Avocado is the pride of the playground at Middle Dural Public School, especially now he has a blue ribbon to add to the Chicken Mansion.

The six-month-old rooster was hatched from a silky hen egg “so he is very much part of the Middle Dural family”, principal Melissa Date said.

Middle Dural Public School, with 30 students, is in a semi-rural suburb in north-western Sydney surrounded by horse paddocks and orchards.

Nearby Galston High School lent agriculture teacher Eric Date to teach the Middle Dural students how to wash and dry Avocado in preparation for his show debut.

All the attention and care paid off when Avocado won first place in the category ‘Primary School Chook – soft feather – male’ at the Hawkesbury Show, the largest regional agricultural show in NSW dating back to 1845 when it was first held at Clarendon.

“Our students were thrilled with Avocado’s success,” Ms Date said.

“There was an enthusiastic cheer at our morning assembly and lots of positive feedback from parents via social media.”

Ms Date said Middle Dural Public School’s three silky hens and silky rooster Avocado free ranged on school grounds during the day.

“We have a leadership team who take responsibility for the care of our chickens,” she said.

“This involves cleaning out their pen, providing fresh food and water each day, collecting eggs and letting them out to free-range each morning and locking them up again each afternoon.

“We believe our chickens are particularly healthy and beautiful because they free-range in our beautiful grounds.”

The eggs are used by the school canteen for home-made treats. Boiled eggs are also available at the school’s breakfast club.

This year Avocado and the silky hens moved into a new and larger ‘Chicken Mansion’.

“We suspect that these salubrious digs have also contributed to the good health and beauty of our prize-winning rooster,” Ms Date said.