The Pita Pinta Asturiana

[PetRock]

We usually process the boys at around 20 weeks. At that age, they don’t have much fat. The older hens have some fat build up but the fat makes excellent broth!

 

[Pensmaster]

Both these roosters are being replace by their sons. So they are a little older. Bresse are designed to have their fat develop through out their body. Curious to see if that’s the case with the older ones. Wife cant tolerate to much fat so I’m hopeful the Bresse are better.

 

[PetRock]

We raised Bresse at a friend’s farm for around 3 years. Unfortunately, our rooster was super aggressive and the hens were flighty. Some even flew the coop and escaped to the neighbor’s farm! The chicks were so sweet but every single cockerel we kept turned nasty like the father. Both Langshan and Pita Pinta have excellent flavored meat that we preferred over the Bresse so we stopped breeding Bresse.

 

[ronott1]

The Bielefelders are very fatty. I’m going to butcher one of the Bresse roosters, same age as the one Bielefelders I did today, just for comparison. I’m thinking I’m not keeping the Bielefelders , too much feed and I don’t need fat but meat.

How’s the Pita Pintas when it comes to excess fat.

The boys get big fast and the girls are a nice size but not too big.

They taste very good! and are good dual purpose birds

 

[ronott1]

We raised Bresse at a friend’s farm for around 3 years. Unfortunately, our rooster was super aggressive and the hens were flighty. Some even flew the coop and escaped to the neighbor’s farm! The chicks were so sweet but every single cockerel we kept turned nasty like the father. Both Langshan and Pita Pinta have excellent flavored meat that we preferred over the Bresse so we stopped breeding Bresse.

I had the same experience with the bress being flighty. They liked to get up on the shade cover! It is surprising for such heavy birds too.

They eat a lot of feed too

 

[Pensmaster]

Good to know. The Bresse rooster I’m getting ready to butcher is also mean. Since the coop is enclosed due to hawks and coyotes they can’t fly out. The last bunch of Bresse I had a few years back weren’t very sustainable. Died when getting into their 2nd year. They do hatch quite well though.
The Bielefelders are supposed to be a gentle rooster group as well. Not my experience.
Really looking forward to raising the Pita Pintas.

 

[PetRock]

I learned a lot having that nasty rooster. I won’t keep a mean rooster no matter how true to breed that he is. I don’t want to be afraid to turn my back or to pick up a hen. My Langshan are huge birds but not aggressive at all. My Pita Pinta rooster Julio is not quite as friendly but has never shown any aggression towards people. My top rooster, a blue Langshan, passed away several months ago and Julio took over his place. He keeps the other 5 roosters in place! I have 11 Pita Pinta cockerels that Hatched last fall. I am going to keep 2 of them and give 2 more of them to a friend. The biggest one with the best body has some brassy hackle feathers and he is headed for freezer
camp . I haven’t had brassy feathers since the first Pita Pinta that I hatched. It must be a recessive trait that popped up.

 

[Pensmaster]

Is your line from Greenfire farms. Too bad about the brass. One of the roosters is already showing good size.

 

[PetRock]

My line came from someone who brought them over from Spain 8-9 years ago. (Ron, do you remember the exact year? I would need to go back in my records to get the info.)

 

[Pensmaster]

So the Greenfire line should be different.