Bresse Chickens

[BCMaraniac]

The Bresse did very well in the heat this summer. They are turning out to be a good Breed for here.

How do they handle the cold? Does anybody know? I live in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee, and while we don't have prolonged cold winter, we usually are in pretty much in the 20's at night but get into the teens and occasionally into single digit temps.

I guess I should have studied that issue. I am concerned about comb frostbite, for starters.

 

[bayocum]

We are in Central California...heat extremes over 110, cold extremes in the mid 20's. Our birds survived both very well. Right now we're having close to 40' swings in temp, mid 80's to mid 40's. It's stressful on all our birds, but we haven't lost any Bresse. We will see how this year goes, but they have proven to be a really great dual-purpose bird. They lay much younger than our heritage breeds, are have a great temperament. The Basque Hens have been a favorite, but as a farm, we don't "hand raise" any of our chickens. We do handle them, but they are raised naturally, on the farm. As a result, every Basque Rooster we've had has been an real pain and aggressive. We know this is not everyone's experience, but we also know that its not just our's either. We have a Bresse rooster right not that is over 10 months old (and huge...a breeder) and he is never aggressive and can easily be picked up right off the ground. Great birds!

 

[BCMaraniac]

We are in Central California...heat extremes over 110, cold extremes in the mid 20's. Our birds survived both very well. Right now we're having close to 40' swings in temp, mid 80's to mid 40's. It's stressful on all our birds, but we haven't lost any Bresse. We will see how this year goes, but they have proven to be a really great dual-purpose bird. They lay much younger than our heritage breeds, are have a great temperament. The Basque Hens have been a favorite, but as a farm, we don't "hand raise" any of our chickens. We do handle them, but they are raised naturally, on the farm. As a result, every Basque Rooster we've had has been an real pain and aggressive. We know this is not everyone's experience, but we also know that its not just our's either. We have a Bresse rooster right not that is over 10 months old (and huge...a breeder) and he is never aggressive and can easily be picked up right off the ground. Great birds!

Thanks. My Bresse have started laying, and eggs are still small, but appear to be getting larger. I don't plan on trying to incubate till next year, but the eggs are fertilized.

The reason I asked about the cold is that we have had temps in the 40's at night, and last night we got down to freezing. This morning and some of the other cool mornings I have noticed that the tips of the roosters' combs have had some darkening/bluish discoloration that goes away as the temperature rises during the day.....thus my concern about frostbite in their combs.

I have a Bresse rooster that is 7 months old, and he has issues with my orange feed bucket. He started coming after it on a couple of occasions, so I whacked him with it, and knocked him backward. He still doesn't like it, and keeps an eye on it, but gives it a pretty wide berth now. I live in Tennessee, so it may be that he is just not a Vols fan!!! LOL

 

[ronott1]

Thanks. My Bresse have started laying, and eggs are still small, but appear to be getting larger. I don't plan on trying to incubate till next year, but the eggs are fertilized.

The reason I asked about the cold is that we have had temps in the 40's at night, and last night we got down to freezing. This morning and some of the other cool mornings I have noticed that the tips of the roosters' combs have had some darkening/bluish discoloration that goes away as the temperature rises during the day.....thus my concern about frostbite in their combs.

I have a Bresse rooster that is 7 months old, and he has issues with my orange feed bucket. He started coming after it on a couple of occasions, so I whacked him with it, and knocked him backward. He still doesn't like it, and keeps an eye on it, but gives it a pretty wide berth now. I live in Tennessee, so it may be that he is just not a Vols fan!!! LOL

The combs are big. temps in the 20s should be ok for them. Make sure there is some ventilation in the coop and at night and that the combs are dry. It seems like cold humid conditions make frost bite worse.

It is funny about orange. I had an SG Dorking that attacked my orange lawn mower. It cracked me up a bunch!

 

[BCMaraniac]

The combs are big. temps in the 20s should be ok for them. Make sure there is some ventilation in the coop and at night and that the combs are dry. It seems like cold humid conditions make frost bite worse.

It is funny about orange. I had an SG Dorking that attacked my orange lawn mower. It cracked me up a bunch!

This may explain the orange thing:

http://mikethechickenvet.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/chicken-vision/

I heard someone say that a chicken's vision is so different from ours that they "hear color". Isn't that the kind of thing they talk about with a trip on LSD???? LOL....seeing sound, hearing color, etc

Dogs see black and white, because they only have rods (receptors on the retina responsible for black and white vision) and they have good night vision. Humans have rods and cones(for color vision) and we have intermediate night vision. Chickens have cones only.....which is why they are essentially blind at night..

 

[sonew123]

Ill let you know about extreme cold Winters and Bresse...I live in the Tundra.!!! Gets to -30 -40 regularly in Winter...heated waterers...warm high protein mash food with the normal feed...lots of bedding..and heaters go on when it gets -20 or colder!

 

[juststruttin]

Ill let you know about extreme cold Winters and Bresse...I live in the Tundra.!!! Gets to -30 -40 regularly in Winter...heated waterers...warm high protein mash food with the normal feed...lots of bedding..and heaters go on when it gets -20 or colder!

Burrr, I just got the chills reading this.

 

[Darkangael]

Hold on while I thaw out after reading that.... I get cold in the 80s sometimes...

 

[sonew123]

Yup!! COLD!!! Im not kidding when I tell you we still have ice and snow at the End of May!!! Its horrible;( I cooked up nice warm rice veggie stews with tons of duck eggs for the coldest mornings for them all...Do you know what a pain that is cooking up 40 ducks eggs and a few pounds of veggies and rice?? Sometimes I do it at night instead of morning but they also get fodder I make for them for extra extra protein on those FREEZING mornings...

 

[BCMaraniac]

It's good to know about their cold tolerance. The discoloration of the tips of those large combs these past few mornings is what had me wondering. It seems that they are going to be a most hearty lot.

How well do they lay in the winter?