Backyard Brahmas!!

[Summer98]

This is the result of my partridge hen with an apparently experimental gold-laced cock (didn´t quite have the pattern), because they produced nearly all blacks and a few buffs. She´s a lovely placid bird, in fact they all are.

Nice. I'm jealous.

 

[Gryphon]

I'm pretty sure my Light Brahma, Fluffasaurus, has started laying! I got her as a chick this year and wasn't surprised that she didn't start laying before autumn since I knew Brahmas were slow growers. Well the other day I took the water out of the coop and was surprised to see a lovely light brown egg sitting in a nest box! Alas, it was cracked from the cold. >_< I thought maybe it was Pogue Mahone's egg since she had been laying and stopped for the last couple of months, but the shape is just a bit rounder, and the color slightly darker. Then my guy told me that he saw Fluff playing queen of the coop the other day, chest bumping Pogue out of the doorway. Very unusual behavior for her, since she's second from the bottom! Pogue WAS the top hen, but looking her over I see her comb and wattles are still in winter mode, while Fluff has a bright red face and as I mentioned in another post, VERY talkative. I'm pretty sure that she's finally started to lay! She skipped a day, then I got an egg yesterday and today, all of them were 50 grams except today's, which went up another gram. I'm impressed that she's decided to take off laying like this, I assume because daylight is starting to get longer. Too bad the weather has decided to hover around 5 degrees Fahrenheit for this week! I'm going to get a lot more frozen eggs if the weather keeps acting up like this.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I'm pretty sure my Light Brahma, Fluffasaurus, has started laying! I got her as a chick this year and wasn't surprised that she didn't start laying before autumn since I knew Brahmas were slow growers. Well the other day I took the water out of the coop and was surprised to see a lovely light brown egg sitting in a nest box! Alas, it was cracked from the cold. >_< I thought maybe it was Pogue Mahone's egg since she had been laying and stopped for the last couple of months, but the shape is just a bit rounder, and the color slightly darker. Then my guy told me that he saw Fluff playing queen of the coop the other day, chest bumping Pogue out of the doorway. Very unusual behavior for her, since she's second from the bottom! Pogue WAS the top hen, but looking her over I see her comb and wattles are still in winter mode, while Fluff has a bright red face and as I mentioned in another post, VERY talkative. I'm pretty sure that she's finally started to lay! She skipped a day, then I got an egg yesterday and today, all of them were 50 grams except today's, which went up another gram.

I'm impressed that she's decided to take off laying like this, I assume because daylight is starting to get longer. Too bad the weather has decided to hover around 5 degrees Fahrenheit for this week! I'm going to get a lot more frozen eggs if the weather keeps acting up like this.

Congratualtions!! I know what you mean we are in a cold snap -40F with the windchill I think its -17F air temp.... insane!!

 

[Gryphon]

Yeah right now it's -10 (with a "feels like" of -31!) I'm very lucky that my coop is as sheltered as it is. To the West is a very steep hill so the wind blows right over the duplex, and to the North is more hill and houses blocking any direct wind.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I am very thankful for our shelter belt. It makes a world of difference on days like this. What part of Iowa are you in Gryphon?

 

[Gryphon]

Smack in the middle, a bit over a half hour North of Des Moines. The city I'm in is pretty good with it's microclimate, storms tend to blow around us and tornadoes rarely touch down here.

 

[livininbrazil]

Well done to your brahma, and reading your posts give me goose bumps thinking about it! I hope this very cold weather soon passes over. I see on the internet that England is also getting worse weather than is normal. It´ll soon be spring.

 

[Sjisty]

Sooooo glad I live in Florida, although tomorrow's low is going to be in the 20s. By Friday, the high will be 81!

 

[Vickis Girls]

Strange weather everywhere. I'm in the Cascade mountains, at 2200 ft. and we don't have any snow yet. I know it will come, just as your cold spell will end soon. Sjisty, I didn't know Florida ever even got frost! Huge temp. swing for you. Hope Huntress is staying warm. Haven't heard from her.
Gryphon, Congrats on the egg! I'm still waiting. What does it mean when a hen's face turns red? How about a cockerel?
Anyone...I have two young cockerels from the same hatch, brooded together, and absolutely adore each other. I also have three pullets. Everyone gets along very well at 6 mos.(girls) and 4 mos. (boys). I'm wondering the chances of keeping both cockerels. I love them, they're so docile. The smaller cockerel hangs out with the pullets like he thinks he's one of them. If I get a few more female chicks in the spring I guess this would help. I don't intend to breed them, This is just a backyard adventure that I've always wanted, and my hope is to have less than ten who can all get along for the rest of their lives. Once the larger cockerel establishes dominance(right now it's the pullets),will he allow his smaller brother to live in peace and harmony? Please share any ideas/experiences with me.Thanks!

 

[livininbrazil]

Strange weather everywhere. I'm in the Cascade mountains, at 2200 ft. and we don't have any snow yet. I know it will come, just as your cold spell will end soon. Sjisty, I didn't know Florida ever even got frost! Huge temp. swing for you. Hope Huntress is staying warm. Haven't heard from her.
Gryphon, Congrats on the egg! I'm still waiting. What does it mean when a hen's face turns red? How about a cockerel?
Anyone...I have two young cockerels from the same hatch, brooded together, and absolutely adore each other. I also have three pullets. Everyone gets along very well at 6 mos.(girls) and 4 mos. (boys). I'm wondering the chances of keeping both cockerels. I love them, they're so docile. The smaller cockerel hangs out with the pullets like he thinks he's one of them. If I get a few more female chicks in the spring I guess this would help. I don't intend to breed them, This is just a backyard adventure that I've always wanted, and my hope is to have less than ten who can all get along for the rest of their lives. Once the larger cockerel establishes dominance(right now it's the pullets),will he allow his smaller brother to live in peace and harmony? Please share any ideas/experiences with me.Thanks!

What breed are the cockerels? That can make a difference. for instance, Brahma cockerels are far more tolerant than a lot. some breeds will just want to fight.
If you don´t intend to breed them, you may want to think about the cost of feeding some non-egg-producing birds? Also, the hens can get a bit over-done the more cocks you have, and it can affect their laying. The red wattles means they´re in good breeding/laying condition. When they have a moult, or are off-colour, they lose that redness.