Backyard Brahmas!!

[allyclair]

New to this thread. Thought I would post a pic of my 11 month old Brahma roo.

He is beautiful, I only have darks but I LOVE the colouring of your rooster

 

[newmarch2014]

I am in such a quandry about keeping my 21 week old Light Brahma rooster. He is not mean, he is reasonably quiet but he is also pretty worthless past being a stunning gigolo. He shows no protective instincts, he is terrified to be outside the run so is no good watching the girls during free range time (he spends the entire time pacing trying to figure out how to get back in the coop). He is alternately trying to sneak up and mount the girls clumsily and brutally or running scared from them when he is not eating enough too grow a horse.

 

[bumpercarr]

I am in such a quandry about keeping my 21 week old Light Brahma rooster. He is not mean, he is reasonably quiet but he is also pretty worthless past being a stunning gigolo. He shows no protective instincts, he is terrified to be outside the run so is no good watching the girls during free range time (he spends the entire time pacing trying to figure out how to get back in the coop). He is alternately trying to sneak up and mount the girls clumsily and brutally or running scared from them when he is not eating enough too grow a horse.

Welcome to the world of Brahmas! They are rarely protective, although they will raise an alarm. At 21 weeks, he doesn't really know what he's doing (I'm surprised he's trying, mine usually are about 7 mos before they are "interested"). That is the reason for his clumsiness, I don't usually keep that young of a male with the girls unless they are experienced girls. If they are the same age as him, they aren't interested in mating with him yet....probably not until 8 mos or so. Even then, I try to keep experienced males with inexperienced females and visa versa.

My boys won't free range. Even with all of the girls out of the pen, they'll stand at the gate and call them back but do not want to go out of their safety zone.

 

[BeachBumBiddies]

I put the extra cockerels at about 10 mos - 1 year old in the freezer. I sell any females that are still laying and that I'm not going to breed to people looking for layers. Right now, the oldest hen I have is 2 years old, the rest of the breeders/layers are just over 1 year old. My plan is to replace my breeders with stock that was hatched out the previous fall. However, that doesn't always work out, since it has been my plan for 3 years and I never quite get there. I try really hard to not have any older females in my flock, selling them off before they get to the non-laying stage. I don't generally put the hens in the freezer, probably because I think their value is in the eggs that they lay.

Because brahmas are not heavy layers, they tend to lay longer than some of the other breeds. There are several good articles on exactly how long hens will lay, but I can give you a small synopsis. Basically, a hen has so many eggs in her ovaries. Let's say it is 500. If they lay 6 or 7 days a week, then they will stop laying sooner than a hen that only lays 4 eggs a week. Most heritage breeds (breeds that aren't crossed and genetically engineered for egg laying or meat) will lay eggs until they are about 7 years old. Some will lay longer than that. The reason that I replace my layers every year is because year one is the most productive, after year one they tend to lay less and less. I had an old leghorn once that laid about an egg a week until she was over 10 years old.

So, this is basically what I do right now. I hatched eggs last spring (March & April). Those girls started to lay in October. In October, I sold off all of the hens that were older than a year and any of the hatched girls that I didn't want to breed so I got down from 10 girls to 5. This year, I hatched and bought girls in March & April. These should start to lay in October/November. I will take the last eggs from my current breeders (I have 7 now, some that hatched last fall) and hatch them in October/November and then sell off the older girls (now about 1 1/2 years old) and replace them with their daughters that were hatched this spring. I do the same with the cockerels/cock birds, just don't replace them that often. I try to keep 3-4 around so that I can interchange the males depending on the purpose.

I've heard that there are some good reasons for keeping your older hens around when you are breeding for chicks rather than for egg production. I can't remember what those reasons were though....maybe someone else will jump in here and remind me.

I hope that answers your question.

Yes, that helps a lot. I was hoping some others would answer as well, just to see what the consensus is. Thanks!

 

[Huntress78]

I am curious to know at what age do others cull, eat, sell or whatever their older Brahmas? I know they mature slower, so does that mean that they produce longer? When do you (anyone) usually replace older birds with younger stock? Also, what do you do with them? Eat them, sell them, ???

I would usually hatch 70-100 chicks, sell a few dozen then raise the rest to 16-20 weeks. At that time I'd keep the best two cockerels and butcher the rest. I'd keep up to a half dozen pullets and sell or butcher the remainder. If someone wanted to buy laying hens I would sell 2-3 year olds and use the pullets as replacements. I never had any hard/fast rules for culling older birds...my flock was a fluid thing, some birds lived long lives here, some were taken by predators or injury and the cockerels/pullets fill the void. To me the older hens might not lay as many eggs but they still have value as breeders and teachers for the pullets. I culled the whole flock recently and at that time the oldest Brahma hens were 7 years old and still laid 2-4 eggs a week.

The reason I started with Brahmas was because they are a dual purpose bird so yes, we eat them. Young cockerels are grilled or roasted and older birds are used for soup/stew. I've never sold a butchered bird but have given many away to friends and neighbors.

 

[cabinchicky]

I may have to find better Brahma stock in the next yr or so. my current 1 yr old group of 4 is now 2.They are in my mixed flock and do well with the EE bunch. Those big girls plow over the others now and then. Poor birds don't know what hit em most the time.

 

[BeachBumBiddies]

I would usually hatch 70-100 chicks, sell a few dozen then raise the rest to 16-20 weeks. At that time I'd keep the best two cockerels and butcher the rest. I'd keep up to a half dozen pullets and sell or butcher the remainder. If someone wanted to buy laying hens I would sell 2-3 year olds and use the pullets as replacements. I never had any hard/fast rules for culling older birds...my flock was a fluid thing, some birds lived long lives here, some were taken by predators or injury and the cockerels/pullets fill the void. To me the older hens might not lay as many eggs but they still have value as breeders and teachers for the pullets. I culled the whole flock recently and at that time the oldest Brahma hens were 7 years old and still laid 2-4 eggs a week.

The reason I started with Brahmas was because they are a dual purpose bird so yes, we eat them. Young cockerels are grilled or roasted and older birds are used for soup/stew. I've never sold a butchered bird but have given many away to friends and neighbors.

I sell hatching eggs, so i guess I need/want great egg production, but my girls aren't hatchery stock & didn't start laying until they were about 11 months old. So if I sell, eat, whathaveyou the girls at 2 years, I will basically only have a season of laying. It's very interesting to know what others do with their old gals (& guys) though. Thanks!

 

[marnette]

I just candled my 23 eggs (7 days in) and I could see 11 with movement

I saw 3 that are not fertile, and the others I can see veins but was unable to movement

This is so exciting.

 

[Huntress78]

Quote: If you're breeding to sell hatching eggs I can see where POL at 11 months would be a problem....unfortunately all the people before you breeding these new varieties just to sell eggs/birds is what created the problem in the first place. If you plan to be a serious breeder and want to improve your line you can fix the problem in time.
As your chicks grow take note of the pullets that start laying first and give them special consideration as breeders. Cull for type and vigor first then color. Same with the cockerels...mark the ones that feather earliest and mature fastest. If you make utility a priority you'll end up with a line of beautiful birds that are what they were meant to be...a meat bird that matures in a reasonable amount of time and lays an acceptable amount of eggs.
Good luck!

 

[fifibreen]

Love brahmas! Wanted to share pictures of a couple of my 6 month olds. Our Cockerel we named fozzie is turning out unique in color. Love them all!