Backyard Brahmas!!

[bumpercarr]

My Brahma has been at point of lay for over 2 weeks and she is now 27 weeks and doesn't fly at all. Any advice on nest box height and size? My others have chosen a milk crate they fly up to. Thanks!

It depends on your birds and your set up. I keep mine at about 6 inches, some I even have a ground level. Brahmas aren't known for their ability to fly, generally their size and weight keeps them pretty close to the ground. I've seen them get up on roosts that are about 3 feet high, so they can do it. I don't like mine to get to high up because I worry that they will injure themselves when they get down. I've also seen some folks put their boxes on a higher shelf and have a ladder up to the boxes. Like I said, sort of depends on what you're set up is.

 

[andreanar]

My Brahma girl uses a ladder to get up and down from the roost board. I put my nest boxes only about 10 inches up from the floor to make it easier for her (not that she is interested in laying eggs, lazy thing!) I too, worry about her hurting herself if she has to fly up or down from any big distance.

 

[Katt66]

My nest boxes are at floor level in the coop. None of my roosts are more than 18" off the floor since my Brahma cockerel crippled his foot I suspect from jumping.

 

[Dispatch273]

I posted this on the brahma breeders thread but I thought I'd post it here too. I'm trying to figure out if this cockerel has vulture hocks. To my very untrained eye it does appear that he has VH. He's a big sweetie so I'd hate to have to cull him but obviously I do not want this in any of my breeders, especially since I'm just starting out!

 

[Katt66]

I posted this on the brahma breeders thread but I thought I'd post it here too. I'm trying to figure out if this cockerel has vulture hocks. To my very untrained eye it does appear that he has VH. He's a big sweetie so I'd hate to have to cull him but obviously I do not want this in any of my breeders, especially since I'm just starting out!

When I think of vulture hocks I picture the stiff long feathers on my d'uccles. Your Brahma doesn't seem to have those feathers. His look soft and fluffy. Just not grown in all the way down his legs yet.

 

[Huntress78]

I posted this on the brahma breeders thread but I thought I'd post it here too. I'm trying to figure out if this cockerel has vulture hocks. To my very untrained eye it does appear that he has VH. He's a big sweetie so I'd hate to have to cull him but obviously I do not want this in any of my breeders, especially since I'm just starting out!

In the different project birds here I have some with short tight feathering over the hocks, some vulture hocks and some with soft, profuse feathering that wraps around the back...I think this might be what your bird has. I asked a judge about it and he said 'it's not vulture hocks but it's not good either. It would be a judge's call, probably wouldn't be disqualified but would lose out over a bird with clean hocks'.
I do not know how hard it will be to breed out but I'm going to try. What are your options? Do you have a better male?

 

[Dispatch273]

In the different project birds here I have some with short tight feathering over the hocks, some vulture hocks and some with soft, profuse feathering that wraps around the back...I think this might be what your bird has. I asked a judge about it and he said 'it's not vulture hocks but it's not good either. It would be a judge's call, probably wouldn't be disqualified but would lose out over a bird with clean hocks'.
I do not know how hard it will be to breed out but I'm going to try. What are your options? Do you have a better male?

Here's a short video of him. I have two other partridge cockerels that are about 4 months old that do seem to have better overall conformation than this guy. I will try to get pictures of them tomorrow.

 

[Dispatch273]

Oh and this guy is 8 months old.

 

[Huntress78]

Do your females also have the profuse hock feathers or are they clean?

 

[Dispatch273]

Do your females also have the profuse hock feathers or are they clean?

I've only got one pullet his age, a blue partridge. She seems to have cleaner hocks than he does but to be honest I haven't really looked that closely at her hocks. She's a lot more shy than he is. I'm going to have to look at her more closely now though. My younger pullets don't seem to have any VH or extra leg feathering but like I said before, I'm fairly new at this. I'm going to have to get some pictures of them all.