Backyard Brahmas!!

[carcar80]

And on that note, is there a correct color for the legs? At this age anyway? These are partridge..

 

[Huntress78]

Quote:
I always thought the darks were easiest to tell by wing feathers...the color not length. Cockerels dark, pullets light.

 

[Huntress78]

And on that note, is there a correct color for the legs? At this age anyway? These are partridge..

I think the correct color is always yellow but it will vary by bird, time of year, what they're eating, etc. As the cockerels mature into cock birds they seem to darken and get red splashes around the toes. But then the same cock may fade to almost white in winter...especially if he's not around hens.

 

[bumpercarr]

Just noticed my biggest cockerel is getting some new color to him.

ALSO.. Does leg color ever have anything to do with sexing? This trio.. bumpercarr told me when I first got them that I had one pullet and two cockerels, which I didn't question in the least. But there was always the "middle one".. Not as small as the pullet, not as big as the other cockerel.. Dead middle with comb/wattle size AND color.. And now I notice his legs match the pullet perfectly (yellow) whereas the larger cockerel has washed-out legs.

Like I said I'm 99% (really 100 if I'm honest) sure he IS male but just thought this was weird.

He is definitely a he. I have one of those middle ones in each hatch as well. Grows some tail feathers early, comb and wattle development is slow, and I usually end up going back and forth about whether it is a cockerel or a pullet. Once they hit 8 weeks, I can be pretty close to 100% sure of what I've got (almost all of the time

). I haven't had one yet that I had to wait for the crow or the egg, but honestly, these guys are just really hard to sex, and some are harder than others. But, to answer your question, I haven't noticed that leg color has anything to do with it. Right now I have 6 almost six week olds in the run and they all have the same yellow legs. I occasionally get one with lighter, almost more tan legs, but I haven't noticed any link to their sex.

 

[bumpercarr]

And yellow legs is the standard from the SOP for the darks, lights and buff. Partridge isn't an accepted color yet, but I would assume when it is accepted that the leg color will be yellow.

 

[carcar80]

Cool. THANKS guys!!

 

[bumpercarr]

Okay, here goes.

Chick #1 - based on tail feathers - pullet, based on wing color - they all look the same to me, based on upside down test - pullet ---- so, probably a pullet




Chick #2 based on tail feathers - pullet, still don't know about the wing color but the development is slower - cockerel, based on upside down test - pullet



Chick #3 based on tail feathers - cockerel, can't even guess based on the wing feathers, based on the upside down test - cockerel



Chick #4 is a bantam-- based on tail feathers - cockerel, based on wing color - pullet?, based on upside down test - pullet This one was a little funny, he/she didn't want to be posed, wanted to stay on my finger.

 

[Huntress78]

My guess is 1&2 are cockerels and 3 is a pullet. Not sure about #4...have never had a bantam Brahma. Not what you wanted to hear I know.
How are they related? If they're not related maybe you can do two hatches from the pullet, one from each cockerel, then cross those pullets back to the opposite male. Or pick up a few more unrelated pullets.

 

[bumpercarr]

My guess is 1&2 are cockerels and 3 is a pullet. Not sure about #4...have never had a bantam Brahma. Not what you wanted to hear I know.
How are they related? If they're not related maybe you can do two hatches from the pullet, one from each cockerel, then cross those pullets back to the opposite male. Or pick up a few more unrelated pullets.

They all came from the same farm (John Neff), but not necessarily related. I don't mind line breeding, but my plan is to breed these with my partridge brahmas to improve type, so which sexes I get are almost irrelevant right now. As long as I have at least one of each I'm good. My plan is to put a partridge male over dark females, getting dark females and split gold/silver males. Put the split male back to a partridge female and I'll get 50/50 partridge & dark females and 50/50 partridge and split males. In another pen, put a dark male over partridge females and get partridge females and split males. Take the split males back to all of the partridge females and I'll again get 50/50 partridge/dark females. I'll also keep breeding my blue partridges so that I can keep the color going until I can improve the type. Once I get a partridge male out of the second generation (it isn't really F2 since we won't be breeding siblings) I can breed him back to the blue females to try to improve their type as well. I know, TMI! Most people's eyes glaze over when I start talking like this! I won't be trying to hatch any more darks in the near future, I'm tired of incubating and would like to take the summer off!

Starting this fall when everyone reaches sexual maturity again, I'll start hatching again. As you can see, this is a multi year project, which is one reason that I was so bummed out when my flock was destroyed. BTW, the bantam was a "peanut" egg, just used to fill up the shipping container. I may go ahead and get more bantams, but I think right now I have my hands full.

 

[bumpercarr]

Another point of interest that I hadn't realized until I just ran the calculator is that if I take the split male to blue partridge, I'll get some (25%) silver/blue hens instead of blue/gold. I think that might be an interesting combination....might be the direction that I need to go in order to develop an interesting look............oh, no, I need to stop thinking about it and stick with the plan.