Bresse Chickens

[BCMaraniac]

Has anybody read anything about the age that the French caponize their Bresse cockerels? I am pretty sure that I read somewhere that the French caponize their Bresse cockerels at 10 weeks of age. Well, I ended up caponizing a couple yesterday that were 10 weeks old. It wasn't intentional, because I prefer to caponize earlier when the birds are much smaller. I only had 3 cockerels with my 75% pullet hatch, but opted to keep one as a breeder(he weighed 3 1/2 pounds) and caponize the other two. These guys weighed 3 pounds each.....way too big for my liking in terms of caponizing. It seemed that their testicles seemed much farther away than the younger birds, but I don't know if that is because their chest walls are much bigger and therefore further away, or because I fasted them for 36 hours I wouldn't think the fast would be an issue since the testicles are fixed in place. I also caponized Marans which were significantly smaller even though they were the same age, but their testicles were not as deep. . I've got 6 weekers that are definitely going to get caponized in 48-72 hours. Hopefully I won't run into the same issue with the younger birds.

BTW, are these weights pretty normal for this age? These are the first that I have raised from hatch. My breed stock I raised from 2-3 weeks of age, and It seems to me they were smaller at this age.

One last question....how old are your cockerels when they first begin to try to crow? I heard the 10 week old cockerel that I left intact do a kazoo crow yesterday. Maybe he was bragging about the fact that he wasn't going under the knife.

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[n3kms]

I'm learning about the Breese and caponizing. At what age are you able to tell that they are for sure cockerels? I saw a video of a guy in China caponizing and those chicks were not very old, so it can obviously be done young but knowing they're male would be a trick to for me.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I'm learning about the Breese and caponizing. At what age are you able to tell that they are for sure cockerels? I saw a video of a guy in China caponizing and those chicks were not very old, so it can obviously be done young but knowing they're male would be a trick to for me.

Bresse can be sexed early, because they get comb growth very early. The Chinese caponize at 4 weeks, and Bresse are pretty easily sexed at this age.

 

[n3kms]

Quote:
That's nice to know. Another excuse to try to get some next year. Thanks a bunch!

 

[threesons]

Here are a few quick shots of blue bresse pullet, cockerel and splash cockerel. They are still quite young. I'll get more uploaded soon!

 

[cutipatooti]

Got 3 black bresse chicks from greenfire farms today. 2 are solid black, one has a lighter colored middle toe on both feet. A light patch on the chest area light color on the very tips of the wings and light on the abdomen. Could this still be a black bresse or could it be something else?

 

[ronott1]

Got 3 black bresse chicks from greenfire farms today. 2 are solid black, one has a lighter colored middle toe on both feet. A light patch on the chest area light color on the very tips of the wings and light on the abdomen. Could this still be a black bresse or could it be something else?

Black chickens will often have white on them as chicks. Look at Marans and Australorps.

They will likely be all black and the legs will turn blue when the are adults.

 

[Arielle]

I am eagerly awaiting my irst batch of bresse to hatch-- 10 out of 10 eggs are developing. HOping all 10 make it and prove a good start in Bresse.

 

[ronott1]

I am eagerly awaiting my irst batch of bresse to hatch-- 10 out of 10 eggs are developing. HOping all 10 make it and prove a good start in Bresse.

Were they shipped to you?

Who did you get the eggs from?

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Hi Ron, yes they were shipped. Unbeleivable development for shipped eggs. WIll have to think about who I bought them from. It is late here and my brain is almost asleep-- I'll check the BST forum tomorrow to find the seller.