Bresse Chickens

[Patsonline]

Bresse will not stand up if you compare them to a hybrid meat bird that is processed at 8 weeks, nor a commercial hybrid production leghorns but neither of these breeds or hybrids are dual purpose. When you compare Bresse to other heritage dual purpose breeds they shine.

I must have misunderstood the posts in this forum, I would never consider comparing a pure bred 'La Bresse Gauloise' Chicken .... with a commercial hybrid, here is me thinking we are talking 'backyard' Ooooops !

 

[piglett]

I would certainly agree with that. I would stick my neck out here and say that ' La Bresse Gauloise' chickens are probably the best Utility fowl around. I am saying this because my pullets usually came into lay at 14 to 16 weeks of age, and killed out at 5lbs at 18 weeks, providing they were fed right. As a hobby breeder i wasn't into the meat side of things, i was however into producing good unrelated birds. I used to advertise my eggs on an Irish website, and endeavoured to send surplus eggs to any breeder that was willing to pay for the best and fastest postage available to me at that time. My original hatching eggs came via Germany they came airmail to me and took four days to arrive i rested them for 24 hours and then started the incubation. From 12 eggs i had five hatch.

5 out of 12 from shipped eggs are great numbers. the last batch of shipped eggs i hatched out i only got 3 out of 12 but they came

2000km & it's the dead of winter here at the moment

mine rested 1 day then i put them in the bator but didn't turn them for 3 more days (next time i'll try 6 days)

now as far as local eggs my cabinet bator just hatched out 7 out of 7 this week

i add eggs every week into my bator on Wed.

& every Sunday i know i have eggs that need to go into the little foam hatcher

i think i'm up to almost 4 dozen birds

looks like i'll need more brooders soon


thanks
piglett

 

[juststruttin]

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[juststruttin]

I must have misunderstood the posts in this forum, I would never consider comparing a pure bred 'La Bresse Gauloise' Chicken .... with a commercial hybrid, here is me thinking we are talking 'backyard' Ooooops !

Nor would I. I was responding to Bossroos comments about wanting a side by side published industry study.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Pat, Just struttin was responding to Boss roo's comment asking to compare the bresse to the commercial king and queen: cornishRock and leghorns. THe post ahead of your comment.

I've spent 2 years looking for truly quality meat birds and they are very hard to find here in the US. ( I mean based on my searching here on BYC--) Lots of good heritage SOP birds available but they still lack the muscling for the most part IMO. I have only found a few lines about 5-6 so far that I would be willing to try and test for myself. Bresse I would definitely try-- it seems that their production traits are still going strong and have not been neglected over the years since the commercial king and queen became popular.


Edited-- haahaa , you beat me to a response Juststruttin-- I left my reponse hanging waiting several hours before hitting submit.

 

[CC Lefty]

On another note, I was recently reading an article in the new Acres magazine (which is dedicated to poultry this month), and one of the authors made the statement that there's really no such thing as a dual-purpose bird. The claim was that it's either a good meat bird, or a good layer, but one bird can't be both. While I understand the author's point, I had to disagree. I have found our White Bresse to be excellent at both. They are great for meat, with excellent size and shape, and they are great layers, starting as early as 20 weeks and regularly providing large eggs. Of all the breeds we've raised, the Bresse seem to be a nearly perfect dual-purpose bird. Would you all agree?

Brice, what about my Reverse Indian Rivers? I'm hurt, man, really hurt

. Maybe this is the wrong thread...

 

[bayocum]

Hey

Brice, what about my Reverse Indian Rivers?  I'm hurt, man, really hurt .  Maybe this is the wrong thread...

Hey brother, I'm very excited about the IRs, but we need to go a couple of generations and see what happens. So far, nice table size and awesome layers.... Time will tell.

 

[Patsonline]

Yes I see that now Juststruttin sorry for the confusion.

 

[Patsonline]

5 out of 12 from shipped eggs are great numbers. the last batch of shipped eggs i hatched out i only got 3 out of 12 but they came

2000km & it's the dead of winter here at the moment

mine rested 1 day then i put them in the bator but didn't turn them for 3 more days (next time i'll try 6 days)

now as far as local eggs my cabinet bator just hatched out 7 out of 7 this week

i add eggs every week into my bator on Wed.

& every Sunday i know i have eggs that need to go into the little foam hatcher

i think i'm up to almost 4 dozen birds

looks like i'll need more brooders soon

Say Piglett, Getting good results from mail order hatching eggs is such a minefield these days! you are sooooo reliant on many factors , For instance, the freshness of the eggs prior to posting, the handling of the eggs in transit and the timescale involved. Really you just cannot beat locally sourced hatching eggs, it sure feels good to get 100% hatch rates, and i have usually only achieved those results from home and locally sourced eggs.
Talking of Brooders.... what type of Broody hens do you use?

 

[juststruttin]

Edited-- haahaa , you beat me to a response Juststruttin-- I left my reponse hanging waiting several hours before hitting submit.

ha ha, I do that all the time. I often leave the BYC page open over night. People must think I stay up all night chatting. LOL