Bresse Chickens

[Arielle]

Quote: Your last statement is one that is regularly mentioned about bresse. Clearly this breed has been well maintained compared to most of the "heritage" birds here in the US. IMO this is a great bird for a beginner to start with. No fooling around with trying to make it into the great bird it once was.

 

[ronott1]

Your last statement is one that is regularly mentioned about bresse. Clearly this breed has been well maintained compared to most of the "heritage" birds here in the US. IMO this is a great bird for a beginner to start with. No fooling around with trying to make it into the great bird it once was.

Yes! A good example is the current discussion about the time it takes a breed to get to a good weight to process. A picture was shown of two 6 month old Heritage cockerels that were processed--I processed two Bresse cockerels that were that size at 4 months.

It made be sad to see that picture and to hear about some of the Standard breeds that lay very few eggs.

It is a great breed for beginners and very sustainable as a Dual purpose breed. You could have just them for both meat and eggs.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Yes, a very good dual purpose breed.

As layers, I know I would forgive them if they layed fewer eggs given they are so meaty. It is a real bonus to lay well and be a nice roaster.

IMO the poor performance I hear about many heritage lines is because of many reasons. Inbreeeding. A small population. HIgh emphasis on the SOP over utility traits. Keepin gup the vigor and the size of the Breese will take dedication. Keeping a number of breeder birds to maintain a high variety of genetics. Like a three pen rotation. Don Schrider is very supportive of this method.

 

[Spifflove]

I just have to sound a counter warning to beginners- Would you rather have that Opossum dine on a 5 dollar bird or a 100 dollar bird? Start with white rocks then trade up to the blue legs.

 

[DCchicken]

I just have to sound a counter warning to beginners- Would you rather have that Opossum dine on a 5 dollar bird or a 100 dollar bird? Start with white rocks then trade up to the blue legs.

Where are you in the country that Bresse cost $100 a bird? Here in Maryland and Virginia, Bresse are selling for $10-$15 a bird. Or you can order directly from GFF for $49 each. For me, the cost of food is the greatest expense when raising chickens. I do think the fact that you can breed the Bresse to create a sustainable flock counteracts the higher cost of each chick.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I'm sure spif can speak for h--self.

I think Spiff is trying to say learn on a cheaper bird, then as management skills develop move on the the better birds. I learned this from Bob Blosl so not a new idea. I've been learning using my hatchery birds, and now I do want a better bird.

 

[DCchicken]

I apologize in advance if anyone thought I was being argumentative. I was just wanting to know if prices of Bresse vary that much around the country. Because if I can get $100 a chick for Bresse in another part of the country, I am loading up the SUV with them and hitting the road.

I do think the biggest issue I see in my flock is that my Bresse eat more than my other breeds even with free-ranging. So the initial cost of each of them as chicks is tiny compared to how much each one scarfs down in food each week. I would rather put expensive feed into a quality bird than a hatchery bird any day.

 

[Arielle]

I apologize in advance if anyone thought I was being argumentative. I was just wanting to know if prices of Bresse vary that much around the country. Because if I can get $100 a chick for Bresse in another part of the country, I am loading up the SUV with them and hitting the road.

I do think the biggest issue I see in my flock is that my Bresse eat more than my other breeds even with free-ranging. So the initial cost of each of them as chicks is tiny compared to how much each one scarfs down in food each week. I would rather put expensive feed into a quality bird than a hatchery bird any day.

At $100/ chick that would pay for a lot of gas.

In reguard to how much any bird eats, I look at what I get back for that expense. If the bird is piling on the muscle, or spitting out eggs daily , I'm good. If I have a heavy foraging bird, I accept the lower egg production or growth rate. To me it is about how much money is spent overall.

Having watched two batches of cornish cross polish off bags of feed like they have a pitless stomach but they grow like every pound of feed is growing muscle, this was an eye opener to experience it personally. THe hatchery birds are crap for meat. Hardly worth my time to butcher-- except that I am from good Yankee stock, and thrift is everything. lol Cornish cross are not self sustaining and too many die for my likes.

A fast growing bird genetically, will be hungry all the time looking for food.

( I know when my kids are in a growth spurt-- they are eating more than usual.)

 

[PetRock]

Last spring, I purchased a young Bresse trio for $100. That was more than I have ever spent on chickens but it was worth the money. The girls are great egg layers and the fertility has been fantastic. My grow out pens are filled with young birds and we will be processing the extra roos in a couple of weeks. My oldest group of pullets is just beginning to lay. I will have plenty of eggs for hatching, etc. this next spring.

 

[ronott1]

I'm sure spif can speak for h--self.

I think Spiff is trying to say learn on a cheaper bird, then as management skills develop move on the the better birds. I learned this from Bob Blosl so not a new idea. I've been learning using my hatchery birds, and now I do want a better bird.

I apologize in advance if anyone thought I was being argumentative. I was just wanting to know if prices of Bresse vary that much around the country. Because if I can get $100 a chick for Bresse in another part of the country, I am loading up the SUV with them and hitting the road.

I do think the biggest issue I see in my flock is that my Bresse eat more than my other breeds even with free-ranging. So the initial cost of each of them as chicks is tiny compared to how much each one scarfs down in food each week. I would rather put expensive feed into a quality bird than a hatchery bird any day.

I find this to be a great discussion. It is good for beginners to understand that chickens die and be willing to lose them in a lot of ways.

To Me, it is a bit elitist to say beginners need to start with low level chickens before getting High Quality chickens. At the same time, it is painful when my special chickens go off to become chicken dinner. That is the way it goes though and I have heard of people going 20 years without a predator loss and then a Bob Cat moves into the area.

We are always learning and things change that we have to adapt too. Predators are increasing because of species being reintroduced that were removed by our ancestors.

There was a lot of excitement when a Gray Wolf move into Northern California from Oregon last winter. It did not stay but it was the first one in the State in half a Century or so. I thought, oh boy, how to you protect the chickens from a Gray Wolf?