Egg Sheeran meets Ed Sheeran & attends NEPC
Colleen Teresa Kielbania raises large breed Polish chickens. She is also a huge fan of British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who has sold 200 billion records worldwide, with hits like “Shape of You,” “Perfect,” “Bad Habits” and “Don’t.”
So much so, she named one of her Polish chickens Egg Sheeran. When Ed Sheeran visited her hometown of Ipswich, MA, for his first Old Phone Pop-Up pub appearance on March 28, 2025, she was standing in the crowd holding a sign that read, “Ed, will you take a selfie with EGG Sheeran?” along with her phone number.
He did. Ed Sheeran met Kielbania, her mother and her sister.
Sheeran chose Ipswich as the setting for his music video “The Old Phone” because it’s the name of his hometown in England. His set designers worked hard building, decorating and designing the pub, painting it kelly green and hanging the freshly made “The Old Phone” sign over the pub’s doorway for filming. People had to submit a video, photo or message that meant a lot to them for approval to attend.
Famous already, when Egg Sheeran attended the 52nd New England Poultry Congress at the Eastern State Exposition Center in West Springfield, MA, in January 2026, Kielbania had high hopes. She also showed two large breed Polish hens. It was the second time she had attended the NEPC. Her two hens Butterscotch (buff laced bearded Polish) and Liquorish (white crested black non-bearded Polish) won Best of Breed and Reserve of Breed.
She also won first place in chicken agility, which involves a structure similar to those used in dog competitions. “Whoever gets their chicken to go through fastest won. It was fun,” she said.
Kielbania also won first place for her tri-fold display regarding the embryology of an egg.
“I attended the NEPC last year to participate in showmanship and the tri-fold contest. I placed third in novice showmanship last year and second in the tri-fold display. None of my birds placed in 2025 so it was a great surprise seeing how they did this year.”
She also entered the Funky Town contest this year, dressing up a chicken cage as though Egg Sheeran was vacationing in London. Kielbania did not win this contest, but she had a lot of fun setting it up, and Egg Sheeran looked right at home as a would-be part-time Londoner.
However, she did a bit of sleuthing, à la Sherlock Holmes, seeking to connect a lost chicken at the NEPC with its owner, including placing a picture of herself with the lost chicken on the NEPC Facebook page during the show.
“It got a lot of reach,” she said. She took the chicken to the superintendent of the NEPC and placed it in his care.
She was far too busy to find out what happened to the lost chicken in the end as she had to pack up, bring her chickens home to Ipswich and get to the airport to return to the University of Arkansas, where she is a freshman majoring in poultry science.
by Laura Rodley
