The Find My Poultry story: Where it all began- Episode 1

Episode 1: Life Before Find My Poultry – A Foundation in Tradition and Innovation

Find My Poultry didn’t begin as an opportunity spotted to create a business plan forom nowhere. The seed of the App you see today, started to germinate way back in my childhood, growing up on a small farm and in a family where tradition and innovation were ever present, two sides of the same coin.

I was born and grew up in Ty‑Mawr, a Grade II* listed farmstead, dating back to the 15th century, which my parents purchased in 1993, located in the beautiful Brecon Beacons in Mid‑Wales, next to my Mum's family farm.

My parents, Joyce and Nigel, always had and have a huge respect for traditional knowledge and skills, and worked and still work to keep some of that alive for future generations, having established a training centre for traditional and sustianable building skills.

In the early 1990s, my Mum, having trained as a Sytems Analyst, managed a multi‑million‑pound project to bring technology and introduce the Internet to all parts of rural Wales— at a time where computers in the home were not commonplace at all. That work successfully connected remote communities long before broadband became normal to ensure that rural areas were not disadvantaged and to support projects that used technology to benefit rural people, businesses and skills and support a new way of trading.

At the same time, restoring Ty‑Mawr revealed a gap in the market for traditional and natural building materials. My parents decided to set up a business specilaising in the manufacture of lime based mortars, plasters and paints, and they are still the only manufacturer in Wales today supplying traditional and more sustainable building materials right across the UK. This was a business based on ther passion for conservation and tradition but with care for the future and the environment, which was fairly unique at the time.

Growing up in that environment meant business, respecting traditions and an awareness that we are just guardians of this planet and hence the need to be mindful of our impact today, on the future, were everyday topics. One of my earliest memories is of confidently selling a supplier his own USB stick back to him for five euros during a meeting in Portugal when I was four—something that's still laughed about (and we are still trading with them!). I went on to start my own small venture, Ethical Farm Supplies, whilst still at school under the Ty‑Mawr umbrella, sourcing and selling a range of environmentally friendly farming supplies (trying to reduce plastics and chemicals in farming, just the same as my parents have successfully done for construction).

Our home was always busy with people involved in conservation, traditional building, farming and many other fields. Conversations often revolved around heritage skills, sustainable practices and the importance of doing things properly rather than quickly. It was clear to me from an early age that heritage and innovation don’t have to compete; done properly, they support one another.

Farming itself shaped me too. Livestock depend on you every single day, in every season, regardless of weather or convenience (or holidays!). That responsibility becomes part of you. After school, I’d often head to my grandmother’s farm on the other side of the lake to help feed lambs, catch sheep and move animals. Those practical, hands-on experiences and generational learning, taught me more about livestock management than any book ever could.

At home, our house was always full of poultry. We kept ex‑battery hens alongside birds we chose ourselves at events like the Royal Welsh Spring Fair. After working on the TyMawr Lime stand with out parents, my brothers and I were allowed to pick a chicken to take home—though guinea fowl, geese, ducks and anything else we could slip into the box tended to appear too!. At the time it just felt like normal life: birds and animals in the house, farm work in all weathers, serving builders, fixing tools and machines, land management, restoration work going on and just being involved and helping wherever needed.

Looking back, I can see how those early years laid the groundwork for everything that has followed. They have shaped my understanding of business, livestock, breeds, rural communities and taught me that traditional industries only continue if knowledge and passion is passed on and that technology can be used to help to safeguard a future.

Love and curiosity about the birds around me turned into genuine interest, and that interest grew into a deeper fascination with breeding, hatching and gaining any knowledge I could get my hands on. In the next episode, we’ll explore how my grandparents and their approach to livestock influenced my early understanding of breeding—stories and lessons that further explain why poultry became such a passion.