What makes a Bresse chicken different?
The Bresse has a genetic lineage that allows them to metabolize their food in a unique way which helps to create a different flavor as well as meat, and fat, growth pattern. Additionally, the meat-to-bone ratio is vastly different from traditional meat chickens because their bones are quite thin and dainty.
What do you feed a Bresse chicken?
After the chick phase, you should force the Bresse chicken to forage for themselves to find protein sources. This is said to help with the overall taste of the chicken. Once Bresse chickens are moved to pasture, let them forage and then return them to live their last days on a corn and dairy diet.
What does a Bress look like?
She is typically white with blue-colored clean legs and a single comb. However, Bresses may come in blue, splash, grey, and black as well. So What’s The Big Deal?
How much does a French Bresse chicken cost?
The original French Bresse comes at a hefty price. Some consider it the chicken of royalty because it is more expensive than other breeds. An official French Bresse chicken is around $50 or higher per chicken. You can only find a genuine and original Bresse chicken in the France region.
Do Bresse chickens taste good?
The Bresse chicken breed was originated in France. It is said to be the chicken of the Bresse territory and region, which is a former French region. France has coined the Bresse chicken the most delicious and best-tasting chicken to ever exist. This breed of chicken is extraordinary in many ways.
What is special about Bresse chicken?
The Bresse has a genetic lineage that allows them to metabolize their food in a unique way which helps to create a different flavor as well as meat, and fat, growth pattern. Additionally, the meat-to-bone ratio is vastly different from traditional meat chickens because their bones are quite thin and dainty.
What is the best tasting meat for chickens?
The testers reported that corn-fed chickens tasted more strongly of meat broth and were less chewy than the wheat- or sorghum-fed birds.
How much is a Bresse chicken?
Although it is extremely difficult to find a Bresse chicken to buy, it is not impossible. They will cost about $4 per hatching egg, $10 per chick and $30 for a pullet.
Do Bresse chickens lay eggs?
White Bresse Chickens are the worlds most delicious chicken. Bresse are very beautiful birds with white feathers, red combs and blue steel legs. Bresse will lay 250 eggs per year and they have a great disposition. Bresse are heat and cold tolerant and are very easy to care for, making them a great dual purpose bird.
What are Bresse chickens fed?
They are supplemented with planted clover fields, strawberry fields, alfalfa and fresh homegrown sunflowers. After about four months, they are brought back into the chicken barn, where they are fed a diet of fresh, raw, local milk mixed with grains.
At what age should you butcher a chicken?
As a whole, chickens are generally slaughtered between 6 weeks to 3 years old. Farmers can also butcher them at a more advanced age, between 5 and 10 years old, especially for laying hens which has stopped producing. Slaughtering a hen once she stops producing eggs is just a part of raising a flock sometimes.
What breed of chicken has the best tasting eggs?
Here are 10 of the best chicken breeds for producing eggs.Leghorn. Any discussion of the best egg-producing chickens must include the Leghorn. ... Rhode Island Red. ... Plymouth Rock. ... Australorp. ... Red Star. ... Orpington. ... Spanish (White-Faced Black Spanish) ... Sussex.More items...•
Do all chickens taste the same?
Conclusion. It's important for homesteaders and small chicken farmers to realize that chicken breed does indeed make a big difference in flavor and meat texture. It's silly to raise your own meat if it's only going to be as palatable as store-brought.
Can you get Bresse chicken in the USA?
Bresse chickens were first imported from France in 2011 into the United States . All bresse chickens in the U.S. are called American bresse due to import restrictions.
Are Bresse chickens cold hardy?
Bresse are heat and cold tolerant and are very easy to care for, making them a great dual purpose bird. Bresse have been around for over 500 years and originated in France.
How do you say Bresse in French?
0:051:01How To Say Bresse - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipTres fans a tres rounds a tres rounds tres fans a tres rounds.MoreTres fans a tres rounds a tres rounds tres fans a tres rounds.
What is the highest quality chicken in the world?
poulet de BresseToday the poulet de Bresse has the reputation of being the best quality table chicken in the world. The chef Georges Blanc, who is from Bourg-en-Bresse, has been president of the Comité Interprofessionnel de la Volaille de Bresse, the association which oversees the product, since 1986.
Are Bresse chickens cold hardy?
Bresse are heat and cold tolerant and are very easy to care for, making them a great dual purpose bird. Bresse have been around for over 500 years and originated in France.
What's the most expensive chicken?
