Quieter meat birds?

[ArcticBark]

I butched my Bresse breeding rooster yesterday because he keep crowing every 5-10 minutes. It is a hard decision, but has no choice because he just too loud.

I may end up having to do the same. Keep my hen and try to breed her with a quieter breed.

 

[speedy2020]

My Bresse rooster is annoyingly loud. I use a inch and a half velcro. I wrap a 7 inch strip around a one inch pvc coupling and mark it with white out. I use the line as a guide, the velcro is slightly past the line, its tight. This interrupts his crow, so its muffled.

I plan on crossing my Bresse rooster with a standard cornish. The person selling the white cornish eggs on ebay pointed out that his roosters hardly crow. I hoping to get white pea comb chickens with blue legs.

I still waiting on the eggs, but I already have two dark cornish rooster chicks that I will experiment on first.

The Bresse chickens mature faster than Plymouth rocks, so I may be able to produce some hybrid meat chickens.

I currently have 10 eggs from my White Bresse rooster crossed with my black Jersey Giant hen in my incubator. I just candled them, they 100% fertile.

I did the velcro on the Bresse rooster, but no success. I did cross Ixworth x Bresse last year in hope better carcass and quieter breed. Unfortunately, the result end up very disappointed. The cross turn out smaller and the rooster and hens aren't quieter. I made the cross because can't find standard white Cornish locally. I got free dozen 5 weeks old CornishX yesterday and hopefully can be cross with Breese for better growth rate and quietness. I love the taste and size of White Bresse, but can't stand the noise.

 

[ArcticBark]

I did the velcro on the Bresse rooster, but no success. I did cross Ixworth x Bresse last year in hope better carcass and quieter breed. Unfortunately, the result end up very disappointed. The cross turn out smaller and the rooster and hens aren't quieter. I made the cross because can't find standard white Cornish locally. I got free dozen 5 weeks old CornishX yesterday and hopefully can be cross with Breese for better growth rate and quietness. I love the taste and size of White Bresse, but can't stand the noise.

It would be great if you could post an update down the line—I know it’ll be a while.

I now understand why the French caponise them. I just don’t have the heart, the guts or the skills.

 

[Aquira]

Have you considered quail? They're not very loud, mature quickly, easy to dispatch. Granted, they're on the small side, but you could also just have more of them to make up for it.

 

[CNJ]

I did the velcro on the Bresse rooster, but no success. I did cross Ixworth x Bresse last year in hope better carcass and quieter breed. Unfortunately, the result end up very disappointed. The cross turn out smaller and the rooster and hens aren't quieter. I made the cross because can't find standard white Cornish locally. I got free dozen 5 weeks old CornishX yesterday and hopefully can be cross with Breese for better growth rate and quietness. I love the taste and size of White Bresse, but can't stand the noise.

I have a few Cornish X Roaster chicks from Mcmurray, I am going to try and get them to maturity and cross them with my Bresse, so far the chicks acting like regular chickens. I have white Plymouth Rock chicks together with them and its hard to tell them apart. I started with a total of 10 roasters and 5 white rocks, but they were dropping like flies. I ended up with 8 yellow chicks, but can't tell if they are roasters or white rocks. At least I will get at least 3 cornish roasters to breed. I don't know why so many died after I got them from the post office.

I placed an order for 15 jumbo cornish x for June, this time I only vaccinate for Maersk desease. They only sell medicated crumble where I live, so I did not vaccinate for that. I thinking they got over dosed with the medicated crumble.

 

[ArcticBark]

Have you considered quail? They're not very loud, mature quickly, easy to dispatch. Granted, they're on the small side, but you could also just have more of them to make up for it.

Never—not before today that is! Thing is, i find the taste of Bresse great and quite unique, so i was hoping to keep that. But I’ll read up on quail. Don’t know why i’ve never thought of them. (Must be the size, as i’d love to have ostriches one day lol)

 

[Aquira]

Never—not before today that is! Thing is, i find the taste of Bresse great and quite unique, so i was hoping to keep that. But I’ll read up on quail. Don’t know why i’ve never thought of them. (Must be the size, as i’d love to have ostriches one day lol)

I've never had the pleasure of trying Bresse so I can't compare, but I do find quail tasty haha. Their eggs are cute too. For meat, I'd suggest coturnix quail. Probably even go with the jumbo variety of those. They mature in about 6-8 weeks.
Haha, I hear ya. I dream of the day I can have emu XD

 

[CNJ]

My Bresse rooster pushed me over the edge this morning, I made his 1 1/2 inch velcro collar tighter and added another small piece to the cover the front, so its thicker in the front. I can barely hear his crow, I may be on to something with the extra piece, I hope he doesn't die. I will make it an 1/8 looser, tonight. I can't catch him until he sleeps.

 

[Ascholten]

I heard storing your birds under water quiets them down too.

If he's not choking and can still eat etc then everything should be fine with the tighter collar. Im sure you could tell if he was in any distress.

Aaron

 

[CNJ]

Has anyone bred for a quieter rooster?

I’m considering giving up on our Bresse table flock because of the crowing. Their crow is eardrum-ripping AND the first ones begin at 5-6 weeks, meaning an unbearable 10 weeks.

It must be possible since I have read about people breeding for louder and longer crowing.

I know one option would be to breed the later-maturing males, but I’m particularly curious about the quality of the voice. I’ve also considered Bresse x Orpington or Brahma for the table.

Any experiences?

I have a one month old male chick from a Lemon Cuckoo Orpington and white Bresse cross. I can feather sex them with this cross, the females have long wing feathers and the male look kind of bald, his feathers were slower growing. Also, the white on my Bresse rooster was dominant, all the chicks were white with blue legs. I can use this cross to cull males. I also, have Black Australorp/White Bresse chick crosses that are white.