I recently wrote an article for a poultry magazine – it was about how I came to France to live the good life. This involved keeping chickens in an attempt at farming and a self-sufficient life style. However, having named them all I ended up not being able to eat my chickens and now I’m over run with birds but happy!
Anyway, in the article I talked about one of my favourite chickens and how I was thinking of entering her into a beauty contest. I got someone to proof read my work for me before I submitted it to my editor and that someone scoffed at a line about a chicken beauty contest.
I assured her that it was in fact not unusual in France to have beauty pageants for chickens – I often come across them when I’m at a weekend flea market or an agricultural do.
Now I know what you’re thinking – you wish you could see a French chicken beauty contest for yourself!
Well you can – there’s an online competition run by a chicken feed and supply company to find the prettiest hen and the most handsome cockerel in France. It’s called Miss Poule and Mister Coq – I kid you not.
People can post photos of their chicken and everyone can vote. Within two weeks of the opening of the contest almost 1000 chickens had been registered. In the lead on the ladies side when last I looked was Rosie, a white Sussex hen who says “I had an accident, I broke my leg. Instead of eating me, my owner took me to the vet and now I am a pet with one leg! I’m good, I eat, lay eggs and I hop! I love tomatoes and sunbathing!”
When asked what winning the contest would mean to her Rosie says “Becoming Miss Hen 2014 will show that even with one leg, I’m always up for more!”
It’s good to know that sometimes the world is just as crazy as you think it is (but in a good way!)
A bientôt
Janine
