[The continuing saga of American Bresse Adventures] At almost 10 weeks, we couldn’t be happier with the progress of our American Bresse. They’ve been on pasture for almost four weeks now and they are loving it. Here’s what we see each morning when we go out to remove the “predator door” on our Bresse-mobile.
Some of the birds are still slight enough to slip through the ventilation gap on the predator door. When they see us coming, they know its time for one of their favorite meals…”curds and whey.”
As we mentioned in the last post, we have moved the birds to a lower protein ration, organic soy-free finisher. This is our attempt to follow the French method, which is meant to encourage the birds to forage more for their protein sources. We have adapted the French method of providing milk to our setup. We add our milk directly into the pellet supplement. This makes the milk readily accessible, prevents any possible spoilage or contamination, and seems to be a special treat for the birds. We mix the milk in until the “mash” consistency is that of properly watered soil. It’s moist, not wet. We also pour a large percentage of it right on the pasture. This stimulates scratching, and encourages foraging. It’s not long before the birds have consumed their fill and move on to other things.
When time permits in the morning, we let them out to stretch their wings and flap around a little. In the above picture, we caught this rooster eating with his mouth open. The natural pasture in the orchard provides plenty of greens that the Bresse love. In fact, they love it so much, they leave little behind, which is just what we were hoping for. 
In the picture above you can see the back of our Bresse-mobile and the bottom of the frame. If you follow the line back up the picture, you can see clearly where the tractor started its most recent move. Over the past five or so days, the Bresse have consumed, scratched and turned everything in their tractor, taking down the greens and depositing vital nutrients back into the soil.
We are having a delightful time with this project and look forward to continuing to perfect the process. We trust our efforts will pay off in the end, and enjoy sharing the adventure with all of you. Blessings, Sunbird Farms
How exciting! Looking forward to some chicks and can’t wait to join the fun!
Hi there Michelle! Thanks so much for the comment. We started your eggs last night.
Best-Sunbird Farms
What is your poultry count as of today?