‘Hi, I’m Alec Bellringer a 17-year-old from Cornwall, I’m a poultry keeper and breeder of exhibition quality stock, I keep around 150 birds, and exclusively use Brinsea products for the hatching and rearing of all my stock.
‘From an early age I’d been into all things farming, being the son of a dairy farmer. At the age of two and a half, my mother bought me a flock of bantams. This is where my passion for poultry keeping began. Over the next few years my flock expanded I would often purchase off heat growers off a local breeder with birthday or Christmas money. I had grown to a small flock of around 50 birds, these birds were my pride and joy, and under the watchful eye of mum, I’d be out tending to the chickens every day before and after school.
Alec Bellringer and one of his favourite hens.
‘In 2015 at age 11 I went away to an agricultural school in Somerset, whilst keeping a small flock at home. When away at school I became more involved with poultry, working with the school’s poultry including chickens’ geese and turkeys. In mid-2018, me and a few fellow poultry mad friends at the school set up a poultry club. We fenced an area, sourced housing and used the school’s Brinsea Octagon 20 and hatched our first batch of chicks. We bought in some rare breeds of chicken that we were to breed and show, we were set for the summer show season. We attended the Royal Cornwall Show and placed with the birds we’d taken and were happy.
‘At 14 I moved back to Cornwall after leaving boarding school. I bought my first Brinsea incubator an Octagon 20 with turning cradle, this incubator made hatching very easy, and hatched several clutches of chicks from it. Then with money I’d made from selling eggs and excess stock, I bought in some gold pencilled Hamburgh bantams. In 2018-2019 I began showing at some of the local shows, my Pekins, Silkies, Wyandottes and Hamburghs, placed relatively well for a novice and I was pleased to receive champion trio at two shows with my birds. In 2019 I purchase a Brinsea Ovation 56 EX a brilliant incubator which made hatching easy, with my new purchase I began hatching larger numbers and bred some stock I was proud of.
‘In March 2020, just before my 16th birthday, Covid struck, and the country went into lockdown. During this time the hobby of poultry keeping became very popular with people working from home. Because of this there was an increased demand for eating and hatching eggs and birds. I bred some good stock in that time, with some birds that were to a very good show standard, it was then that a passion and hobby of mine really became the small business it is today. This year, the chickens and duck have begun laying. I’ve just fired up the Brinsea incubators including my newest purchase of a Maxi II Advance and I’m looking forward to hatching this year.
‘The quality of Brinsea products and the successful hatching and rearing rates I have using their incubators and brooders mean I would never use other brands. Brinsea provide a good value for money, and brilliant products which top everything else I’ve tried and they have great customer service. In addition, the great specs on some of their incubators including accurate temperature and humidity control, automatic egg turning and a cooling feature which I find game changing when hatching ducks. For anyone considering buying an incubator for the first time, Brinsea is the one to buy.’
Alec Bellringer
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