Le Xuan Vet, 82, is among the most famous Dong Tao chicken breeders in Khoai Chau District. After returning home from the army in 1976, Vet decided to specialise in breeding Dong Tao chicken. He focused on the kind with huge bulbous legs covered in red scales which were quite rare and had a life-span of 4-5 years.

Vet and his Dong Tao chicken

Vet considers Dong Tao chicken as his friends. Particularly, he used two among those which weighed up to 6 kilogrammes each to soak rice liquor when they became old and weak. 

According to Vet, when they were too old and couldn’t be bred anymore, he did not want to sell them or eat them, so he decided to keep them as souvenirs.

The valuable jar of rice liquor with Dong Tao chicken soaked in it

After being preserved in the jars, many people like them and asked him for buying them. Some said that they were willing to buy each of the 25-litre jars VND70 million (USD3,181), but he turned down their proposal.

He was very careful and spent much time on preserving the two chicken. He used both lemon and vinegar to clean the chicken before soaking them into the alcohol of 70 degrees. 

“Despite being offered with the high prices, I will never sell them as I see them as my close friends,” Vet said.  

A file photo of the two Dong Tao chickens preserved in the jars

He has also preserved eggs of the rare Dong Tao chicken species in alcohol. 

Vet added that he will continue breeding the rare Dong Tao chicken species until when he can