Thirty years ago Heather Hayes bought some land — and decided a pair of geese would be a fitting accessory. So began her love affair with poultry.

The 61-year-old cares for hundreds of birds on her farm in British Columbia.

She’s also a recognised expert. For the past 15 years she’s judged all kinds of poultry and waterfowl and is now doing it here for the 2016 Bermuda Agricultural Show.

The journey started innocently enough. She and her husband Mike went to a poultry show to buy some geese for their pond in Alberta, Canada.

“When I got there I was shocked,” the former floral designer said. “There must have been 2,000 birds. They were all exhibition poultry, not the laying type.”

The man showing the geese, Charlie Sjogren, said he didn’t have anything for sale. Mrs Hayes persisted until he gave in.

“I guess most people would pick the first -place male and the first-place female, but I didn’t,” she said. “I knew nothing about exhibition poultry, but I watched them for about half an hour and ended up picking his second place female and third place male.

“He said, ‘You can’t have those. Those are my best ones.’ I said, ‘Wouldn’t your best ones be first place and first place? And he said, ‘No, not necessarily.’”

Mr Sjogren eventually sold her the birds — with the condition that he could use the male the following year for breeding.

It inspired Mrs Hayes to start showing. Three years later her birds took first place and her flock had grown to 14.

Mr Sjogren gave regular encouragement and gifted her a trio of bantam Plymouth rocks.

“His Plymouth rocks were the most sought-after birds and the fact that he would give me something like this — I was absolutely shocked,” she said.

Mrs Hayes entered the birds in competition. By the time she beat Mr Sjogren for Best of Breed, she was hooked.

“From there the love of the hobby just blossomed,” she said.

She noted the huge difference in the number of male and female judges and decided to write the American Poultry Association exam.

The timing wasn’t perfect. First she found out she had breast cancer and then her mentor, Mr Sjogren, died.

“At that point I thought, ‘I’ve got to do this for Charlie’. I got it together, took the exam and passed,” she said.

Doctors discovered thyroid cancer once they’d cleared the initial disease; two knee surgeries added to her recovery time.

“If it wasn’t for my hobby ... those birds give you a reason to get up and get out there everyday,” she said.

“With the help of my good friends and my husband I’ve been able to carry on without a break. It all took off from there and I’ve had the pleasure of judging all over North America.”

Mrs Hayes was one of seven children. Her mother raised the family on her own as her father was “out of the picture”.

“My mother encouraged us to follow our dreams, no matter what,” she said. “She worked really hard and instilled that same work ethic in all of us. She’s always said, ‘It might take you a while to get there, but don’t put [your dreams] on the back burner forever. Find a path to get there. And I’ve gotten there. I’m living the dream. There is nothing that I would change in my life. I’m so lucky. I never imagined that a hobby could be so rewarding.

“I’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations, but it’s all character-building.”

She “winters” more than 100 birds and raises between 300 and 400 chicks a year through incubation.

“We have a really good set-up which makes it a lot less work-intensive than you would think,” she said. “I love spending time in the barn. It’s my quiet time. It’s a hobby that I think a lot of city children could get a lot out of.”

Mrs Hayes was born and raised in Edmonton but would spend summers on her grandmother’s farm. It’s there she met her first chickens.

Today her bible is the American Standard of Perfection, the official breed standard for poultry fancy in North America. It was first published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association.

Every purebred is listed in Mrs Hayes’s 44th edition. She also relies on a strong network of poultry owners to keep her knowledge fresh.

“I keep fewer breeds than I did when I was taking my apprenticeship because I’m a hands-on learner and I used them to learn,” she said. “Now I’m back to keeping just the breeds that I truly love that are close to my heart. One of those is still the white Plymouth rock bantams that I got from Charlie all those years ago. It’s a line that he bred for more than 15 years and I’ve had them for the last 20 years. That’s pretty special.”

She has an “oldie goldie pen” for hens that no longer breed.

“I just think I owe them something,” she said. “They stay until they pass. They’ve done lots for my breeding programme so they deserve to stay in my home. It breaks my heart every time one of them passes away. You get attached to them.”

A trip to Bermuda has been on her bucket list for a while, she added.

“For me, one of the greatest joys is all the people I’ve met over the years that have become friends.

“Even coming here. Bermudians are so lovely. I know they’ve been trying to get me down here for a number of years, but with my health issues, travelling this far was tough.

“They have some really good birds here. I’m excited about being here. Everybody’s been so wonderful.”

• The Ag Show opens at 8am today and runs through Saturday at the Botanical Gardens. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. Admission is free for children under the age of five. Visit www.theagshowbda.com