AN accident with a wheelbarrow has led to a thriving poultry business for a Copley father and daughter.
When Dave Rich, from Copley, found himself immobilised following a gruesome accident involving his kneecap and a wheelbarrow he said he got back into “hatching” eggs.
He spent his time recuperating at the family smallholding, Rosedale Farm, incubating chickens, something he learned from his father as a child.
The former bus driver moved to Teesdale with his wife and children more than 30 years ago from London but after the accident needed something to keep him occupied. He said: “I’ve kept chickens since I was a child. So while I was laid up I decided to get a few eggs and hatch a few chickens.”
He added he spent a great deal of time deciding on what breed he wanted to hatch and researched online before deciding upon Silkies.
He said: “They’re a lovely bird, quite docile and usually bred as pets as they don’t fly.”
He added aside from the birds’ unusual plumage, which looks more like fur than feathers, Silkies have black bones and skin.
When his first batch of chickens finally hatched, daughter Esther asked if she could try to sell them. Mr Rich added: “Within a week she had sold all 40 of them.”
Since then the father and daughter have continued to breed chickens together and are both as passionate as each other. They have built coops and runs on their farm and have a wide range of Silkies in different colours.
Ms Rich, who also runs a transport company, said: “We just kept going. I don’t live at the farm but I pop up and feed them and clean them out and I keep dad informed about what the sales are.
“We sell most of the Silkies as pets and we’ve gained a really good reputation.”
She said they share the responsibilities at Rosedale Hatcheries, and while she makes and uploads videos of the birds to the internet, some of which have gone viral, her father is tasked with packaging up the eggs and getting them delivered.
Mr Rich said: “We get complimented all the time on how well the eggs have been packaged and I don’t think we’ve lost any even though we’ve sent them all over, quite a few to Sweden.”
Since they started four years ago though the father and daughter have also added a few more breeds including lemon Brahmas and Polish to the list.
For more information on Rosedale Hatcheries, call Esther Rich on 07877 550773.
