All the ducks are in a row for the Wimmera Poultry Club's Open Show which is set to kick off in June following a two-year hiatus.
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The 2022 show will be at the Horsham Showgrounds on Saturday, June 18, and will feature the best birds from across the Wimmera, parts of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
The event returns to the show ground after two years of COVID-restrictions cancelling all activity from the poultry club.
Wimmera Poultry Club president Brendan Lloyd said the show would be back better than ever, with the largest prize pool in the club's history on offer.
"A lot of people have gotten sick of paying for feed and keeping their birds and not being able to show them. Some people have gotten out of it, so you lost those people," he said.
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"Now we have to try and reach out, and get people interested to come back.
"The prize money is the biggest it has ever been. We haven't just put it at the top, we have spread it right out so no matter where you place there is something to help out."
More than double the money of previous years will be on offer, with the Champion Bird in Show set to win $150, a trophy and bag of feed.
The Reserve Bird will win $100 and many other cash prizes will be on offer for all other categories in the competition.
Much of the thanks were given to the shows sponsors, KES Gamefowl, Laucke Mills, Driscoll, McIllree and Dickerson and Dean Wheaton.
Mr Lloyd said the poultry club committee had looked to make the 2022 event extra-special, as many involved with the club had not seen each other since its last show.
"The main thing about the show, especially with the age of most of our exhibitors, is to get together and talk, which is what keeps a lot of them," he said.
"A lot of our exhibitors are retirees or single people that love their animals and they like talking to other people who love their animals. That communications keeps them going.
"You have people who come from all over - we have people that come from South Australia, New South Wales and Melbourne. They all get there and meet."
The passion for birds, he said, was apparent when looking at the distinctiveness of each variety.
"The thing about poultry is that you can go down feeling bad, sit in front of the cage, look at the birds you like, and you can just relax," he said.
"That is the thing, you are breeding birds, you are trying to perfect them to a standard, and when you get a bird close to that you get real proud.
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"People will ask you, and then they will try and buy some birds off of you and that makes you feel really good. Especially when they call you back and say "thanks for that bird I just won a show"."
The Wimmera Poultry Club Open Show will be at the Horsham Showgrounds on Saturday, June 18. Morning tea and lunch will be available at the show.
Mr Lloyd encouraged anyone with an interest in fine poultry to come down and see what the show was all about.
"You will see some beautiful birds, well looked after, in great condition. You get to see the variety of birds there. Sometimes we can tee you up with people to buy birds later on at one of our auctions," he said.
"A lot of people like getting them, especially if they have grandparents, they take them to the show and it takes them back their childhood when they had birds.
"To see that many different varieties. There are than many varieties that have come into the country in the last 10 years, a lot of people haven't even seen them."
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