Finishing Feed Recipe for 12 week old American Bresse - 4 week finishing

For this blend recipe we're keeping 1/3rd of it as their regular 20% grower feed. They have growth to keep going!
The birds receiving this diet are 12 weeks old and will be processed at 16 weeks.
The goal is 1/4 lb minimum per day, per bird. Each 1 cup is just under 1/4 lb. Each 1qt jar will feed 3 birds, per day. If they want more, by all means, give them more.
Into each 1qt Mason jar:
1 cup Cracked Corn
1 cup Wheat Berries
1 cup regular feed
The day before feeding, add 1 cup milk. Can be substituted with dry milk/water.
Since I'm pre filling jars, I just need to remember to bring the milk out, add to 1 jar, feed the jar that's ready and bring the empty jar and remaining milk back to the house. Or keep it all in the house and take out the jar that's ready. Might try that way for efficiency.
#finishingbresse #poultryfinishingfeed

[@folsterfarms]

I'm going to be following this series closely! I have ordered Bresse eggs from other farms three times now, and have had TERIBLE hatch rates, so my chicks that did hatch are very important to keep alive. Looking forward to actually getting some to finish out and eat. (I think the post office has been pretty rough with them, because our home grown eggs hatch at 97%) I've been learning SO MUCH from you - thank you for your relevant topics and detailed information!

[@arcadianorchard]

Were they all shipped over Winter? When the weather is decent a good hatch rate on shipped eggs is 50%. Too hot or too cold can be just as problematic as rough handling. There's so many variables that can affect the eggs, it's a gamble in every box! Back when I was a shipped egg junkie and received them from all over, I saw everything from 0%-100% with it mostly being about that 50% hatch rate. The higher percentages seemed to come from folks who had a lot of experience and fed their birds in a way that made super strong eggs. A runny white won't ship well, the yolk can get scrambled without good support. Thin shells break easy. Loose membranes or old eggs with large airsacs end up with bubbles/saddles or shifted air sacs. I always let shipped eggs rest for 24 hours, then I candled to check what the airsac was doing, then set the first week without turning and incubated them upright.

[@KittyMama61]

I used sweet feed as a part of my rabbit finishing feed, good idea...They like it and they grow off faster and gain more weight, unsurprisingly (like us, lol). I did prove this with one of my college papers.

[@hatchingathome]

I love your videos!! Thank you for helping us newbies get started! ~Linda

[@TulipAcres]

Thanks for sharing! I need to go and watch all your AB videos now. I’ve got some coming after the last frost.

[@Norefils]

Awesome as always. Thank you!

[@larag4646]

Girl, get you a concrete mixer paddle for a drill and mix all that up in a big bucket. Thanks for sharing info about American Bresse. I'm terribly interested in these birds when I'm ready to raise meat birds.

[@arcadianorchard]

Haha, yes, that would help a lot! I wasn't feeding enough birds at that time to make the bucket worth it.

[@LolliPop_Farm_VT]

Buttermilk is too precious for biscuits!

[@sjreavis]

Due to a lot of unfortunate circumstances, my first attempt at Bresse ended up over the winter. I have 20 week old birds right now and it will probably be 6 more weeks before I can process. Do you think they are too old to milk finish? Your channel has taught me so much.

[@arcadianorchard]

No, they're not too old but you may need to adapt the cooking methods to suit their age. Definitely look into cooking heritage type chicken and the differences between that and cooking the modern type commercial birds. You can still bake a whole bird of that age but you want "low and slow" to be the method. Also observe a minimum of a 4 day age in the fridge and you can't go wrong with a 24hr brine soak the day before cooking. Between a 4 week finish, a 4 day+ age and a brine soak, they'll be as tender as they could be in the thigh. You could also part out the birds and cook the breast separate from the thigh/legs.

[@lorindaoconnor1680]

Hi Mandalynn, where have you been. I love and miss your content. I hope you are well. Please come back soon! 🤗

[@arcadianorchard]

I'm here! Getting caught up on chores and pondering how to do videos better, along with what topics to start off with for next season.

[@tommarsh2339]

Hehe you might be looking for more ideas BUT I have about 160 more videos to watch :-)

[@dawnk2091]

A question that keeps rolling around in my head when I think about this finishing technique for Am. Bresse is whether this changes the health of the fat. We know finishing on milk-soaked grain increases the fat and tenderizes the meat, but is the fat composition different too? Grass-finished beef are much higher in Omega-3 fats vs. the more inflammatory Omega-6 when grain-finished. I would not be surprised if it was the same with poultry but I'm not sure it translates the same with another species. Thanks for sharing your recipe and eventual results.

[@arcadianorchard]

That's definitely worth pondering. In France they are using non-GMO, locally sourced grains. I've often wondered about the difference in the fat composition because there IS a difference in how the fat forms in the American Bresse and other heritage types vs that of store bought CornishX. Have you encountered that thick/globby fat on either end that never really melts down on a commercially grown bird? It almost has the chewiness of connective tissue. I'm assuming it would take lab testing to find out about the Omega-3 vs the Omega-6 in pastured birds vs grain finished. However, the dominant starter feeds in the US are all corn/soy based so most chicks are going to be started on grains for their first 6-8 weeks before heading to pasture.

[@dawnk2091]

@@arcadianorchard Hmm, I haven't noticed that fat on a Cornish-X as we have until recently bought cut-up chicken at a store. i do have some CCs we raised on grains last summer in my freezer, plus Am. Bresse with no special finishing. Both were on grass. Joel Salatin tells a story in one of his books about butchering some CCs for a friend that were raised in a garage with no access to outdoors. He was shocked at how much greasier they were than his CCs on grass. I will pay attention next time I roast each kind of bird. Interesting to hear what they're doing in France, and it makes a difference that the AB are good foragers. I am not proposing a grain-free chicken at all -- I don't think that would be natural either -- but I wonder if less grain would make the fats healthier? Where's the tipping point? Like you said, short of lab testing, we may never know.

[@templenaff5598]

Mandelyn, if you can’t get raw milk can you use whole milk or evaporated milk?

[@ashleysdoss]

How did the results go?

[@lisaporria7307]

Thanks! How many birds are you finishing this round and are you using red or white wheat? Just curious. Excited for the results.

[@arcadianorchard]

There are 4 getting this mix, (the smallest ones of the group) and 3 who are not getting anything more than their regular feed. I plan to do a couple of different techniques over the course of the season, as the birds come of age.

[@khatch62]

I'm interested in those results.

[@arcadianorchard]

Us too! It's been awhile. I chose to do it with the smaller birds in the batch, with the theory being "small but mighty flavor".

[@tommarsh2339]

How much grit per bottle???

[@mikemacinnes6120]

How did you like this finish. I’m in NJ hard to find fresh milk. Weed is legal here but can’t buy raw milk! Crazy ! I’m retired cop so it really burns hole in my ass!!