland Blue, Brabanter, Chaams Fowl, Barnevelder Large Fowl and Bantam and the Sabelpoot (Booted bantam). Very interesting were the toad pool and the bee-hotel for solitary bees. Everything was explained by Ad in fluent German, also the how and why of the biologic vegetable garden, the flower garden, the marsh garden and the over 25 different tree species. The Farm plays an important role in educating scholars on sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, rabbits, chickens, peacocks, Guinea fowl, pigeons, and finally, together with skilled beekeepers, they learn about bees and the making of honey by studying the hives, specifically made of transparent material. Above: The bee hotel for solitary bees. See also in Various part 2. Photo: Ad van Noort. Right: Lunch in the Weverkeshof. Photo: Kenneth Broekman. Time for a break now. We were invited in the living-room of the Farm, were we were offered an original Brabantse Lunch with all sorts of local home-made dishes, such as Erwtensoep (pea soup), Broodje kroket (bread roll with croquettes) or a sandwich with Oud Nuenen cheese, both served with mustard. For those who hadn t had enough sweets there was the Brabantse peperkoek (Dutch variety of Gingerbread). And who would refuse a cool glass of Bavaria beer! After lunch, Fien, the Farm s Saving Pig made its round, resulting in a generous gift for the Farm.
Above: A dovecote at the Weverkeshof. Photo Ad van Noort. Gemert Next we set off for the nearby village of Gemert, to visit poultry keeper Jo Otten. Again a warm welcome and with great interest we admired Jo s specialty, the Dutch Bantams in almost all known colour varieties. The tour around the impressive aviaries with exotic pigeons was crowing the 2-day poultry tour. Then we all gathered for a last cup of coffee together, served with a local specialty: Limburgse Vlaai, and other treats. Right: The Limburgse vlaai were very much to our liking! Jo Otten is standing in the back, with the dark-red shirt. Photo: Kenneth Broekman. Then it was time to say goodbye, a bit sad but thankful for the lovely trip that was organised by the Dutch friends. Each host was decorated with a button of the Swedish Poultry Club and thus ended another visit of Swedish Poultry breeders to our country. And we will have more visitors coming, so presumably the Dutch poultry breeders are held in respect by the European colleagues. This underlines the ideas of the European Poultry Society: in spite the fact that it consumes time and energy, the organization of international visits is very fruitful. We thank everyone who helped us to make this visit a success. For us it was once more a pleasure! See website EPS HUwww.europeanpoultrysoc.comUH for more photos. Copyright 2010 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC.