Bresse Chickens

[ronott1]

I do not remember if I posted this video here. It is from my Bresse Hatch.

Notice the color of the egg--not white

 

[BCMaraniac]

The description that I have read is that the Bresse lays a "cream colored" egg, medium in size.....the reference Arielle linked said average weight is 54 grams.....Grade Medium

 

[juststruttin]

We've worked with GF for years, never a question about the quality of their stock. My point is that they do lay a cream egg (as Ron pointed out), not white, and that perhaps some of the strains they've imported may have darker eggs. Not a problem for us. We've seen egg color variation from other Bresse lines, we've actually seen it in all our breeds; variation is natural from hen to hen and over time. Just interesting to come across this shade which is particularly "dark" for our experience. We will see how/if it changes over time.

I am quite happy with the quality of these birds and the egg color. I hatched these chicks from eggs I received and I don't remember the eggs being this dark, but it is likely that I just don't remember or they were lighter because they were laid by older birds farther in they laying cycle.

 

[Arielle]

I'm curious that if the coloring becomes lighter in 6 months, is there a coating like the marans has?? THe marans coating is easily scratched.

I was looking forward to white eggs, but I'm happy with cream too--have lots of speckled sussex and buff orpingtons living here.

 

[tbird9]

Here's the egg I was referring to on top:



Both are from our Bresse pullets. This is the first time I've seen an egg of this color.

We have also seen a few darker eggs laid by pullets. Maybe not quite as dark as this picture, but certainly similar to the ones posted by ronott1 and juststruttin. They fade to the more typical light cream/beige as the birds age.

We have never seen a pure white egg from the White Bresse, always some cream tint. We also have the Black Bresse and their eggs are porcelain white, never any color. It is easy to tell the two apart even when mixed in the same basket.

Since we haven't been hatching for awhile I've been selling eggs from all of our breeds for eating and grade into small(1.5-1.7 oz), medium (1.75-1.95oz), and large (2.0+oz) for that purpose. The White Bresse pullet eggs do start out in the medium range, but most end up being large. I would say that 2.0 - 2.25oz is their normal range. The Black Bresse eggs are noticeably larger and thier pullet eggs start out at the high end of medium and get to be large or extra large, I would say 2.2 - 2.4 oz is their normal range.

 

[ronott1]

I'm curious that if the coloring becomes lighter in 6 months, is there a coating like the marans has?? THe marans coating is easily scratched.

I was looking forward to white eggs, but I'm happy with cream too--have lots of speckled sussex and buff orpingtons living here.

Yes, it is coated. There is only a white shell or a blue shell. That is why I said they lay brown eggs, because the coating is always a shade of brown.

All chickens work this way. Marans apply more of it and the pigment is darker which is why it can be removed easier.

Cream colored egg means that they get a coating and at least the White Bresse are not white egg layers. They do have a white shell as opposed to Ameraucanas and etc. that have a blue shell

Bye the way, all green eggs are green because of the brown coating. Lime green has a light pigment of brown. The shell is blue covered with brown. Look at a color wheel and you will see that brown mixed with blue makes green.

 

[Arielle]

I haven't seen enough information on the development of each of the bresse varieties , just descriptions of the differet varieties,

THey remind me of the chantecle: each of the original 2 varieties was devleoped independently using different stock so the white and the red are unrelated in their devleopment. Perhaps the black and the white bresse is the same. THe above article mentions the whites were derived from the grays, but I didn't see, or perhaps I missed it in the lengthy article, that the blacks were derived from the grays. Looks like a mediteranian breed was used in the development of the blacks to get the white eggs. Perhaps leghorn given the color and size.

 

[tbird9]

I'm curious that if the coloring becomes lighter in 6 months, is there a coating like the marans has?? THe marans coating is easily scratched.

I would not call it a coating. We have marans, too, so I know how easily scratched their color is. I actually caught a White Bresse pullet mid-lay yesterday. She wasn't in a nest, just standing on a wooden block next to the waterer so I couldn't figure out why she was standing/straining in such a funny position, then it hit me and I reached down and caught the egg before it cracked on the block, so still wet in my hands and it didn't smear, but it was also the normal light beige color.

 

[ronott1]

I haven't seen enough information on the development of each of the bresse varieties , just descriptions of the differet varieties,

THey remind me of the chantecle: each of the original 2 varieties was devleoped independently using different stock so the white and the red are unrelated in their devleopment. Perhaps the black and the white bresse is the same. THe above article mentions the whites were derived from the grays, but I didn't see, or perhaps I missed it in the lengthy article, that the blacks were derived from the grays. Looks like a mediteranian breed was used in the development of the blacks to get the white eggs. Perhaps leghorn given the color and size.

That is a great point. The Brown coating gene is dominant so crossing with a brown layer removes white eggs quickly. It would be hard to get white back--getting rid of dominants and only keeping recessives is very hard to do. You would also be limiting the gene pool.

As a caution, it would probably be a bad idea to cull for egg color with Bresse.

 

[tbird9]

Yes, it is coated. There is only a white shell or a blue shell. That is why I said they lay brown eggs, because the coating is always a shade of brown.

All chickens work this way. Marans apply more of it and the pigment is darker which is why it can be removed easier.

Cream colored egg means that they get a coating and at least the White Bresse are not white egg layers. They do have a white shell as opposed to Ameraucanas and etc. that have a blue shell

Bye the way, all green eggs are green because of the brown coating. Lime green has a light pigment of brown. The shell is blue covered with brown. Look at a color wheel and you will see that brown mixed with blue makes green.

pardon me, I'm sure they are technically coated, but it is certainly not a thick coating that easy to mar, as with the super-smeary marans.