Backyard Brahmas!!

[cabinchicky]

welcome to thread!! I doubt mine are show quality I have questions on the feathered feet, but I not yet asked. I love my girls, so sweet n funny.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

@cabinchicky ..... What is your question of feathered feet? I love the foot feathers...makes them look so silly when they run.

 

[cabinchicky]

well my girls are 10 or 11 weeks now and when chicks they had fluffy lil legs and feet, now not so much. I know as chicks my EE chicks pecked at the foot feathers. Now the brahmas were pecked bare while Cochin pecked back. I have not seen any foot or leg pecking since they were two weeks old but by Brahma girls are lacking feathers on the legs n feets. Cochin's feets I can barely see. Did the pecking cause damage to my Brahmas?????

 

[Katt66]

well my girls are 10 or 11 weeks now and when chicks they had fluffy lil legs and feet, now not so much. I know as chicks my EE chicks pecked at the foot feathers. Now the brahmas were pecked bare while Cochin pecked back. I have not seen any foot or leg pecking since they were two weeks old but by Brahma girls are lacking feathers on the legs n feets. Cochin's feets I can barely see. Did the pecking cause damage to my Brahmas?????

Not sure about the pecking as my Brahma's have always been on the giving end of the pecking and not the receiving end. I do know that both of my brahma chicks and the d'uccles chick have done a good job of breaking their own foot feathers off from running around outside on the concrete sidewalk and in the quail apartment on the wire floor. But after seeing the horrid condition of my two "rescue" cochins nails to preserve their foot feathering, I'd rather have healthy birds with nice well worn nails than glorious feathers and nails grown to curly q length. They're all around 14 wks old and their feathers do seem to coming back in. *knocks wood" Anybody have suggestions on preserving foot feathering without sacrificing the birds' overall health or is it a trade off u have to make?
For example, the well past their prime cochins I have I'm guessing us have been kept pretty well confined because they each weighed close to 50 oz and their nails twisted around two or three times they were so overgrown and their beaks were really long. Their foot feathering is incredible though. Not a scuffed or broken feather anywhere. To the point the birds almost seem prisoners of their own feathering.

 

[Gryphon]

Whoever had them should have checked their feet out periodically and clipped their talons. Even if they free range it's a good idea to check them out for infection, or sometimes they have a twisted toe that doesn't wear down like the others and can twist around.

 

[Katt66]

Yeah, I know. Chickens are pretty low maintenence pets comparably but you still have to keep on stuff like grooming and nail care. Especially with the more "special" breeds.

 

[Gryphon]

It's sad to see how some people don't think of simple things like that and it causes needless suffering. I once had a cat with a bald ring around his neck because someone put a collar on him as a kitten and never let it out as he grew. I wound up embedding itself in his fur and left a scar all the way around when he was finally rescued. His second owner wasn't much better, since when I got him his claws had grown all the way around and were starting to pierce his pads. The rediculous thing is he was SO EASY to clip! He didn't care at all unlike most cats so there wasn't even that excuse.

 

[Katt66]

One thing I have learned from this experience is to be very careful about monitoring my feathery footed birds' nailz, activity level, and feeding. I do not want to have my own brahmas go through what these little hens have had to endure. So in a round about way someone's else's negligence has made me a better brahma keeper I hope. I will try my best to not let them get too heavy for their own good. And make a point of looking for their feet under all those feathers to make sure they're in good shape.

 

[bamadude]

Some of u guys who have had to cull brahmas: how do they taste compared to other chicken?

 

[cabinchicky]

Like chicken. lololol