Have you thought about how expensive a chicken can cost? You will be surprised but the price of the most expensive chicken in the world reaches $5000. This is a fairly rare and expensive breed of chickens in absolutely black color called Ayam Cemani.
What is the most expensive chicken dish in the world?
My taste buds are exploding -- and they should be. Because I'm eating volaille de Bresse, the most expensive chicken in the world, commanding a cool €40 per kilogram ($48) in the butcher shops of Paris.
The Bresse chicken breed overview
The La Bresse Gauloise, or the French chicken, is a 400 year old breed of meat chicken raised only in the Bresse region of Eastern France.
What makes the Bresse so special?
While the Bresse is a special bird, selected for many generations to have the best eating qualities, it is much more than that. Bresse chickens are much older when processed, they grow up for at least four months, free range in the fields full of wild plants, they are fed local grains and produce and drink local fresh water. La Bresse must be given at least 10 square metres of ground each and when they reach 5 months old the are moved to darkened fattening sheds to stop them laying..
Types of Bresse
Poulets (pullets) are fattened for two weeks, and slaughtered at a minimum age of four months and a minimum weight of 1.2 kg.
What do Bresse chickens look like?
All varieties have a single, fairly big comb, hanging on one side at the hen, dark eyes and most important of all- blue legs. In France, this is also the nickname of the breed: “des pattes bleues”.
Bresse Breed images
Below: A Bresse day old chick. You can already see the blue legs coming through.
What does Bresse chicken taste like?
Bresse tastes delicious and is succulent and after being allowed to free range for 4 months and finished on a special diet they are full of traditional flavour. It is served roasted with just a little seasoning and even if portioned should be cooked in it's own skin and on the bone. Having raised and eaten quite a few of my own over the years I can say that the Bresse is the best tasting chicken there is.
Brief history of the Bresse chicken
The Bresse is a 400 year old breed and the first mention of chicken breeding in the Bourg-en-Bresse region dates from November 12, 1591. The breed suffered during the early 1900's and nearly went extinct. Luckily it survived and is now entrenched as the premium meat bird and has been protected under French law since 22nd of December 1936.
Then Came Saturday
In an attempt to out-do Friday, Saturday started with painters arriving at 8am, followed by our immediate departure thereafter for back-to-back, soccer playoff games. Elated and then crestfallen, we made our way back to the farm, just in time to get ready for the family hayride and weenie roast.
Family, Food and the Bresse Flavor
In the end, I will say this: no matter what your day has been like, nothing brings it to a close better than sharing a home-cooked meal with family.

Bresse Background and History
Breed Standard of Bresse Chickens
- The Bresse chicken breed has four varieties. There are white, blue, black, and gray varieties. The most popular and well-known is the white variety. The white variety is said to be the best known because it is representative of the red, white, and blue national flag of France. The Bresse chicken has the following traits: 1. Large bright red comb 2....
Personality and Temperament
- Like other breeds similar to the Bresse breed, the Bresse chicken can have a nervous personality meaning they do not do well in closed in areas. The Bresse chickens breed is extremely social. They are usually seen in large flocks and they like to forage together. Other characteristics of their personality include: 1. The Bresse bird does not like to be handled often. Less human interactio…
Bresse Chicken Egg Laying
- The Bresse chicken is a good egg laying breed. They can usually start laying eggs a month before other egg laying chickens. One of the characteristics that set them apart from other breeds is that they mature early. If the Bresse hen is healthy and well-nourished she can lay about 250 eggs per year. The eggs produced are a cream colored.
Health Issues and Care
- The original Bresse chicken breed does not have any specific health issues that are connected only to its breed. As the breed is now being imported, it is susceptible to the following health issues: 1. Botulism– a disease that can infect chickensby paralyzing their limbs and neck. All breeds of chicken that are domesticated are in danger of getting this disease. Botulism causes …
7 Tips For Raising Bresse Chickens
- As chicks, keep Bresse chickens on a daily diet
- Bresse likes to have open space and pasture to roam. Allow Bresse chicken to roam freely
- As a Breese chicken grows, limit the amount of corn feed
- After the chick phase, you should force the Bresse chicken to forage for themselves to find protein sources. This is said to help with the overall taste of the chicken.
Summary
- The Bresse chicken is a world-renowned breed of chicken. From its early days in the Bresse region in Eastern France, the Bresse chicken has always held a high-quality reputation. In its 500 years of existence, this breed has been marked as the best tasting chicken ever. The quality has been upheld by the expense and detail taken to raise a Bresse chicken. Variations of this breed are ne…