“It is the most prestigious show in Australia,” he said.

“People come from all over the country and this year was the biggest yet with 3700 entries and over 4000 birds on show.”

And Mr Johnstone should know as he is also the official photographer for the competition which entails not only taking pictures of all the champions but also taking individual pictures of the birds that will be auctioned at the end of the judging process.

“This is a hard time of year to get them in peak condition as most adult birds are waiting for new feathers,” he said.

Despite this he managed a win in two sections, Old English Game Spangled Bantam with a hen and Old English Game Black-Red Dark-Leg Bantam with a Cockerel.

Mr Johnstone is what you would call an expert when it comes to breeding poultry especially his beloved bantams.

He has mastered the art of line breeding and produced a male bantam that actually grows larger feathers each year.

Prior to this only larger fowl had this capability.

“In 1977 I managed to bring this into to the line,” he said.

Line Breeding is the simplest method for controlling traits in birds and relies on reducing the number of ancestors a bird has resulting in the fixing of a desirable trait.

Breeding Poultry is a hobby he embarked on at just eight years of age when he was a young boy growing up in Newcastle.

“I can remember reading an advertisement in the Herald about a pair for sale then jumping on my bike going to buy them,” he said.

“I did not know anything about them at that stage but every second family had a chook pen back in those days.”

I won my first award at the Newcastle show in 1952 with a large Blue Australorp, he recalls.

Mr Johnstone is now preparing for the Singleton Poultry Club’s annual show in July.