CHICKENS

Our signature chicken breeds, the American Bresse and the “Bonticou”

Everyone has their favorite chicken. Chicken breeds developed for maximum egg production lay nearly every day, and have been selected to have little or no desire to set on nests and hatch chicks.  Chickens that retain this natural desire to set and hatch young are said to be “broody”.  Because chickens do not lay once they start setting on a clutch of eggs and do not resume until their chicks are well started in life, broody hens lay many fewer eggs then non broody layers.  While most chickens lay brown or white eggs, some breeds lay eggs with unusual colors, deep brown, blue, green or pink.  Chickens raised for meat are selected for large size and rapid growth.   For the many who keep chickens as pets and layers, temperament is paramount.  Chickens have also been bred to achieve many beautiful colors, patterns and feathering.

Most private farms and all commercial growers raise Cornish Cross chickens for meat, because they grow very fast, are harvested at only 6 weeks of age, and have excellent feed conversion, meaning you get more chicken per pound of chicken feed.  The Cornish Cross has replaced many other chicken breeds that once dominated American farms.  Small farms, and private, non commercial farms still raise many of the older breeds.  On our farm, we raise dual purpose heritage chickens for both meat and eggs.  Some of our breeds were once important meat birds in the USA, and others were recently imported from Europe.   Our highest priorities are flavor, temperament, cold tolerance and parenting skills.  Choosing a chicken breed can be complex, and many people raise several breeds at first to find one they like the best.

My background as a scientist led me to approach this as a research project.  We began by reading many sources in which  chicken breeds are compared.  While cold hardiness is generally agreed upon, temperament and certainly flavor are a matter of opinion.  Therefore, in 2016 we raised over 15 breeds of chickens, in order to compare and contrast their attributes so that we might decide on which breeds to raise in the future.

We do not raise conventional cornish cross meat birds, but have concentrated on birds famous for flavor.  What follows is a list of our breeds, our sources, and some of our impressions.  I will update this page as the birds mature, and as we harvest and taste them.  Photos of each breed are on their own page, and will also be updated as the birds grow.

Temperament testing chickens is done in a very similar way dogs are evaluated.  Every evening, when the birds are quietly roosting, I walk through the coops and pick up random bids.  Some are very quiet, and settle quickly, most notably Brahma, Wyandotte, Bielefelder, American Bresse, Speckled Sussex and Dorking.  Some startle when picked up, but settle easily,  Maran, Barnvelder and Buckeye.  Some birds are so calm it is easy to pick them up during the day, these include the Dorking, Sussex and Bielefelder.  Delaware, RIR and Barbezieux are significantly more  nervous.  We also note the birds behavior towards other birds.  In general, birds that are quiet in the hand are also quiet in the yard.  Birds that are more flighty with humans are more competitive in the yard, and more active in establishing “pecking order”.

Our Final Selections from our taste tests of 2016 are the American Bresse and Bonticou breed chickens

We have chosen the American Bresse as our specialty heritage breed for 2017.  The birds are simply delicious, moist and well marbled with fat.  Unlike commercial chickens, the fat in pastured heritage birds does not lie in a thick layer under the skin, but is infused throughout the flesh, creating moist and flavorful meat.  We purchased our breeding stock in 2016 from Greenfire Farms (GFF) in FLA, and in 2017 purchased additional stock from 2 other farms in the USA with different blood lines.  In 2017, GFF imported new bloodlines from France, and we added these ines to our breedings stock in 2017 and 2018.  Starting in 2017 we also hatched approximately 40 chicks every two weeks from our GFF stock. From all of these birds we have selected our breeding stock for 2018 and beyond. 

Our signature breed is the Bonticou, a continental breed that we selected from among all the breeds that we raised and tasted in 2016.  We chose the Bonticou above all others because it has a very rich chicken flavor, moist meat and is naturally higher in fat than many other breeds.  The birds are large, very gentle and friendly.  Like all heritage breeds, they grow far slower than commercial strains, but the flavor is incomparable.   In 2017 we purchased breeding stock from the handful of farms that raise this bird in the USA.  From these chicks we have selected our breeding stock for 2018 and beyond.  We have given this bird our business name for purposes of marketing, as we are the only farm in the USA that raises this breed for meat.

Our American Bresse and Bonticou chickens are being raised essentially according to the Label Rouge standards and their diet is supplemented with grains soaked in local raw milk. We do not confine our birds to fatten them, but we enrich their feed with raw milk to increase fat and tenderize the meat.

In 2018 we raised American Bresse and Bonticou chickens and birds are available for purchase, as well as reciprical crosses, Bresse over Bonticou and Bonticou over Bresse.  Birds may be purchased on-lin for pick up at Stone Ridge Orchard.  We also offer a limited number of locally sourced heritage breeds, including the French Marans, Brahama and Rhode Island Red.  We will offer these birds to members of our Chicken of the Month Club through our CSA, watch this page for details.

In 2016 we obtained our chicks from many sources.  We prefer to source from local  farms, however, some rare breeds were purchased from specialty poultry farms and hatcheries located across the US.

These are the breeds we raised in 2016
Barbexieux, France.   Gold Feather Farm

Barred Rock, USA.   Randy Wilber, Saugerties, NY.

Barnvelder, Netherlands.  Randy Wilber, Saugerties, NY.

Bielefelder, Germany. Large, gentle birds, sex linked so cockerels and pullets are easily distinguished.   Randy Wilber, Saugerties, NY.

Brahma, Asiatic. Traditional meat bird that was very popular in America for many years.  Very large and gentle birds.  Lots of feathers, feathered legs.  We raised two varieties, Light Brahma from Cripplecreek Farm, Gardiner NY and Blue Gold Partridge from Chicken Hill Poultry.

American Bresse.   French.  Famous for flavor.  These are typically raised on pasture, and finished in cages where they are fed milk and grains.  Our birds will be pastured all their lives.  They are independent, but not flighty, very even tempered.   Greenfire Farms, Florida.

Buckeye, USA A truly delicious bird, but very slow to mature, the older birds make fantastic Coq au Vin, Murray McMurry Hatchery

Delaware, USA Murray McMurry Hatchery

Dorking, Britain.  Excellent flavor, but exceptionally slow growing.  Murray McMurry Hatchery

Blue Copper Marans, famous for the flavor of their very dark brown eggs.   Randy Wilber, Saugerties, NY.

Niederrheiner, a very well regarded dual purpose breed, but did not impress up regarding flavor.  Germany Uberchicranch,Wilmington MA

Rhode Island Red, USA A large bird with excellent flavor, our personal favorite among domestic breeds  Tractor Supply and Agway

Salmon Favorole, excellent flavor, gentle birds, but small in stature, France

Speckled Sussex , UK.  Fine chicken flavor.   Murray McMurry Hatchery

Weathen Sulmtalers, Austria. GreenFire Farms  FLA

Buff Wyandotte, USA Barry Koffler High Falls NY