Simon started Surbiton Poultry more by accident than intention. Friends would come round and visit and going away with fresh eggs, soon wanted to produce eggs for themselves. With his many years in the joinery industry, over 30 to date he ended up making houses for them. This soon ended up with him making houses for friends of friends and so on. Whilst hatching some eggs to produce hens for himself, this soon had to be increased to provide hens for the now ever growing number of people he was making houses for. With most of his joinery career being in shop fitting it meant he travelled the length and breadth of the country allowing him to find other breeders and source a varied selection of good utility breeds and a few ornamental ones.
In 2008 Simon was struggling to breed the number of hens needed to go with the ever increasing number of hen houses he was making so started to buy in hybrid laying hens to go with them. With the rise in cheap imports the housing started to fall off giving Simon the chance to concentrate more on breeding quality birds for new customers and also for existing ones that wanted to add to their flocks. Simon considers Surbiton Poultry is possibly now the best and biggest breeder in the south of England offering the most varieties of large fowl, Pekin bantams and hybrids.
Through many years of keeping all types of poultry and waterfowl Simon is considered to be an expert with an encyclopaedic knowledge of all aspects of the hobby / fancy which he has learnt from meeting other breeders from his travels as well as his passion for reading books. Simon’s extensive knowledge of poultry diseases mainly learnt in being proactive in prevention ensures he always has healthy birds. He vaccinates all pure breeds and bantams at one day old against Mareks disease and Coccidiosis. Over the last few years Surbiton Poultry has attended agricultural and smallholding shows where people can buy are poultry and come and get advice.