Guirec Soudée, a 24 year old sailor, has spent the last two years sailing the globe with a female chicken named Monique.  Soudée began the cruise in the Canary Islands in May 2014, sailing to St. Barts in the Caribbean and then to Greenland on his boat, Yvinec. Apparently, Monique has proven to be both good company and a reliable producer of eggs.

“I knew she was the one straight away,” Guirec told the BBC from western Greenland, where he is now moored.

“She was only about four or five months old then, and had never left the Canary Islands. I didn’t speak any Spanish and she didn’t speak any French, but we got along.”

Guirec had planned to bring along a pet for company, but a hen wasn’t originally on the cards.

“I thought about a cat, but decided it would be too much effort to look after it,” he says.

“The hen was an ideal choice. It doesn’t need that much looking after and I’m able to get eggs at sea. People told me it wouldn’t work, that the hen would be too stressed and wouldn’t lay eggs.

“But there was no problem, she laid eggs straight away. She adapted to it perfectly – she was very comfortable very quickly.”

Guirec Soudée sailing across the Atlantic with chicken Monique