Bresse Chickens

[chiqita]

Now that is something to consider? They are first gen chicks directly from GFF. I wouldn't think they would have gotten that far into line breeding though??

I can be wrong here ( perhaps our irish friend can enlighten us) even pre gff you are working from a limited gene pool. Its illegal to take them out of france And there are from a small batch of smuggled chickens yes? So not a lot of debth there.

Im sure someone will correct me if I am citing urban legend.

 

[EllyHood]

We're about to do our first batch of meat chickens and I am very intrigued by the idea of raising Bresse for sustainability as opposed to the cornishX. We're doing 10 cornishX in a Salatin style pen. Would the Bresse work in a Salatin style pen, at least until they're sexable? Or since they take longer to reach harvest weight would the pen be too constrictive? I love the idea of raising batches of Bresse and keeping pullets as layers, a couple roos for breeders, and the excess cockerels for dinner. Would it work to pasture them till ~10-12 weeks and then finish the cockerels off with fermented feed, sprouted barley, and milk/whey? I have visions of an "eggmobile" Bresse breeding group to supply my own chicks...

(sorry if this noob is asking stupid questions. We have 6 happy, healthy layers ATM but haven't experienced hatching eggs or raising broilers yet)

 

[DCchicken]

We're about to do our first batch of meat chickens and I am very intrigued by the idea of raising Bresse for sustainability as opposed to the cornishX. We're doing 10 cornishX in a Salatin style pen. Would the Bresse work in a Salatin style pen, at least until they're sexable? Or since they take longer to reach harvest weight would the pen be too constrictive? I love the idea of raising batches of Bresse and keeping pullets as layers, a couple roos for breeders, and the excess cockerels for dinner. Would it work to pasture them till ~10-12 weeks and then finish the cockerels off with fermented feed, sprouted barley, and milk/whey? I have visions of an "eggmobile" Bresse breeding group to supply my own chicks...

(sorry if this noob is asking stupid questions. We have 6 happy, healthy layers ATM but haven't experienced hatching eggs or raising broilers yet)

You can put them in a pen but keep in mind this breed loves to free-range. So they may not be happy in confinement. I keep mine in a stationary coop with about a 1 acre of woods and they are very happy. And yes they make great layers. Out of my 15+ breeds, they were the first to start laying. I have like 40 Bresse eggs in the incubator right now and I could probably fill another incubator of them in a few days. I cannot say the same for my Marans. They give me an egg whenever they feel like it.

 

[sarahannecloud9]

Thanks Chiquita!!

 

[DeltaBluezTess]

I am thinking of doing a Bresse x Sulmtaler cross...has anyone done this? it's because I don't have many Bresse and want to add more meat type birds.

 

[BCMaraniac]

@DeltaBluezTess , I am planning on a Bresse/Marans cross for meat birds. I don't have many Bresse either.

 

[chiqita]

@DeltaBluezTess
, I am planning on a Bresse/Marans cross for meat birds.  I don't have many Bresse either.

Imo this bird was slower to grow and not as tasty as an all breese.
But marans are My second favorite eating bird.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

You can put them in a pen but keep in mind this breed loves to free-range. So they may not be happy in confinement. I keep mine in a stationary coop with about a 1 acre of woods and they are very happy. And yes they make great layers. Out of my 15+ breeds, they were the first to start laying. I have like 40 Bresse eggs in the incubator right now and I could probably fill another incubator of them in a few days. I cannot say the same for my Marans. They give me an egg whenever they feel like it.

Mine have thrived since I moved them to there new coop and pen, they don't have an acre more like a 1/3 of an acre but they are doing so much better. We are still waiting on eggs but hopefully soon. I feed mine Flockraiser form Purina it seems to do well with the birds.

 

[Phoenixwmn]

THANK YOU for posting this !! I just got an email from the breeder telling me my Bresse chicks are hatched and are doing fine. I was very curious what they look like early on and your photo shows me ! It was so lovely of you to post these.

 

[Phoenixwmn]

It's your entirely your business what you do with your chickens, of course, but you must know it is not advised to taint the bloodline of these very special appellation chickens by cross-breeding them out of breed, which is one of the reasons the French wouldn't allow us to import them to begin with, as I understand it. I believe it was GreenFire Farms who first imported them to the U.S. and went to a great deal of trouble and expense to do so. I'm brand new here and have zero desire to offend anyone, just saying it'd be a terrible shame to destroy the 500 year old super-pure bloodline of these incredibly special and highly sought-after chickens.

These birds are considered the Kobe Beef of chickens. They require special feeding techniques and if you're raising for meat, their feed must be changed around 4 months for hens and 8 months for capons, and dairy products and grains given; plus their foraging and activity is greatly restricted until butchering time. Articles I've seen say this breed metabolizes their feed differently than other chickens, which has a lot to do with the flavor of their meat. Their meat is highly marbled like steak is, superbly juicy and tender meat unlike any other, from all reports. I haven't been fortunate enough to eat one yet although I've read many articles on them. In Paris butcher shops, a Poulet de Bresse capon goes for upwards of $100 each, they leave their blue legs on to prove they are indeed the prized Poulet de Bresse. Legendary French Chef Brillat-Savarin even wrote about them specifically as being the "Queen of Chickens and the chicken of Kings".

Here's a link for you to GreenFire Farms talking about the Bresse:

http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/american-bresse/

Again, not looking to be offensive to anyone, just trying to engender the deep respect & consideration for maintaining the breed purity it clearly deserves.