The Weighty Truth - Which Chicken Breed Grows Fastest

[@simeonandalex]

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: This batch of chicks grew in the winter under cold conditions which has affected the growth rate. They have also been eating feed that is optimized for layers since weeks 3 which also gives a slower growth rate. This weight gain can be optimized a lot.

[@fakecubed]

Even with those caveats, it's still interesting data worth considering.

[@chopwoodfarm1974]

Great job with the videos, Simeon. I really love learning and the way you present information is thorough and enjoyable.

[@simeonandalex]

Thanks.

[@karencoman6544]

If it wasn't for you I never would have considered this breed. Here in the America we having been hearing more about the Bielefelder. But now the Bresse is top on the list. Thanks so much.

[@dawsonmertz6784]

Your videos are so interesting, thanks for bringing them to the public!

[@juliepeeks4184]

I love Bielefelders, my favorite! I ordered 6 more because I lost three this winter do to Pine Marten, they are gentle giants.

[@sfcdale]

Very interesting I'm glad you weighed more than just one rooster of each kind

[@simeonandalex]

Yes. It was funny how the first 2 were not really representing the breeds overall performance.

[@gateway8833]

I have wanted chickens for a while but I didn't want just any chicken. Then you show these Breese chickens and thats the kind of chickens I want. Thank you for showing these birds, I would have never known about them. I'm also going to get Runner Ducks for my garden. They love bugs and don't fell the need to till like chickens.

[@geraldswain3259]

Simeone, I must say I'm very impressed with the weigh in results ,that is a very large difference % wise in such a short time. really looking forward to the next weight check.

[@simeonandalex]

Hi Gerald. Good to hear from you. I know. I was quite surprised as well. I really want to do this with another batch under better conditions and with a different feed. These chicks lived without heat in a stable at about 3-5C° since they were 25 days old. I guess the difference in % between the breeds would be about the same but the overall growth must be much better.

[@keiboman]

I had to go back and rewatch the other chicken videos, once things start getting science-y I get way more interested!

[@simeonandalex]

Nice.

[@Billthebott]

your chicken vids inspired me to buy an incubator and i have the first 30 eggs incubating now and they have been in for a week now and looking good.

[@simeonandalex]

That's awesome. What breed are you going for?

[@Billthebott]

i live in thailand and i have what they call a house breed that means a chicken that can survive almost anything. i looked around for something better but i will do this untill i can find something good. i like your chickens and have looked around on the net for them here but cant find anything but who knows.

[@Mindy56743]

The numbers tell the story well thank you

[@iowanne]

Would you be able to sell and ship your fertile eggs to the US?

[@raywhitehead730]

Bjt, I do love you videos.....

[@KnowArt]

But does the weight matter if you do it for the eggs? Or is it that you sell eggs for breeding for meat?

[@simeonandalex]

I am going to sell the roosters slaughtered for meat. When I hatch 600 chicks / year I will get 300 roosters. With the layers being free range chickens you also want them to be heavy and healthy birds.

[@craigmooring2091]

By my calculations, the average weight for the 4 Bresse was 675.25g.; the average weight for the 3 Bielefelder was 561.33g. for an average difference of 113.92g. The Bielenfelders averaged 83.13% the mass of the Bresses. That's pretty impressive. Do the Bresse eat that much more, or just metabolize that much more? If the latter, does that mean they produce less guano for composting?

[@simeonandalex]

Thanks for calculating the exact stats. I mainly think that they metabolize that much at this time. Of course as time goes on they will be bigger and able to eat more... But the Bresse feed conversion ration is 4:1 under good conditions where as other breeds often have 5:1 or 6:1. Not sure how that affects the composting. I would think they get rid of the same amount about.

