A RED Brahma?

[sgtsalt79]

This is a 12 week old Brahma (?) that we got from a small Hatchery. Not really a Hatchery she's more of a hobby farmer who sells some of the chicks she hatches. She called this bird her "mystery Brahma" because it's red. She swore that she keeps all of her Brahmas in a separate enclosure from the other chickens so she doesn't think there was any way it could have been crossed. I've been to her farm and the only breeds she raises are white brahmas, black jersey giants, black copper marans, and EEs. Has anyone else seen a brahma this color?? We had a beautiful white brahma from her earlier this year who was killed by a neighbors dog. This was the only brahma she has left. It has the black markings on the tail and the feathered feet. Any thoughts?? We hope it's female because we loved the temperament of our other brahma and were very sad to lose her.

 

[sgtsalt79]

 

[sgtsalt79]

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I'm tempted to say its either one of a few possibilities.

The first is that one of her brahmas may be mixed or having some funky genetics going on, which means it may look like a certain color but have the genes to produce offspring of another color.

Another possibility is this egg came from a hen that was maybe new in the flock. Hens can retain sperm for quite a while, which is why breeders generally wait a bit before trying to hatch guaranteed pure eggs.

The third possibility is that one of her hens hopped the fence somehow and got with one of her other breeds! (Again, birds retain sperm for at least a few weeks after being with a male) Or that she separated them into separate pens but didn't wait a few weeks before collecting eggs.

Pretty bird though!

 

[sgtsalt79]

Out if the other breeds she raises I suppose the only kind that could hop the fence and produce that red color is an EE.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I've seen some funky colored offspring from Black copper marans. If the brahma parent is carrying funky color genes, you may get odd combinations from a lot of different breeds.

Are all of her brahmas white? She doesn't look EE to me, but you'll know once she starts laying!

 

[sgtsalt79]

Yes. All of her other brahmas are white. Unfortunately she said she has decided to stop raising brahmas because they weren't good layers so this was the very last brahma chick shell have. We just thought our old brahma was the best pet chicken of our flock!