Backyard Brahmas!!

[SD Bird Lady]

Hi SD. Is she already laying? My brahmas lay eggs....I take some, then they´ll sit on maybe 3- 6 that I leave in the nest. I´ve no idea how hatchery ones are, but if you want to breed them, then yes, separate those you want to breed and wait and see if she´ll go broody. Mine go broody fairly readily, and I only keep the cock I want to breed with the hens. Spare cocks move out.

Thank you for the advice. I figure as long as someone goes broody if I have eggs from the parents I want then I can have her hatch them. I suppose its time to situate things again

 

[livininbrazil]

Thank you for the advice. I figure as long as someone goes broody if I have eggs from the parents I want then I can have her hatch them. I suppose its time to situate things again

Have fun!

 

[swirler]

What are your experiences with Brahmas and broodiness? I have 16 Brahma hens all from cackle hatchery.

I am mainly curious b/c if I have a hen go broody I would like to have her hatch eggs from a certain roosters but I haven't yet culled the extra boy. Should i set up a "breeding pen" already or wait; as I know it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month to guarantee the father.

Sample space of one, but my (incubator-hatched) Brahma has been a wonderful broody! I put 12 under her. 8 hatched (the rest culled as infertile or fairly early quitters), 1 died at hatch, and I now have seven vigorous, healthy 2-month-olds running about. She has been attentive and protective, and has just this past week decided she's over the molly-coddling and it's time to start introducing some training in manners (She has just started laying again, three eggs so far.)

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Sample space of one, but my (incubator-hatched) Brahma has been a wonderful broody! I put 12 under her. 8 hatched (the rest culled as infertile or fairly early quitters), 1 died at hatch, and I now have seven vigorous, healthy 2-month-olds running about. She has been attentive and protective, and has just this past week decided she's over the molly-coddling and it's time to start introducing some training in manners (She has just started laying again, three eggs so far.)

Thank you for the info, I haven't quite figured how I am going to divide them up but i have a few ideas. Does anyone think its possible for a 8 month old cockerel to "cover" 18 hens? (He is a early May chick)

I have 8 laying hens with my 10 Brahmas. The layers are white & green egg layers so I know which eggs I want for hatching but that seems like a lot of hens from one boy. It would however be the easiest to just cull the "undesirable" rooster and leave the one. Would make for the least amount of work for me and the least amount of disruption in the pecking order. Any thoughts.

 

[bumpercarr]

Thank you for the info, I haven't quite figured how I am going to divide them up but i have a few ideas. Does anyone think its possible for a 8 month old cockerel to "cover" 18 hens? (He is a early May chick)

I have 8 laying hens with my 10 Brahmas. The layers are white & green egg layers so I know which eggs I want for hatching but that seems like a lot of hens from one boy. It would however be the easiest to just cull the "undesirable" rooster and leave the one. Would make for the least amount of work for me and the least amount of disruption in the pecking order. Any thoughts.

I'm thinking that 18 hens might be a bit much for him. I think usually if you have two cockerels in the same pen with so many hens, they will split them. Unfortunately, they may not split them the way that you are wanting them to breed. I'm not an expert at this, I only keep a max of 8 hens with each roo. He might not even be fertile yet, have you seen him cover any hens?

I've split my coop into two. The "undesirable" roo has 6 hens, but I don't hatch any of those eggs out unless I need to replace the layers. I've also got the brahma breeding pen which only holds the brahma's that I want to breed. Unfortunately, I only have one hen in that pen right now and I'm not convinced about the cockerel. I'll hatch more out this spring and see where I'm at.

If you leave one roo with the 18 hens, he might spend all of his effort mating with the hens that you don't want him to cover and thus lower your hatch rate from the ones that you do want him to cover. Just my thoughts, but I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination!

 

[SD Bird Lady]

All the eggs are fertile at least judging by the "bull's eyes" I think you are right about that being too many hens but thought I'd get some opinions. Everywhere I have seen says 10 so that is almost double. I'm still brainstorming.

 

[HappyHen2010]

I have some exciting news I wanted to share. One of my gold laced Brahmas laid her first egg today! Her name is Abigail and she is 8 months old. I love all my chickens but the Brahmas are my favorite. Here is her first egg next to my light Brahma, Caroline's egg.

 

[nicole63021]

I have some exciting news I wanted to share. One of my gold laced Brahmas laid her first egg today! Her name is Abigail and she is 8 months old. I love all my chickens but the Brahmas are my favorite. Here is her first egg next to my light Brahma, Caroline's egg.

Congrats!

 

[bumpercarr]

All the eggs are fertile at least judging by the "bull's eyes" I think you are right about that being too many hens but thought I'd get some opinions. Everywhere I have seen says 10 so that is almost double. I'm still brainstorming.

Congrats! My girl Minnie laid her first this week as well. So far, she's laying every day right now. I don't think the cockerel is mating yet, but it is so exciting to get those first eggs!

 

[livininbrazil]

Thank you for the info, I haven't quite figured how I am going to divide them up but i have a few ideas. Does anyone think its possible for a 8 month old cockerel to "cover" 18 hens? (He is a early May chick)

I have 8 laying hens with my 10 Brahmas. The layers are white & green egg layers so I know which eggs I want for hatching but that seems like a lot of hens from one boy. It would however be the easiest to just cull the "undesirable" rooster and leave the one. Would make for the least amount of work for me and the least amount of disruption in the pecking order. Any thoughts.

"cover" I don´t even know if this term is used in the chicken world, but it shows you´re into horses!

It´s a good word.

Here I have my Brahma cock with the Brahma hens I want to breed him with...I keep him with about 4. (Actually, one is a brahma-mix non-broody and I know which are her eggs, too. She´s just to keep him quiet when the others are brooding.) He´d quite easily manage more, but I don´t want to breed him to the others, being closely related. I keep my ISAs and Dels in a separate pen for eggs, because things can get confusing when an egg-layer chicken wants to lay her eggs in the brooding hen´s nest. It causes disruption. Being large, Brahmas can and do break their eggs that they´re sitting on, so an added risk would be another hen (or 3) trying to get into the same box.

Is your 'undesirable' rooster really undesirable, or is he a close second? If he´s really undesirable, let him go elsewhere/pot, or if he´s quite good, put him in with a second group for back-up, in case something undesirable happens to your desirable one? Or, of course, you could just get another as needed at a later date......I´m looking out for another decent Brahma cock-bird to 'cover' the other Brahma hens, then I´ll have 3 groups...2 of brahma, 1 of egg-layers. Just what I do..

Edited to add: I just keep a rooster if I want to breed him, otherwise I´m feeding something for nothing. Also, they´re pretty tough (health-wise) birds I find. And my laying hens are quite happy without one. In fact, it lowers the risk of injury. I´ve had 2 hens injured by a cock´s claws, so my breeding hens now wear jackets, and the layers are left as they are. Just another thought on it.