American Bresse eggs!!!

[Coops Dad]

6 months old last week. Look at the size of these guys next to year old RIRs.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

Awesome, just bought 3 american bresse bitties home yseterday, excited to see them grow up. I am hoping for a male and two females but knowing my luck they will all end up male.

 

[Coops Dad]

Just an update of an old thread. The Bresse seem to have a fairly low hatch rate, about 30% success. The duds are either infertile or quit about the 7-10 day mark.

I've had GREAT success with crossing my heritage RIR hens to the Bresse roosters. The offspring are white with a red blush on the back and wings, and are 50/50 for yellow or steel legs. The cockerels are heavy bodies and tall while the hens are heavier than their RIR moms. I've been processing the cockerels at about 16 weeks and they give a pretty uniform carcass of 3 lbs, +/- 3 oz.

It's the best chicken I've ever eaten. The pour-off of the roasting pan is incredibly tasty and about 30% fat. I fry hash browns in the fat and I can't say enough good things about it.

My plans are to cross the steel-legged offspring hens back to the opposite rooster (uncle) for a more conforming appearance, and eat everything with yellow legs.

 

[FunClucks]

Just an update of an old thread. The Bresse seem to have a fairly low hatch rate, about 30% success. The duds are either infertile or quit about the 7-10 day mark.

I've had GREAT success with crossing my heritage RIR hens to the Bresse roosters. The offspring are white with a red blush on the back and wings, and are 50/50 for yellow or steel legs. The cockerels are heavy bodies and tall while the hens are heavier than their RIR moms. I've been processing the cockerels at about 16 weeks and they give a pretty uniform carcass of 3 lbs, +/- 3 oz.

It's the best chicken I've ever eaten. The pour-off of the roasting pan is incredibly tasty and about 30% fat. I fry hash browns in the fat and I can't say enough good things about it.

My plans are to cross the steel-legged offspring hens back to the opposite rooster (uncle) for a more conforming appearance, and eat everything with yellow legs.
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Thank you so much for the update!!! Sounds tasty!!!

 

[Newchickmom2023]

Questions- as I try to figure this out: you eat yellow leg chickens for flavor or because you save the blue for breeding lines? Have you attempted crossing bresse with any other breeds for dual purpose? What is the temperament of the bresse Roos? Some are saying they’re super aggressive. Right now my setup is not ideal for multiple flocks. I have a “temporary pen” for meat chickens to tractor in, a coop and another tractor for my egg layers and Roo- hopefully we get a run built this year, but my space right now For winter is pretty limited, so I kind of only want 1 Roo for everyone. I’ve got a decent Roo right now (doesn’t attack us, but is kind of rough with the ladies). I hate to butcher him if Bresse Roos are mostly jerks

 

[FunClucks]

Questions- as I try to figure this out: you eat yellow leg chickens for flavor or because you save the blue for breeding lines? Have you attempted crossing bresse with any other breeds for dual purpose? What is the temperament of the bresse Roos? Some are saying they’re super aggressive. Right now my setup is not ideal for multiple flocks. I have a “temporary pen” for meat chickens to tractor in, a coop and another tractor for my egg layers and Roo- hopefully we get a run built this year, but my space right now For winter is pretty limited, so I kind of only want 1 Roo for everyone. I’ve got a decent Roo right now (doesn’t attack us, but is kind of rough with the ladies). I hate to butcher him if Bresse Roos are mostly jerks

Hopefully others will answer you about the Breese roos - I've never had them myself, but know that each rooster is an individual. Temperament is largely determined by genetics, but may be influenced some by how they're raised. The ones you're most hands-off with generally behave the best when mature, but there are numerous exceptions. Also, yeah, you breed the blue legs, and eat the yellow, but if you start with good breeding stock there shouldn't be any yellow legs. Because the correct color for their legs is blue, so you want to keep that in your breeding lines.

 

[Coops Dad]

My Bresse roosters are excellent boys, solicitous and attentive to the hens, aloof around people and protective against intruders.

I've culled all the yellow legged birds when they reach 4-5 months old for conformity to the breed and I continue to hatch further generations from pure Bresse hens. Not for any other reason than my goal is a 40-50 member flock of pure Bresse, but we have about 15 other hens of varying pedigrees from ameracauna to RIR. As they age out and end up in the freezer, I replace them with Bresse.

 

[Coops Dad]

Hopefully others will answer you about the Breese roos - I've never had them myself, but know that each rooster is an individual. Temperament is largely determined by genetics, but may be influenced some by how they're raised. The ones you're most hands-off with generally behave the best when mature, but there are numerous exceptions. Also, yeah, you breed the blue legs, and eat the yellow, but if you start with good breeding stock there shouldn't be any yellow legs. Because the correct color for their legs is blue, so you want to keep that in your breeding lines.

I'm very hands off with our chickens.

The yellow legged birds are the offspring of my Bresse roosters breeding with my RIR hens. They make delicious carcasses.

 

[Newchickmom2023]

My Bresse roosters are excellent boys, solicitous and attentive to the hens, aloof around people and protective against intruders.

I've culled all the yellow legged birds when they reach 4-5 months old for conformity to the breed and I continue to hatch further generations from pure Bresse hens. Not for any other reason than my goal is a 40-50 member flock of pure Bresse, but we have about 15 other hens of varying pedigrees from ameracauna to RIR. As they age out and end up in the freezer, I replace them with Bresse.

Question- so what does “aging out” mean to you? A certain age, reduced production, some other factors?? If you’re looking at say a 2-3 yo or older bird, what’s you cooking method for them to be edible? All the “basic beginning “ questions?

 

[Coops Dad]

Usually when production slows. I crockpot them for for shredded chicken, sometimes soup. In the case of my aged out leghorn, I pluck, remove crop, bile gland and intestines, then chop them up as raw food for my dog.