'Birds of a feather' - the young girl winning big in poultry

Ten-year-old Alannah Adams is the youngest face in a decades-long family tradition of poultry showing.

And she is rather good at it.

The County Antrim schoolgirl has won titles at a regional and national level, taking home more than twenty cups in the last two years and enough rosettes to cover her bedroom wall.

She has even starred on the cover of Fancy Fowl magazine, the UK's original publication for the poultry fancier.

With a love of birds in her DNA, Alannah, who is from the village of Clough outside Ballymena, took up the tradition at just five years old.

"My dad, my granda Joe, and my granny Ginny were the ones that helped me start," she said.

She's been doing about five shows a year ever since.

"My favourite part is getting the birds all prepped and handling them with my friends. I love seeing what place I'll get."

Her greatest success so far was at the national in Lancashire, which is one of the biggest shows in England.

She won the titles of champion and reserve champion juvenile and took home the prize in sixteen out of her eighteen classes.

She was also presented with the prestigious Breslian trophy, becoming the first ever recipient from Northern Ireland to take home the honour.

Her mum, Becky, joked the family needed a van to take all of Alannah's cups back home from the competition.

A poultry show is a type of livestock show that involves the exhibition and competition of birds, which can include chickens, domestic ducks, domestic geese, domestic guinea fowl, and domestic turkeys.

Each bird is judged on a range of aspects including type, colour, head and comb, and temperament.

Genetics and breeding play a large part in a successful show bird, but it is also important to keep them in the correct environment and socialise them well.

Ballymena has a long history in poultry showing, and the town has one of the only standing exhibition halls in the UK.

Alannah's granda Joe has also played a big part in the local tradition.

"The Adams family has been showing for over 50 years," he said.

Joe said he first attended poultry shows with his uncle Tommy when he was a young boy.

"My father showed cattle and sheep, and Tommy showed the poultry, so it was a day out for everyone."

He then raised his son Neal in the tradition, taking him to competitions and teaching him about judging.

They are one of the only father-son judging panels in the UK and will be judging a competition in Germany together this Christmas.

"That's what's now rubbed off on Alannah," Joe said.

"She's proved that she knows the birds as well as us now.

"I'm very proud that she's keeping the tradition going, and hopefully it will go on for another 50 years."

"She exceeds all expectations when she goes to the shows," said Alannah's dad, Neal.

"She's friendly with everyone, and everybody just loves her."

He said that Alannah is paving the way for more girls to ruffle some feathers at competition level.

"She's probably one of only a handful of girls in the whole of the UK who actually show poultry," he told BBC News NI.

"It's not predominantly seen as a male thing, but it just always seems to have been fathers and sons that have done it.

"So to have fathers and daughters doing it now is fantastic."

The pair are committed to their craft.

"Every Saturday morning, Alannah and me set off before everybody," Neal said.

"We set up all the paperwork for all the other exhibitors who are arriving, and we're the last ones out to brush up the floor at the end of the day."

Due to the spread of avian flu at the start of this year, poultry shows were put on hold for five months.

The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone was announced in January following the confirmation of the virus in wild birds.

But with restrictions lifting at the end of May, Alannah is getting ready for her next competition at the Omagh show on 5 July.

When she last competed in this show in 2024, Alannah picked up the title of champion supreme juvenile.

"My Pekin Bantam won the supreme," Alannah said.

"She was really well behaved in all the pictures that she had to get taken. She loved it."

Alannah is keen to retain her title when she makes her grand return.

"I'd like to either win my juvenile section or at least try to get up on championship row again."

With Alannah's combination of skill and ambition, an extra display cabinet for the family home may well be in order.