Bresse Chickens

[cppeace]

For sure. There are at least 3 lines in the US now. So we shall see.

 

[tbird9]

Nope, not my jam. I still haven't seen anyone post solid side-by-side taste tests with other dual purpose breeds or Cornish X, nor have I seen any carcass pictures or weights verified. I'm sticking with my Barred Rocks and may do some Cornish X here and there. The Bresse don't interest me nearly enough to build more pens and coops in order to keep them.

I did a side by side with Bresse, pastured Cornish and supermarket chicken:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=915127698637632&id=669588303191574

 

[Mosey2003]

I did a side by side with Bresse, pastured Cornish and supermarket chicken:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=915127698637632&id=669588303191574

Thank you for doing that! Exactly what I suspected. Not being that into dark meat, I'll avoid the Bresse.

 

[Newyorkrita]

Personally I love the dark meat. I can see myself really liking those Bresse.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I also have concerns about the genetic diversity (or lack thereof) of American Bresse. I originally purchased Bresse hatching eggs from GFF lines and had a mediocre hatch. Ok, I'll give the benefit of the doubt because they were shipped. When I grew the chicks out (and there were a couple of crooked toes on cockerels), I tried to hatch their eggs with poor results, even though they were fertile. The second time I set eggs, not a single one hatched. After that, I only crossed Bresse with other breeds and had, as expected, high hatch rates (and no crooked toes).

I'll grant that maybe the breeder I got my eggs from had issues with his stock, but I hope the gene pool has deepened since then.

 

[cactusrota]

I also have concerns about the genetic diversity (or lack thereof) of American Bresse. I originally purchased Bresse hatching eggs from GFF lines and had a mediocre hatch. Ok, I'll give the benefit of the doubt because they were shipped. When I grew the chicks out (and there were a couple of crooked toes on cockerels), I tried to hatch their eggs with poor results, even though they were fertile. The second time I set eggs, not a single one hatched. After that, I only crossed Bresse with other breeds and had, as expected, high hatch rates (and no crooked toes).

I'll grant that maybe the breeder I got my eggs from had issues with his stock, but I hope the gene pool has deepened since then.

There's a guy in the fb Bresse group that has an awesome reputation for breeding a large healthy line. Keith Loeffler . Keith has the first line that GFF imported then lost most of due to a flood or hurricane or something years ago. There's also a place in Florida, Bresse Farm (not to be confused with Bresse Farms) that has a good reputation too.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

There's a guy in the fb Bresse group that has an awesome reputation for breeding a large healthy line. Keith Loeffler . Keith has the first line that GFF imported then lost most of due to a flood or hurricane or something years ago. There's also a place in Florida, Bresse Farm (not to be confused with Bresse Farms) that has a good reputation too.

Appreciate the info! It's definitely a breed worth trying again.

 

[tbird9]

I also have concerns about the genetic diversity (or lack thereof) of American Bresse. I originally purchased Bresse hatching eggs from GFF lines and had a mediocre hatch. Ok, I'll give the benefit of the doubt because they were shipped. When I grew the chicks out (and there were a couple of crooked toes on cockerels), I tried to hatch their eggs with poor results, even though they were fertile. The second time I set eggs, not a single one hatched. After that, I only crossed Bresse with other breeds and had, as expected, high hatch rates (and no crooked toes).

I'll grant that maybe the breeder I got my eggs from had issues with his stock, but I hope the gene pool has deepened since then.

What I have heard (on good authority) is that shortly after GF released their first import they lost the entire flock to a predator attack. They have been able to import again, but those are the lines that people have reported the most problems with. Most people who have them now have the later imports or a mix of the three. I am one of the lucky ones who got the first import and never introduced any of the subsequent lines into my flock. I have not kept up with all the reported issues, as I am happy with what I have and did not plan on getting into the hatching eggs/day-old chicks game.

Since I learned that I may be one of the few people in the country with a “pure” flock of the first import I have gone to the trouble of getting NPIP certified and hope to be able to help in getting those genetics back out to people.

 

[Chicken7777]

There's a guy in the fb Bresse group that has an awesome reputation for breeding a large healthy line. Keith Loeffler . Keith has the first line that GFF imported then lost most of due to a flood or hurricane or something years ago. There's also a place in Florida, Bresse Farm (not to be confused with Bresse Farms) that has a good reputation too.

I am looking for some Bresse fertile eggs to incubate to bring in some new lines to my existing Bresse that I purchased from GFF's in August 2017. Does anyone have the first imports or have been working on the Bresse that would be interested in selling some fertile eggs to incubate?

@cactusrota, do you have Keith's direct method of contacting, the link you posted for FB does not work.

Thank you!

 

[cactusrota]

I am looking for some Bresse fertile eggs to incubate to bring in some new lines to my existing Bresse that I purchased from GFF's in August 2017. Does anyone have the first imports or have been working on the Bresse that would be interested in selling some fertile eggs to incubate?

@cactusrota, do you have Keith's direct method of contacting, the link you posted for FB does not work.

Thank you!

That's the profile I was pm'ing with just a couple months ago... Not sure, maybe he got banned for selling animals on fb, since they're cracking down on that.... Too bad.