Backyard Brahmas!!

[cabinchicky]

My brahmas feet and leg feathers are growing slow. I just wondered if the pecking they received could have effects to them growing big pantaloons like they should have. My Cochin's drawers are huge!!! Such cute fluffy girls and I waiting for my brahmas to have the look.

 

[carcar80]

How many eggs could I reasonably give to a broody Brahma? Or if I hatch them first, how many chicks can she manage safely?

 

[bamadude]

The only chickens ive ever eaten came from the grocery store.

 

[cabinchicky]

I bit more countrified. Deer,duck, beef, chicken , goose, squirrel, rabbit, um yeah i pretty much have ate it. I like home raised or wild game better than big farm raised. If you notice you like your eggs better than store bought you may get the idea.

 

[big medicine]

Like chicken. lololol

I was gonna go with like rattlesnake.

One thing to remember is those store bought birds, being 6-7 week old broiler chicks will have less flavor and texture than your older Brahmas. Where older birds, like old layers, really shine is dishes like chicken and dumplings, or noodles, and the like. These veteran birds add much more flavor than the store bought variety.

 

[bamadude]

Rattlesnake is delicious. We actuall have a rattlesnake rodeo in opp alabama. Ive tried squirrel and could eat it again in a life or deathsituation. Ive never tried duck or rabbit. Deer backstrap is my fav food. So im assuming due to age the meat of culls will be very tough.

 

[big medicine]

How many eggs could I reasonably give to a broody Brahma? Or if I hatch them first, how many chicks can she manage safely?

I haven't hatched under a broody in several years, but surely could. Seems like every day I have another hen or two go broody this time of year. As of yesterday I think I have about 14 sitting around clucking.

I think too often the temptation is to put too many eggs under a broody. When you do that the eggs on the outside edge get cool and die, then when the hen rotates her eggs, the now dead egg gets worked toward the middle and a new eggs gets the cold shoulder. Over time many if not most of the eggs will eventually get cooled in this manner. You will produce more chicks by starting with less eggs. What that number is, is the question. For a large bodied hen I might go 8 to 10. She might be able to cover more, but it has been my experience that you also tend to get more broken eggs in the nest when the nest is over full.

I always went out with a flashlight after dark and candled a couple times, maybe at 10 days, and then again before hatch, and pulled any clear eggs or quitters. An ounce of prevention kind of thing, seen some nasty, nasty, messes when a bad egg busted under a broody.

As too adding chicks at hatch, I've done it, but I have also had hens kill some of the added chicks if they came out of an incubator. I seems that chicks hatched under a hen already know the lingo at hatch, from hearing the hen through the shell, or picking it up during hatch. These machine hatched chicks sometimes don't immediately respond to the hens calls, and depending on her temperament, I have seen hens peck and sometimes kill these chicks that don't respond properly.

 

[cowhlb]

I LOVE BRAMAHS!

 

[big medicine]

Rattlesnake is delicious. We actuall have a rattlesnake rodeo in opp alabama. Ive tried squirrel and could eat it again in a life or deathsituation. Ive never tried duck or rabbit. Deer backstrap is my fav food. So im assuming due to age the meat of culls will be very tough.

It's tougher, but boil it, pick it off the bone, and make some homemade chicken soup or something like that using the shredded meat, outstanding.

Like most things, the taste of wild game varies greatly by care, method of preparation, and recipe. Having said that, after attempting to eat a diving duck once convinced me to stick with puddle ducks.

 

[bumpercarr]

I haven't hatched under a broody in several years, but surely could. Seems like every day I have another hen or two go broody this time of year. As of yesterday I think I have about 14 sitting around clucking.

I think too often the temptation is to put too many eggs under a broody. When you do that the eggs on the outside edge get cool and die, then when the hen rotates her eggs, the now dead egg gets worked toward the middle and a new eggs gets the cold shoulder. Over time many if not most of the eggs will eventually get cooled in this manner. You will produce more chicks by starting with less eggs. What that number is, is the question. For a large bodied hen I might go 8 to 10. She might be able to cover more, but it has been my experience that you also tend to get more broken eggs in the nest when the nest is over full.

I always went out with a flashlight after dark and candled a couple times, maybe at 10 days, and then again before hatch, and pulled any clear eggs or quitters. An ounce of prevention kind of thing, seen some nasty, nasty, messes when a bad egg busted under a broody.

As too adding chicks at hatch, I've done it, but I have also had hens kill some of the added chicks if they came out of an incubator. I seems that chicks hatched under a hen already know the lingo at hatch, from hearing the hen through the shell, or picking it up during hatch. These machine hatched chicks sometimes don't immediately respond to the hens calls, and depending on her temperament, I have seen hens peck and sometimes kill these chicks that don't respond properly.

X2. I usually only put 6 under any broody, regardless of breed. Most of the time, I'll get 3-4 chicks out of shipped eggs, 5-6 out of my own. I haven't ever tried to put chicks under a broody, but what big medicine says makes sense. If you are going to give a broody some incubator hatched chicks, I'd probably do it at night. But then again, at night you can't keep an eye on what is going on and rescue them if necessary.