Guest post from Swedish Croad breeder, Helena Spindel
Hi everybody, my name is Helena Spindel, I live in Sweden, and I am one
of the few that breeds LF Black Croads here. I was asked by Sue to share my
impressions of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a trip to the 2012 Europa
Poultry Show in Leipzig. I went with a very good friend, 80 year old Gösta
Dahlberg, a very experienced and well-known breeder of ducks here in Sweden.
The journey is over 450 miles, one way, and we had snow, sleet and
hail-storms most of the way. I drove all night, and we got there early on a
Friday morning. A lot of people were mad because they had opened the doors long
before the announced 11.am opening, and the crowds were already building up in
the purchase-halls where you could buy all sorts of poultry. I did not spot
many Croads, but it was not uncommon for a rooster to cost 100 pounds, or more!
The size of the show was mindblowing and we spent 2 days there before I
found the Croads. I was a bit disappointed with what I saw, I reckon that the
ones I keep at home are just as good, if not better, both size and quality. But
the size of everything, the number of breeds, over 90.000 (yes NINETY thousand)
exhibitors, just took our breath away.
By the way, we also managed to eat while we were in Leipzig, and for the
first time in my life I ate kangaroo. Best I have ever had. On the Sunday we tried
to buy some birds, but it was remarkably disorganized, with many cages marked
wrong, so after a few miles of walking in vain, we gave it up as a bad job. We
spent 3 days looking at the show and hardly covered half, but we thoroughly
enjoyed it and I have already started saving for the next Europa-show, 2014 in
France. They have already promised that it will be half the size of Leipzig 2012,
and thank goodness for that. The 2016 show is scheduled to be held in Denmark.
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