Chicken Breed Focus - Brabanter

[Torch404]

4 week old keep roo, I'm really excited about.

You have a beautiful bird there, very nice comb for being so young!! Where'd you get him?

 

[BYchickadoo]

You have a beautiful bird there, very nice comb for being so young!! Where'd you get him?

Thank you! I'm new to this breed but there are two gold ones from this hatch that just really stood out. The girl is nice too.

My friend that is on here, she has posted in this thread (she owned Dottie) the rooster that bred these chicks was hatched by her too

Thanks, I really love this breed!

 

[BYchickadoo]

More pics of this hatch. I have 6 chicks under a broody and some of the eggs are from Dottie, pictured earlier in this thread. I'm SO excited!!

 

[tao chick]

I have a group of Brabanter to start working with, but I also have this Pavlovskaya cockerel. His body type and coloring seem close to Gold Brabanter and he doesn't have feathered legs like Pavlovskaya. The wattles are undesirable but otherwise I like the idea of doing some test crosses with him to see if he helps improve my group. What do you think?

He's the same bird from my avatar.

 

[tao chick]

 

[ChippieChicken]

Our local feed store got some of these in and I had no idea what they were, but thanks in part to this thread I decided to take a chance and get a couple. Darn you, chicken math! (I was going to put them under my broody EE hen, but she doesn't seem interested in being a mom, just sitting on golf balls.) I am really excited about this breed. After reading one glowing review after another, and about how hardy they are, I decided to pass on the Faverolles I had had my eye on in favor of Brabanters. One gold and one cream.

I'm guessing they're about three weeks now (when I got them, they were a little farther along than the "fresh" Faverolle chicks they were in with), and are sharing their brooder with a ~two-week-old Welsummer who copies everything they do, talks their ears off, and tries to get them to cuddle with her. I don't see any "horns" coming in yet, but at least it sounds like the roosters usually have good temperament. Does lots of handling help?

T-bird, posing for the camera:


My gold one's (who's very camera-shy) crest doesn't look anything like that, though (but beard is about the same). It's just a little pointed tuft so far. Is it normal for them to grow at different rates? Or is it an indication of whether they're going to have a more fan-shaped or pointed crest when they grow up?

Edit: The gold Brabanter grew a comb while s/he slept. Two little horns are just visible, at approximately three weeks. None on the cream, but look at that pompadour. Who knows what's hiding in there. Too soon to tell sex?

 

[lcertuche]

Here are a couple of chicks I got at Atwood's. I believe they are about 5-weeks old now (give or take a week). Are they Gold Brabanter?




This is a good picture of the wing taken about a week ago. Very distinctive coloring and pattern I think. Lovely.

 

[tao chick]

Here are a couple of chicks I got at Atwood's. I believe they are about 5-weeks old now (give or take a week). Are they Gold Brabanter?




This is a good picture of the wing taken about a week ago. Very distinctive coloring and pattern I think. Lovely.

They could be Brabanters or Spitzhauben. You'll have to wait to see if wattles develop and to see the spangle.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

They could be Brabanters or Spitzhauben.  You'll have to wait to see if wattles develop and to see the spangle.

X2

 

[ChippieChicken]

Here's T-bird at about six weeks, looking a little less like her namesake (Mr. T) than she did in the last photo:


And "Hellboy", same age. Finally got a pic of that comb. They're about seven weeks old now and the comb isn't much bigger. "He"'s all leg compared to T-bird, though, and stands up to the big girls when they get into the baby run. Also really good at parkour.

(The Welsummer in the picture is about a week younger and just caught up to the Brabanters in size in the last few days. Still waiting for her head to catch up with the rest of her body....)