Backyard Brahmas!!

[ocap]

I just lost another Brahma tonight. I'm so tired of losing chickens, but why does it always have to be the Brahmas (my favorite)? We found three pieces of glass in her gizzard, which probably acted like grit for a while, until one of the pieces plugged up the opening to the colon and nothing could leave the gizzard. She basically starved from the gizzard impaction. I have another thin one that I'm wondering what could be impacting her gizzard. At this rate, I'll be needing to order more Brahmas next spring. They're not even two years old yet.

I am going to try and hatch brahma large fowl next spring if you live near Kansas City.

 

[Summer98]

I am going to try and hatch brahma large fowl next spring if you live near Kansas City.

I live in Minnesota. P.S. I couldn't help but read your signature and I also have the book "More Than a Carpenter."

I got my Brahmas from McMurray hatchery. I really like this first flock because I feel the Brahmas (all lights in this flock) are really friendly. They were born March 2012, so I am upset to be losing some already. My rooster in my avatar is dealing with a foot/leg problem. I've been trying scaly mite treatments, etc. Not that I don't like my other breeds, but all of the problems seem to happen to my beloved Brahmas. Maybe it's Murphy's Law. The good die young.

 

[Huntress78]

Quote: It certainly does affect them. These are my two mean girls but when going through molt they are very quiet, introverted and almost act sickly. I wonder if this quick molt is linked to them being broody for most of the summer?

 

[Sjisty]

We have had only a few of the girls molt so far this year, but they looked pretty bad for a while. .

 

[Huntress78]

I just lost another Brahma tonight. I'm so tired of losing chickens, but why does it always have to be the Brahmas (my favorite)? We found three pieces of glass in her gizzard, which probably acted like grit for a while, until one of the pieces plugged up the opening to the colon and nothing could leave the gizzard. She basically starved from the gizzard impaction. I have another thin one that I'm wondering what could be impacting her gizzard. At this rate, I'll be needing to order more Brahmas next spring. They're not even two years old yet.

So sorry for your loss! I hope you don't give up on the Brahmas...I think it's just bad luck that they're picking up stuff that's not good for them. We've had a lot of construction going on here for the last year and I'm always picking up little pieces of junk...slivers of metal, nails, pieces of packaging, cigarette butts from the workers. One day I ran one of the girls down when I saw she had something orange in her mouth. I was lucky to get it away from her...it was a foam ear plug.

 

[ocap]

I live in Minnesota. P.S. I couldn't help but read your signature and I also have the book "More Than a Carpenter."

I got my Brahmas from McMurray hatchery. I really like this first flock because I feel the Brahmas (all lights in this flock) are really friendly. They were born March 2012, so I am upset to be losing some already. My rooster in my avatar is dealing with a foot/leg problem. I've been trying scaly mite treatments, etc. Not that I don't like my other breeds, but all of the problems seem to happen to my beloved Brahmas. Maybe it's Murphy's Law. The good die young.

it has been a bad year for mites. I made the mistake of letting a wild bird (Phoebe) nest in an old garage, lots of mites resulted, I used gasoline to kill the pests (dangerous), it was the only thing around and they were on my tools, my hands were covered.

My wife and I love brahmas and might be forced to get rid of all other breeds because they are so gentle, always at the bottom of the pecking order. Trying putting the aggressive BA cockerel in its own pen until I have another spare next spring, then he is going to the freezer.

Hope you like the book.

John

 

[christine9]

My little baby brahma Olive. I think she is so beautiful. She's filling out like a turkey!

 

[Grey Roo]

Thank you all for the great information in regard to sexing our Brahma's. I have 2 buff Brahma's. Pretty sure our Josephine is a Joseph. Here he is at 10 weeks:


Now he is about 14 weeks and getting colorful, still no crowing.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Joseph will be a very pretty boy.

 

[3KillerBs]

Not the best photos, but my reduced flock (the Big Red Boys went to camp), contains one Light Brahma and two Dark Brahmas.

The darks are obviously ladies, but as I've long suspected, Rosemary is certainly a rooster. Naturally, he moved his head when I was going for the good picture.










Their chests are stained red because they had chili for breakfast.

The Red Boys had to go because they were noisy and starting to squabble. Rose-Marion is the largest, but Vinnie was more assertive. I'm hoping that a single rooster with his hens will not trouble the neighbors. The crowing is not louder than the train whistles and pales compared to the near daily flights of C-130s.