Bourbourg

A rare French dual-purpose breed from the town of Bourbourg in the Nord department, near the Belgian border. The Bourbourg was developed in French Flanders during the 19th century from local farmyard chickens crossed with imported Asian breeds, producing a large, sturdy bird with good meat qualities and respectable egg production. Its plumage is typically white or ermine (white with black markings), and it has a single comb and clean, slate-blue legs. The breed was once common on farms across French Flanders but declined dramatically with agricultural industrialisation after World War II. Now critically rare, the Bourbourg is maintained by a small network of French conservation breeders and is recognised by the EE Europastandard and SCAF as a distinct French heritage breed.