First competitive outing yields instant success

• Published date: 22 June 2022
• Publication title: Courier, The

The Geraldine High School pupil was able to compete at the Ashburton Fanciers Society show with the help of Geraldine Free Range Eggs farm, where he works during weekends collecting and washing eggs

One of Luke’s bosses gave him a rooster named Echo three months ago, which helped him to secure the win.

Luke said to get the rooster ready for the competition he washed his feet, carefully trimmed his ‘‘eyelashes’’ and rubbed a lotion on to Echo’s wattle to make it shine.

While Luke intends to compete again, Echo is going through his yearly moult, which means his tail is not looking good enough to win him any awards at the upcoming nationals.

Luke’s mother, Tina Bennett, said Luke became interested in chickens from a young age, and was given his first chicks when he...