Bresse Chickens

[sonew123]

Can I just say how saddened I am to say I have my first egg eater;( my bresse hen....I was getting 16-18 eggs a day,..then 12...8...6...2??? When I hit 6-8 I knew what was going on!! My husband caught her and told me..he sprayed her with blue kote so I wouldnt mistake which one it was since I had 3... I was getting 4-6 cream crested legbar eggs a day now NONE...apparently she has chosen those as her favorite food!! Well let me tell you she is going to taste really good from eating all my healthy eggs and fodder fortified spoiled diet!!! Ugh!!

 

[enola]

You could separate her from your other hens and make her a roll away nest. Or, make rollaway nests for the whole group.

You will be amazed how clean your eggs will be.

 

[sonew123]

You could separate her from your other hens and make her a roll away nest. Or, make rollaway nests for the whole group.

You will be amazed how clean your eggs will be.

I have 7 seperate living quarters...I dont separate 1 bird.. I have no space for that;( she will go in a cage by herself with fake eggs for a while to see if she leaves her own eggs alone...if she leaves those alone I might put her back into the huge pen...maybe...

 

[ronott1]

I have 7 seperate living quarters...I dont separate 1 bird.. I have no space for that;( she will go in a cage by herself with fake eggs for a while to see if she leaves her own eggs alone...if she leaves those alone I might put her back into the huge pen...maybe...

It is the first day of Spring, which is, for me, time to either treat for worms and check for mites and lice or take in a manure sample for testing.

Most cases of egg eating is poor shell quality. A hen will peck an egg to see if it is viable. If it breaks, she will eat it. Fixing the egg shells almost always stops the egg eating.

Free choice calcium and a good vitamin\ electrolyte too.

Another thing to try is to make the nest box darker and use golf balls for the fake eggs.

 

[racinchickins]

One of my Bresse is laying almost white eggs. They are tinted so light that they appear white next to the other Bresse eggs. It is only when I put them next to a true white egg can I see they have a slight tint.
I'm thinking of not setting those eggs because Bresse should lay brown eggs, even though egg color is waayy down the priority list of what to look for in these birds.

What is your opinion, set or eat the eggs?

 

[DCchicken]

Can I just say how saddened I am to say I have my first egg eater;( my bresse hen....I was getting 16-18 eggs a day,..then 12...8...6...2??? When I hit 6-8 I knew what was going on!! My husband caught her and told me..he sprayed her with blue kote so I wouldnt mistake which one it was since I had 3... I was getting 4-6 cream crested legbar eggs a day now NONE...apparently she has chosen those as her favorite food!! Well let me tell you she is going to taste really good from eating all my healthy eggs and fodder fortified spoiled diet!!! Ugh!!

I had just the opposite. During the winter I had my Cream Legbars in with my Bresse so that everyone would keep warm in single digit temps. I caught my Legbars eating the Bresse eggs. I replaced the Bresse eggs with perfect match ceramic eggs and the behavior went away.

 

[enola]

If you raise chickens to butcher, I would eat the chicks that hatch from those eggs.

 

[PetRock]

One of my Bresse is laying almost white eggs. They are tinted so light that they appear white next to the other Bresse eggs. It is only when I put them next to a true white egg can I see they have a slight tint.
I'm thinking of not setting those eggs because Bresse should lay brown eggs, even though egg color is waayy down the priority list of what to look for in these birds.

What is your opinion, set or eat the eggs?

I started with a Bresse trio and one of the pullets laid a very lightly tinted egg. I hatched chicks from both pullets and now their daughters are laying eggs. All of the eggs laid by the second generation are darker than the first generation light colored egg. I've heard from other breeders that Bresse eggs can vary in color.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I started with a Bresse trio and one of the pullets laid a very lightly tinted egg. I hatched chicks from both pullets and now their daughters are laying eggs. All of the eggs laid by the second generation are darker than the first generation light colored egg. I've heard from other breeders that Bresse eggs can vary in color.

Most of the literature that I have read say that Bresse lay a cream colored egg. I was concerned when some of mine laid an egg that was a bit darker. Here is what GFF says on their website about the eggs of the different varieties of Bresse:

There are four varieties of Bresse: white, black, blue, and gray. The white variety is the best known and is used almost exclusively for meat production. The white Bresse is instantly recognized in France with its large red comb, bright white feathers, and steel-blue legs. (As newly hatched chicks their legs are yellow.) White Bresse produce a medium-sized cream-colored egg. By contrast, the black Bresse is less meaty but known for producing a disproportionately large bright white egg. (Despite their leaner carcass, one European chef told us he prefers the black Bresse as a meat bird.) Blue Bresse also lay an egg lighter in color than the egg laid by their cousins the white Bresse. Greenfire Farms has imported from Europe both the white, black, and blue Bresse varieties, and our birds were obtained from several distinct flocks.

 

[DCchicken]

I have quite a few pullets and their egg color varies from a cream to a medium brown. One thing to keep in mind is that the Bresse that Greenfire imported came from multiple flocks and these are not chickens that are raised for commercial egg laying (with the exception of the black ones). So the egg color is going to vary.

I am actually focusing on leg color and bird size this year with my Bresse flock. I was going to work on egg color next year, but have since decided against that as my customers like the varying shades of cream/tint. Throw in some Cream Legbar eggs and now you have a pastel collection of eggs.