[@wr0ngel]

Hi Simeon! I like your down to earth and straightforward videos! Keep going! Thex are very inspiring :) We are streamlining our chicken operation right now, focusing on two breeds, Silver laced Wyandottes for eggs and soup/stew and Polish buff laced bantams / Zwerg Paduaner chamois for fun. On a somewhat related note to chickens, I have a question: with so much livestock and their feedstuff, how do you deal with vermin? How do you control rats and mice for example? Do you have any proven methods that work for you? Please share or make a short video about it if you can! Thanks in advance!

[@l2iowacowgirl893]

Do you think the Bress meat is exceptional? Looking for the best tasting breed

[@yvonnekoedood4611]

thanks for sharing

[@martynelson8858]

what is a chicken tractor. is it a large cage and chickens are put in it to scratch the ground.....?? could a "pig" tractor be constructed large enough to put the pigs in and let them turn over the soil and move them every couple of days? then move in the chickens to get their benefits? just asking.....thanks....marty

[@simeonandalex]

Yes. That is pretty much the idea of the chicken tractor. In my video about the Thanksgiving turkey you can see my chicken tractor. There is a farmer in Denmark who has constructed a big mobile pen for pigs that moves very slowly all the time with solar. Other wise it is easier to have pigs in a simple electric fence and move them often.

[@Flexaret]

Very interesting, clearly for commercial use the faster growing/earlier laying chickens make sense but personally as I'd only keep chickens for personal use I'd go for something more interesting to look at, the Bresse look pretty ordinary compared to the nicely marked Bielefelder :-)

[@dorascott8286]

Very good....

[@l2iowacowgirl893]

Im interested in meat quality! My cornish cross seem so dry

[@jakubatube]

Yes theres a sizedifference, but which taste better? Or is there no difference in taste? Cause if the lessers size birds taste better, it may be worth the wait perhaps. :)

[@simeonandalex]

Bresse is considered the worlds tastiest chicken. It is a delicacy in France and world renown.

[@jakubatube]

I see... :) thx

[@codylee2818]

Can you also look at how much each breed eats?

[@karltree1]

Hi, Thank you for your videos i find them very helpful for my homestead in Poland. Can you please tell me where I can buy Bresse gauloise chickens from? Cheers Karl

[@gartengeflugel924]

Great Video! I love Bresse and quite like the Bielefelder Kennhühner. Mästest du deine Küken oder bekommen Sie schwaches Kükenfutter?

[@simeonandalex]

Bisher bekommen sie Kuekenfutter bis Woche 3 und dann Legehennenfutter. Das ganze kann also noch deutlich optimiert werden. Normalerweise möchte ich Masthähnchen nur im Sommer auf der Weide grossziehen aber da ich die Legehennen im Fruehjahr schon legereif haben möchte muss ich jetzt brueten,

[@gartengeflugel924]

Swedish Homestead Klar, das verstehe ich. Meine Wachtelküken schlüpfen ja auch schon nächste Woche :) In Punkto Aufzuchtfutter darf man bei Hühnern (dachte ich?) Futter mit 23% Rohproteingehalt maximal füttern. Verbesser mich, falls das nicht mehr stimmt ;)

[@DaybirdAviaries]

Someone near me is selling 3 month old Bielefelder for $75 US per pair.

[@simeonandalex]

Wow. That is a lot of money.

[@1krmorris]

I am working with a couple that are selling pairs for $25. They are juvenile but about five months old. In Texas.

[@andrei_porumbei_hey_hey]

Where are you from ? I am from Romania,East Europe and i really want some Bielfelders.

[@MrsLalocadelbarrio2]

i live in a dry hot climate (35-40c in summer), do you think the bresse would do goon in such a hot climate??

[@raywhitehead730]

I did at one time raise the largest chicken, the Jersey Giant. They are a great chicken lovely and gentle, but they are Not economical.

[@jennaveve1612]

excellent

[@SedatedByLife]

"UNHAND ME, HUMAN!" lol

[@brianbuchanan5702]

Your forgetting the bone to meat ratio. The bresse bones thinner.

[@emilkvicktube]

very interesting, tack

[@andrewpryor8301]

how can you tell if it is a rooster early on?

