We just did our first batch of American Bresse this morning. We hope to be able to use them as a dual-purpose bird going forward. I'll be parting them out this afternoon and freezing tomorrow and will let you know how we like the taste and weights. We'll probably do 20 or so Cornish Cross this summer to get us through until the Bresse get laying good. We have the same plucker and haven't had an issue...yet.
@tillmanfamilyfarm7759 we processed 10 roosters and just fried one up tonight. Excellent flavor and texture and better than Cornish cross, IMO. They seem very leggy, with the drumstick being at least 1" longer than "normal." Weights were in the 4.5# range, which is exactly what I wanted to see. The big drawback, of course, is that it takes 16 weeks to harvest, but they can free-range rather than being in the tractors. We hope they do a good job as layers, but that will be a few weeks out. If I do the Cornish again, I will harvest around 6 weeks and try to have 5# be my biggest birds. I really didn't like the 6#+ birds. They reminded me of Walmart chickens. Huge but tough. Once we get some solid egg production, I'll be glad to get you a few dozen hatching eggs if you want to try them. These came from North Star Farms in NC. Pricey birds, but, so far, at least, they have lived up to their billing.
I rent out pluckers for fun. My yardbirds are always breaking down. Once they need new fingers, I am going to sell them cheap and buy more super handy pluckers. I have one super handy plucker that is beat to death. I am going to refinger because it is so reliable. The design of the yardbird makes the motor/ gearbox hold water. It's not worth refingering.
It's time to do ours as well I thought it was gonna be more challenging than that You made it look easy.
Wasn’t near as bad as I thought it would be! Hope y’all are doing well!
I was thinking the same thing...all those years of plucking by hand, I never knew these existed! Very cool!❤
They are great for a homesteader!! Thanks for watching!
We just did our first batch of American Bresse this morning. We hope to be able to use them as a dual-purpose bird going forward. I'll be parting them out this afternoon and freezing tomorrow and will let you know how we like the taste and weights. We'll probably do 20 or so Cornish Cross this summer to get us through until the Bresse get laying good.
We have the same plucker and haven't had an issue...yet.
Very interested to hear about that. Were they good and meaty?
@tillmanfamilyfarm7759 we processed 10 roosters and just fried one up tonight. Excellent flavor and texture and better than Cornish cross, IMO.
They seem very leggy, with the drumstick being at least 1" longer than "normal."
Weights were in the 4.5# range, which is exactly what I wanted to see.
The big drawback, of course, is that it takes 16 weeks to harvest, but they can free-range rather than being in the tractors. We hope they do a good job as layers, but that will be a few weeks out.
If I do the Cornish again, I will harvest around 6 weeks and try to have 5# be my biggest birds. I really didn't like the 6#+ birds. They reminded me of Walmart chickens. Huge but tough.
Once we get some solid egg production, I'll be glad to get you a few dozen hatching eggs if you want to try them. These came from North Star Farms in NC. Pricey birds, but, so far, at least, they have lived up to their billing.
I rent out pluckers for fun. My yardbirds are always breaking down. Once they need new fingers, I am going to sell them cheap and buy more super handy pluckers. I have one super handy plucker that is beat to death. I am going to refinger because it is so reliable. The design of the yardbird makes the motor/ gearbox hold water. It's not worth refingering.
Nice job Chris, how do those work with ducks and turkeys? Take care and hope you have a blessed rest of the week my friend.
Same to you Tony!