Bresse Chickens

[Regin]

I have 9 white Bresse 5 weeks old. This one has made herself into a pet.

 

[KristyAnn]

FYI: rabbits do not come into heat.  ;>}

I guess she's just lesbian.

 

[Odelia]

I have 9 white Bresse 5 weeks old. This one has made herself into a pet.

I hope my turn out to be as social.

 

[Regin]

Quote:
She is the only one out of the nine that wants to be picked up. The others you can touch, but they don't like being picked up.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I have 9 white Bresse 5 weeks old. This one has made herself into a pet.

I have a mixed hatch that is 3 1/2 weeks old: 13 Bresse and 9 Marans. The Bresse are much more social towards me than the Marans. The Bresse come to be petted, jump up into my hand, and protest very little when being picked up, if at all.....and are significantly bigger than Marans already.

My breed stock that I purchased as 2 week old chicks last year were not this social, and they still are not. They are not flightly, though. And the roosters is quite protective, so he tends to get between me and the hens.

I roasted a 11 1/2 month old Bresse capon a couple of days ago, and it was incredible! It was smooth, almost velvety in texture, juicy and oh so tender. I am really glad to be raising these birds for meat. I didn't finish it out other than it being penned and feeding it a little scratch along with the usual layer rations. He was supposed to have been butchered much earlier, and wasn't terribly big, weighing in at 4 1/2 pounds dressed with a big belly full of fat for making schmaltz.

The Bresse I am raising this year will be pasture raised, which I was unable to do last year, so they may end up being bigger.

 

[racinchickins]

Quote: I'm considering caponizing some bresse this year. Did you find it difficult? There are actually several people in my area that would like to learn how to do it. Where did you learn how?

 

[BCMaraniac]

I'm considering caponizing some bresse this year. Did you find it difficult? There are actually several people in my area that would like to learn how to do it. Where did you learn how?

I am self taught

. I read everything I could, and then bit the bullet and tried it. It isn't difficult once you get past the shaky hands and sweaty palms. I lost my first bird because I nicked the vena cava, but none since. Death was rapid. I started to quit right then, but I kept trying. I had some mixed birds from my layer flock that I caponized initially, but I was afraid to try the Bresse until I did the others because the Bresse chicks were pricey and I didn't want any of them to die. That meant they ended up being 13 weeks old....the oldest of all of the ones that I caponized. Three out of 4 were slips, but even the slips are better than the full roosters. I am going to caponize these much earlier, probably by 5 weeks of age, since they are growing so quickly. Bresse cockerels generally declare themselves early as those large combs start growing early.

There is a learning curve, and you just have to keep trying. Just accept the fact that there are failures.....and take your time when you do it. If you have a fatality, then take the opportunity to learn from it. Open the abdominal cavity, rinse out the blood, learn the anatomy and continue the caponization in the dead bird. My thoughts were if I didn't get both testicles, or if there was bleeding and I had to quit, as long as they survived, I still was going to have a bird to butcher when it got older. I had many slips, and not a lot of capons. I butchered the slips when I realized it, and still had birds in the 4 pound range that were tender enough to roast. My biggest full capon weighs 10 1/2 pounds, and I am going to butcher him soon. He's a Marans/Orpington cross and takes his size from the Orpington rooster. I am betting the Bresse is going to taste much better, even though this will give me a much larger bird.

I don't know how to go about finding a mentor other than posting on BYC to see if there is someone in your area. If you were in my neck of the woods, I would be happy to help you.

I am going to use the Chinese set of tools this year, which I think will improve my success rate. My DH made me a caponizing table with an old tripod so being able to adjust the table helps too.....there is a picture in my photos if you want to look.

 

[racinchickins]

Quote: Excellent information. Thank you very much.

 

[LindaB220]

I'm considering caponizing some bresse this year. Did you find it difficult? There are actually several people in my area that would like to learn how to do it. Where did you learn how?

Check out the thread by Kassaundra. Graphic Pics of my day of learning to caponize. They have evolved with better tools and a really good set of pics on page 109. Poco Rolo is the expert and gives workshops but I'm having to do it by pics. I did buy the good set of tools from her from China. I would start reading the thread at 90 or p 100 and go forth. Fabulous thread.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Has anybody kept track of their Bresse chicks in terms of weights?

I have Bresse and Marans from the same hatch that are 4 weeks old this weekend....with the exception of two of the Marans, so those don't count. There are obvious size differences so I decided to weigh them:




I weighed the Bresse, and they ranged in size from 13-15.1 ounces, and one of the larger Marans chicks weighed 9.2 ounces. That is quite a difference!