WHEN YOU think prize winning chickens, you probably wouldn't expect for them to be owned by a 28-year-old female.
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But, Missy Cosgrove is just that - she's the breeder of several champion chickens, two of which were crowned best in their class at the recent Royal Bathurst Show.
And, one of these chickens even took out the title of grand champion.
"It's pretty exciting," she said.
"I won champion hard feather bantam male, and champion hard feather bantam female, and grand champion hard feather bantam."
But this isn't the first time Ms Cosgrove has taken home ribbons for her chickens.
She has been entering her birds into local agriculture and poultry shows since she was around 22 years old, and in this time, she has taken home approximately 30 titles.
The 2024 Royal Bathurst Show however, was where she took out the best prize she has received in six years of showcasing chooks.
"This is probably the highest I have ever gone. I've won a couple of champion ribbons but a grand champion is the best so far," Ms Cosgrove said.
Now, she has her sights set on the top, and is determined to win the cream of the crop.
"My ultimate goal is to win bird of show. That's the best bird in the shed that day," she said.
According to Ms Cosgrove, getting your chickens to a prize winning quality isn't all that difficult.
"It's not hard, you just sort of wash their legs and wash their face and make sure that they're clean," she said.
"You have to present them with good feathers, no broken feathers, they have to be quiet so you can handle them and they stand and look their best. They have to be in a good condition."
With around 200 chickens to choose from, Ms Cosgrove begins the process of hand-selecting the best chooks when they are around six months old.
It's at this age when they start to show their potential, and then, training begins.
"Basically you have to make them into pets," she said.
And with half of her chickens being one specific breed, it's clear she has one favourite 'pet', even though they're not typically winners of the more prestigious prizes.
But this doesn't stop her from entering them into shows, where they have often been crowned the winners of the 'rare breed' section.
Where her love of chickens began
"I mostly like to take the naked necks because they're a rare breed and you don't see many of them around. People are always so amazed when they see them," she said.
"They usually don't go further because they're not that common and judges don't really know what to look for."
She fell in love with the breed as a child, after her grandmother purchased a book filled with different types of chickens.
"My grandma bought us a book when we were little of all the different chook breeds, and I saw a naked neck in that book and I thought, 'I have to have that one'," she said.
"Then I saw one at the Bathurst Poultry Auction when I was around 14 or 15, and that's where it started. I got one hen, then I got a rooster, and now I have 100 of them."
These chickens are joined on the farm by Ms Cosgrove's other animals, including sheep, cattle and even water buffalo.
