Backyard Brahmas!!

[bumpercarr]

Number two is doing fine this morning and under mama. Haven't gotten a picture of him yet but here's the first one. Got two more eggs showing signs, so should be a couple more before the nights over.

Beautiful! What breed is your broody and do you know what color your chick is going to be?

 

[The Colonel]

She is a buff Orpington (surrogate mommy) she took straight to all of the eggs and wouldn't let anyone else touch them. The mama Brahma to the baby is a buff also, and the daddy is part black austrolorp and a mystery on the other side, but has some blue in him somewhere. So no idea what the coloring on the little guy is gonna be.

 

[mrstodd]

Well, it is not 100% fool proof but you can usually tell about now by which ones have more/longer feathers on their wings and tail.  At about 5 weeks, they should be developing tail feathers, the ones with the most development are usually pullets, the ones without developing tail feathers are usually cockerels.  It helps if you have both sexes to compare to each other, if you bought them out of a pullet pen, it may be more difficult to tell.

Otherwise, if one starts crowing in about 4 or 5 months, it is a cockerel.  If it lays an egg, it is a pullet.  Just kidding, but sometimes these guys are really hard to tell.  I know that I'll look at my 6 week olds and one day I'm convinced they are all pullets, and other days it is almost any combination up to all cockerels.  So, you can try posting some pictures to see if any of us can tell for you.

I am going to throw a wrench into this and complicate things! I hatched 11 brahmas and kept six and sold five. I chose which ones to keep by the feather development ie long tail and wing feathers. I ended up keeping mostly males and only a few girls!!! Brahmas are soo hard to sex. I think it's fair to say that you will know at two months old by the combs and wattles and my boys matured quite quickly.

 

[The Colonel]

Number 3 went great and is doing fine underneath momma. Four more to go and then transplanting the younger eggs to my other hen for a week. (Kids listened too well when they were told not to mess with them). Took a couple pics of the hatch itself this round.

 

[bumpercarr]

I am going to throw a wrench into this and complicate things! I hatched 11 brahmas and kept six and sold five. I chose which ones to keep by the feather development ie long tail and wing feathers. I ended up keeping mostly males and only a few girls!!! Brahmas are soo hard to sex. I think it's fair to say that you will know at two months old by the combs and wattles and my boys matured quite quickly.

I know!!! It happens to me too. I'll be butchering my extra cockerels, so I'm not so worried about making a mistake. But it is SOOOO hard to sex these guys.

 

[Jryan18]

I know!!! It happens to me too. I'll be butchering my extra cockerels, so I'm not so worried about making a mistake. But it is SOOOO hard to sex these guys.

In another group I follow a lady said that she has had about a 94% accuracy by flipping them(not brahma specific) on there backs, if they pull their legs in they are a pullet, if one or both legs are held out away from the body (more aggressive posture) rooster. again not specific but she has multiple breeds and also turkeys that she claims the same. I don't see why it wouldn't work for any breed I have just started doing it and recorded my thoughts but My chicks are only 3wks so I have a while before I know for sure.

 

[K9Dave]

In another group I follow a lady said that she has had about a 94% accuracy by flipping them(not brahma specific) on there backs, if they pull their legs in they are a pullet, if one or both legs are held out away from the body (more aggressive posture) rooster.  again not specific but she has multiple breeds and also turkeys that she claims the same.  I don't see why it wouldn't work for any breed I have just started doing it and recorded my thoughts but My chicks are only 3wks so I have a while before I know for sure. 

That's interesting. I'm gonna follow to see more of this.

 

[bumpercarr]

In another group I follow a lady said that she has had about a 94% accuracy by flipping them(not brahma specific) on there backs, if they pull their legs in they are a pullet, if one or both legs are held out away from the body (more aggressive posture) rooster. again not specific but she has multiple breeds and also turkeys that she claims the same. I don't see why it wouldn't work for any breed I have just started doing it and recorded my thoughts but My chicks are only 3wks so I have a while before I know for sure.

Let us know how it works out. So, do you do this when they are 1 day, 2 days.....etc? How old can this be done before it doesn't work anymore? Very interested in the outcome since Brahmas are so hard to sex before 6-8 weeks old.

 

[Huntress78]

Sorry posted in the wrong place.

 

[Jryan18]

Let us know how it works out.  So, do you do this when they are 1 day, 2 days.....etc?  How old can this be done before it doesn't work anymore?  Very interested in the outcome since Brahmas are so hard to sex before 6-8 weeks old.

MY Brahmas were already a week old when i read it so that is when i did, I don't think age really matters because I imagine this is something they would maintain as they grow. I have done it three times with each and always get the same result so I hope it is accurate.