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they could swim, by dropping one overboard in the Strait of Belle Isle. Poor visibility meant that the fog swallowed up the hen before the sea. In the 1970s, the International Grenfell Association’s hens at the poultry farm in North West River were producing 10,000 eggs a month. The eggs, it was reported, were delicious, and every time an airplane went north or south it took a few dozen to the Grenfell nursing stations. Any surplus eggs the IGA Leghorns laid were sold, helping reduce the organization’s costs. In 1974, Dr. W.A. Paddon (Dr. Henry’s son) wrote, I visited them the other afternoon, just before dusk. They were peacefully winding up the day, and some were roosting. There was a drowsy murmur of conversation 26
inside LABRADOR
over the entire place and remarks such as ‘good night’ were easy to pick out on the roosts. Occasionally there was a sudden shrill squawking — perhaps a sleeping hen with a nightmare about Col. Sanders — but the predominant sound seemed to be that of small talk. These days, there is a bit of a backyard chicken boom in central Labrador, with many people in Happy Valley-Goose Bay experimenting with raising their own hens. In an area that sometimes struggles with access to fresh, locally produced food, keeping hens is one way to build greater food security. Along the north coast, however, hens are still a rarity. Which brings us back to Pearl and her feathered friends. “I haven’t bought eggs in five or six years,” Pearl claims. “I’ll get plenty for FALL 2020