A 12-year-old dubbed the "chicken whisperer" has founded his town's first poultry club.
Gifted Dominic Wright attracted two dozen people to the first meeting of the Chester-le-Street and District Poultry Club to share their know-how on keeping birds happy.
The schoolboy, who is determined not to allow cerebral palsy to stop him from achieving, has a calming way of handling the chickens and talking to them which relaxes the birds.
He fell in love with hens, first keeping them on an aunt's smallholding and he now keeps four in a run in his Chester-le-Street back garden.
He hopes to add more hens, ducks and geese to his flock when he gets an allotment.
Dominic had early success with a leghorn he found roaming in the woods at his former primary school.
He cleaned her toes with a toothbrush, blow dried her feathers and, after naming his adopted pet Rose, entered her in the Northumberland County Show, winning first prize.
Since then Dominic has developed his knowledge which he loves to share with less experienced poultry keepers.
He set up the club with his friend Miah Liddell, 13, and Pelton Community Centre chairman Mick Rodgers, and the group meets on the last Monday of every...
