From Tom Bryson
The security staff at Larne Ferry Port clocked a “first” recently - the first foot passenger to carry live hens as hand baggage. Well, it would have cost nearly £200 to take the van over and as long as the paperwork is ok there’s no problem, unless they get loose. The hens and a magnificent cockerel might have been a bit traumatised by the journey but that was nothing compared to last week's Force 9 gales which hit just after they arrived in Ormsaigbeg.
As you’d expect of French birds, these chickens are stylish, with big red comb, white feathers and blue legs - “bleu, blanc, et rouge,” the colours of the French flag. But they are not just colourful. In France they sell for up to €80 (£68) oven-ready, with the head and legs still attached to verify their authenticity. They are the “Poulet de Bresse” gourmet table chickens when fattened on a mash of maize and milk.
These Bresse Gauloise are deemed to be so valuable that the French don’t let the eggs or breeding stock out of the country. My stock got to Kilchoan via Germany, Co. Cork, Co. Antrim and the Cairn Ryan ferry and, as far as I know, they are the only Bresse Gauloise chickens on mainland Britain. The Rare Poultry Society doesn’t have a record of any. If they are fertile and survive Kilchoan’s poultry predators, the offspring should be oven ready for Christmas 2011.
Tom Bryson is a crofter in Ormsaigbeg
Photos courtesy of professional photographer Mr Ricky Clarke
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