[@simeonandalex]

The Bielefelder are auto-sexing and show right after they hatch. With the bresse I can tell at about 3 weeks at the comb.

[@raymondhodge3979]

Does the weight of the birds effect egg production, or just if you were to eat the chickens. Does one breed eat more to gain the extra size, if so cost wize the smaller birds would be cheaper to keep. I grew chicken when I was young as a hobby, we did get eggs from them which was good, but I also had a lot of bantam chickens just because I like the way they looked. Love all the videos.

[@Theorimlig]

You want your layers to be as small as possible while still producing lots of eggs of the desired quality, because they need less feed then. Commercial layer hybrids are very small and light. Size doesn't necessarily correlate with egg production.

[@simeonandalex]

These chicks have eaten about the same but the bresse has a better feed conversion ratio. 4:1 instead of 6:1 that many other dual purpose breeds have. Since we work with dual purpose breeds we want both good egg production and fast and good growth. We select our roosters for growth and the hens for egg production. What kind of chicken you want and/or need changes drastically if you don't use industrial farming methods. If your chickens free range and need to find a lot of their feed by themselves as well as protect themselves from predators like hawks you want the bird to be big and strong. If your feed cost is low and your chickens are supposed to find the feed on compost or pasture the perfect layer looks very different compared to the hybrids used in industrial farming. Unfortunately there have been very few resources, time and energy put into researching and breeding chickens for that purpose. The bresse chickens are the best choice available at the moment that I am aware of. The industry raises hybrids that are so one sided in their production that all rooster are of no worth. They get gased or shredded to death the same day they hatch. In Sweden alone that is 50.000 chicks / day. That's why we use dual purpose breeds.

[@NYHalfassprepper]

TheodorEriksson that is conventional thinking, which is outdated. with the advent of feeding chickens compost. there is no need for feeding grains anymore. so you can have big chickens and roosters for a healthy flock and it doesn't affect the bottom line.

[@Theorimlig]

Sure it does, you can still feed more small chickens than big chickens with a given amount of compost. I don't think feeding chickens compost will take off industrially, to be honest. Here in Sweden it's illegal, and I'm sure it is in many places. The industry won't step away from conventional production, and alternative methods will probably continue to be illegal or marginal due to disease scares. But I definitely agree that different production systems make different bird types viable.

[@colinblankenship2401]

nice

[@truthcraver37]

i really would like to have a bresse chicken but I don't know how will I do that since I'm here in the Philippines and I don't have access to a near farm who has this kind of bird. I hope you can help me Sir...

[@SevenSproutsFarmstead]

Interesting! Thanks!

[@lmd2454]

how long does it take to finish out a Bresse and how does the end result compare to a Cornish x broiler?

[@simeonandalex]

+Lindsay Devoll Here are some stats on what it takes either to reach about 2-2.2 kg Broiler: 8 weeks Bresse: 12-13 weeks Many other heritage breeds: 16 or more weeks Of course this is very general and a lot of other factors weigh in as well such as white meat/brown meat...

[@mikelgpinc]

Do you ship to the USA

[@1krmorris]

Can you not ship eggs to the US? It would probably be outrageous shipping costs but I didn't know if customs would allow.

[@MrVailtown]

In the video I see only one feeder, if you had two would that make a difference? Do you charge more for the hens? Here in the states can be double the price.

[@simeonandalex]

I will start charging more for hens, yes. They hade free access to the feed so there was no real competition there.

[@MrVailtown]

Swedish Homestead thank-you

[@simeonandalex]

No problem.

[@NORTHSTARBRESSE]

BRESSE are awesome :)

[@anatoliy8212]

Can you send to USA hatching eggs?

[@thedwightguy]

you can source Bresse and B. in the USA and Canada now. I may even try "blue" Bresse. The Manitoba breeder I know has both, and is very high end. Bresse are available in the USA.

[@mikealmere70]

hi Simion, grüße aus Österreich! wieso haben deine eltern Deutschland verlassen?

