Three French chefs (French hens)

(Hint: think turtle doves, French hens, partridges?)

Sharp also suggests the adjective "French" in "three French hens", probably simply means "foreign".

And those four Chouteau rivermen clucking around him wherever he went like a small flock of French hens.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me Three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Bute-two calling birds, Ikira three French hens, Maria four turtle doves and make sure China doesn't lose her place!

Now three French hens.

But after bringing the French hens and turtledoves, the true love delivers five flamingoes.

Each spread has its own elegant palette, elaborately bordered like an early Renaissance tableau, making even three French hens feel like a gift that might be desirable.

In 1898 he became a poultry farmer in Bexley, where he introduced a new breed of French hen.