06/07/2023
New for 2023!!
Welcome to the Chicken Daddy Hatchery family
American Bresse
The most expensive served meat chicken in the world and considered a French delicacy. The French Bresse has a special gene that allows marbling in the meat thus giving the reputation of being the best tasting chicken breed in the world!
Bresse were created over 500 years ago in Eastern Province of Bresse in Eastern France. Through much hard work from selective breeding, the French were able to create a chicken breed known as "Poulet De Bresse" which would earn this chicken breed a reputation of being the best tasting chicken in the world. Bred to metabolize feed a certain way and possess a certain muscle structure, they produce a meat with distinct, firm and succulent flavor. They are also known to have unusually light bones and thin skin. This breed comes in a variety of colors but the well known variety is the white variety with slate blue legs. All baby chicks hatch with yellow legs and their legs fade to blue as the chicks get older. The adults are known to have large bright red combs and wattles, bright white feathers and deep slate blue legs and feet. This is considered a dual purpose breed due to not only being the best tasting chicken, but due to the hens laying up to 260 large cream colored eggs per year.
The French take this breed very seriously, there is actually only 1 main chicken hatchery in France that is in charge of reproducing the best Bresse breeding stock. They distribute roughly 1.5 million Bresse baby chicks to 3 hatcheries in France that raise them and sell them to hundreds of small local farmers. The French argue that in order to be a French Bresse chicken, it must be raised in France. However, calling our Imported French Bresse chickens American Bresse is simply not their true name. Genetically, we acquired imported stock from France and they are the same exact breed as the French have. For that reason, we are proud to call them French Bresse and give the French all the credit for developing this amazing tasting breed of chicken.
The French Bresse's unique gene that allows marbling directly into their meat is similar to a ribeye steak or Wagyu beef marbling. While american meat breeds like the cornish cross broilers grow fat over the meat, Bresse grow fat marbling in the muscle tissue that adds melt-in-mouth flavor a normal chicken breed simply can't possess. French breeders allow their Bresse to free range at 8 weeks old on pasture foraging on bugs and grass. This allows them lots of daily activity that creates strong muscle structure. At almost 4 months old, French Bresse are then confined in epinettes, (Epinette in France means "Spruce") where they stay in Spruce wood cages and are fed strictly corn and whole fat milk as long as they want for a couple weeks. This unlimited offering of pure high fat diet along with confinement for minimum exercise causes fat to infiltrate the muscle and marbles the meat. After a few weeks of finishing them, they are ready to be processed. Considered as the most expensive chicken in the world for human consumption, French Bresse costs roughly $20usd per lb from local butchers in France and can cost $100-$200 per plate at a high-end French restaurant. French Bresse farmers must carefully follow a specifically prescribed finishing protocol in order to sell their chicken with the label: "Poulet de Bresse" (Chicken from Bresse, France).
Whether you call them French Bresse or American Bresse, you can raise your own gourmet Bresse chickens in French tradition and taste why they are reputed to be the best tasting and most expensive served meat chicken in the world. Order our White Bresse chicks today!
French White Bresse FAQs:
Origin: France
Type: Standard Large Fowl
Size: Large (6-7LBS)
Rarity: Lavender Color is extremely rare
Purpose: Dual Purpose
Colors: White, Blue, Black, Grey
Egg Laying: Excellent (5-6/week, 260/year)
Egg Color: Cream or Tinted
Egg Size: Large
Unique Feature: Marbled Meat
Cold Hardiness: Decent Winter Tolerance
Heat Tolerance: Good Heat tolerance
Docile: Yes
Setter/Broody: No
Personality: Friendly, docile and loves foraging
