buff brahma crosses question

[Puckett]

OK, so I have a buff brahma rooster with an assortment of good egglaying hens (white leghorn, barred rock, rhode island red, amber sexlink, gold comet and easter eggers. Decided to do some incubating with this mixture of eggs. Kinda purposefully hatching more of the leghorn eggs than others because of egglaying and people just prefer the brown eggs. I'm having hopes of the leghorn brahma cross will calm the leghorn "craziness" a bit, be a larger bird, and lay brown or cream eggs. Anyone else crossed the brahmas with what is considered to be "good egglayers"? I'm kind of anxious to see what these chicks are going to look like with all the different colors involved. If anyone has any insight as to what I may expect from these crosses I'd love to hear it. thanks

 

[Puckett]

hmm, so no interest here I guess. I reckon I will just have to wait and see for myself.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would be interested in answers to your post also. We have 2 buff brahma boys with a whole bunch of different full blooded hens--barred rocks, wyandottes, new hamps, faverolles, cuckoo marans, and so on. Soon the boys will be rehomed, so I was wondering about breeding a few.

 

[Puckett]

well, somewhere around 25th or 26th I should at least get to see some chicks if all goes well

 

[v.cyr]

I am far from an expert, but IIRC, white leghorns are Dom White, so all the chicks should be white(maybe some bits of color here and there) and I believe that feather legs is dom to, and their combs should be sort of in between pea and single... I would guess that build/size wise, they might split the difference... no clue on disposition or laying ability... let us know how they turn out...

 

[ksacres]

Depending on whether or not your Leghorn females are actually carrying the silver gene, you may end up with sexlinks, after a fashion (males will be white(ish) and females will be buff(ish) with slight variations, but distinct enough to determine the sex immediately-light colored chicks are males, darker chicks are females). You should definitely get some poor leg feathering, pea (only if your roo is homozygous for pea, otherwise it will be a 50/50 split of single and pea) combs, yellow skin, and cream/tan eggs. Probably slow maturing, but not as ridiculously slow as Brahmas themselves.

If you want brown egg layers, get some red sexlinks (I find them more productive and slightly faster maturing than black sexlinks). You are gauranteed all females (since they are color sexed at birth), and they are reasonably priced through most hatcheries. Their production rivals that of Leghorn laying strains, and they lay a nice brown (not cream) egg. I PROMISE you can buy chicks cheaper than you can feed hens, incubate egg, and hope for good results.

If you are determined to get a brown egg layer that you've created yourself, I would try a lighter weight brown egg layer (something like a Rock or Rhode Island-these were both originally used in sexlink creation, though now the strains are highly controlled, much like the modern cornishX meat chickens, over a Leghorn (or similar high production breed). Really, Brahmas just aren't well suited to a program geared towards egg production-they are large framed, slow maturing, and not the greatest layers.

Baby chickies are always fun though, so good luck. And we'll be expecting fluffy-butt pictures ASAP!

 

[Puckett]

Thanks for the input ksacres. I know the brahmas are far from best for producing egg laying machines. Like I said, I have barred rocks, sex links, rhode islands EE, etc. as well as leghorns. I sell eggs to friends and neighbors, (and no I don't make a profit lol, hardly pay for the food, but I enjoy it) however most everyone wants brown eggs, so I find myself in surplus of white ones even though I only have 3 leghorns, they lay like clockwork. Anyhow, I have of late, had a surplus of all the eggs actually since this warm weather has kicked in and all started laying better from winter rest. I ended up with 2 buff brahma roosters that were SUPPOSED to be hens from tractor supply last year, so I decided to do some incubating. I pulled some eggs from all of the different chickens just for experiment sake, but more leghorn eggs than anything else in the incubator. Figure best case I get some oversized looking leghorns with somewhat feathery feet that may not be so flighty that lay well, and worst case I get some strange looking bird, that takes forever to mature and lays just OK. HOPEFULLY, as you suggested they turn out sex linked. That is also kinda what I was hoping for, and wondering about. As for the crosses of all the others...who knows. Should at least be interesting.

 

[draye]

Thanks for the input ksacres. I know the brahmas are far from best for producing egg laying machines. Like I said, I have barred rocks, sex links, rhode islands EE, etc. as well as leghorns. I sell eggs to friends and neighbors, (and no I don't make a profit lol, hardly pay for the food, but I enjoy it) however most everyone wants brown eggs, so I find myself in surplus of white ones even though I only have 3 leghorns, they lay like clockwork. Anyhow, I have of late, had a surplus of all the eggs actually since this warm weather has kicked in and all started laying better from winter rest. I ended up with 2 buff brahma roosters that were SUPPOSED to be hens from tractor supply last year, so I decided to do some incubating. I pulled some eggs from all of the different chickens just for experiment sake, but more leghorn eggs than anything else in the incubator. Figure best case I get some oversized looking leghorns with somewhat feathery feet that may not be so flighty that lay well, and worst case I get some strange looking bird, that takes forever to mature and lays just OK. HOPEFULLY, as you suggested they turn out sex linked. That is also kinda what I was hoping for, and wondering about. As for the crosses of all the others...who knows. Should at least be interesting.

Babies won't be sexlinked. Leghorns carry dominant white. They will probably be white with black or buffish colored spots on them in random places.
Cute bugers though.

Or are those leghorns other colors?

 

[speckledhen]

Buff Brahma rooster over BR hen would be sex linked. Males would be barred with a head spot. BRs are fabulous layers-they are my best layers. I have some as old as 5 years old still laying regularly. Actually, my hatchery Brahmas were pretty decent layers for the first three to four years, but mine are over 5 now and haven't laid in awhile.

 

[Puckett]

Babies won't be sexlinked. Leghorns carry dominant white. They will probably be white with black or buffish colored spots on them in random places.
Cute bugers though.

Or are those leghorns other colors?

I kinda expected that out of them actually. (at least from the leghorns)