[@simeonandalex]

Oh man... Das ist eine lange Geschichte... ;) Muss ich mal in ein Video packen!

[@candicechristensen1753]

interesting!

[@oktaynesibov2743]

👍👍

[@danielwagner6290]

WOW ! 150 grams more for 3 birds ! That's a whole one third of one pound ! That's simply a big NOTHING BURGER at this point ! You are very bios towards Bresse. I like the Bielefelder better. There more beautiful. Let's see what happens farther out later. Did you make a video of that ?

[@MickSupper]

Do you want to eat beautiful?

[@raywhitehead730]

Plymouth Rock crosses grow the fastest. Billions of dollars across the world bet on that every day in the market place.

[@raywhitehead730]

I grow barred Rocks in California they l ay 240 eggs a year on average, (not a record I know) they start in the 4th month, and will lay well into the third year at just a little less lay rate, At nine months rooster s dress out to 7 and about 1\2 pounds. They are very freindly, and are a healthy breed with few deaths along the way. Very easy keepers.there was a reason that here in America they were such a popular breed... Until the industrialization of the industry. Eggs are medium large. I have an old strain they lay less but get bigger.

[@thedwightguy]

I have a 1927 photo of my dad as a toddler with his Barred Rocks. Very large, dual purpose b irds in those days. My two (retired) BR's are probably at least four years old, and have been cranking two jumbo eggs a day for two months now, and don't stop when weather changes. Yes, they weren't laying when I got them for free in November, but who cares? My Andalusians are real foragers and survivors, but a slight change of anything and they quit laying for two days!! And they're ten months old. !!!

[@raywhitehead730]

@@thedwightguy Glad you responded, my Plymouth Rocks all came from Mount Healthy. I got healthy large birds that lay very well. I got White and Barred. I have noticed that the white variety is more friendly, a little. I have have had chickens many variety s over 40 years, hard to beat the Mount Healthy white Plymouth Rock. I have a rooster from them, I think I will show at one year he is 8 pounds. They are laying at a rate of 240 a year.

[@thedwightguy]

@@raywhitehead730 I have two separate "Hectares" and never feed treats near my home entrance. Of course, the two BR's figured out where I live. They're such a pleasure to deal with; follow me to the rural mail box like puppies.

[@raywhitehead730]

@@thedwightguy No exactly sure what your saying, Americans and British are a people separated by a common language. But my best regards. I did win a chicken show with a Black Jersey Giant Rooster, two years old, he was 15 pounds, and was not my biggest. Yep.

[@MickSupper]

9 months equals tough meat.

[@DerekMurawsky]

But how is the difference in taste? I understand the breese It's supposed to be something special in that regard? Have you noticed a difference?

[@andrei_porumbei_hey_hey]

I`m from Romania.East Europe

[@andrei_porumbei_hey_hey]

Hey ! Please help me buy some Bielfelder chicks.I am from Romania

[@roberthoke42]

What is the significance of 40 days? What is the significance of the Bielefelder and Bresse? Perhaps if you are specifically researching these breeds, but key situational information (variables: nutrition, season, environmentals, atmospherics etc.) was left of out so to deduce any relevant information from this video is almost impossible. Both breeds are sufficient, but the Bielefelder has added value because they can be sexed at hatch - as stated in the video. A few grams here and there though (IMO) is "minutia" thus a waste of time. There is nothing special about the Bresse breed because one can finish any average sized bird breed like the French traditionally finish their flocks with goat milk, grain etc. and all other breeds will taste the same, making the Bresse wife's tale a myth - that they are the best tasting breed of all chickens. Its absolutely nonsense and I've proven it with cornish, freedom rangers, brahmas, jersey giants and others. Paying extra money for a certain breed is a waste of your time and money. In the USA we call this bullshit (BS).

[@thedwightguy]

And US cattle breeders do this with their cattle, too. Same BS program, but the French are really good at shoveling it, eh? The Bielefelder is a true dual purpose, modern breed. Leave THAT to Germans.