Backyard Brahmas!!

[sroy]

My 3 babies, it's their first time outside.

 

[Jryan18]

thought you might enjoy my ten new puff balls, light Brahmas about a week old now

 

[LovinAK]

Hello, obvious newbie here, just wanted to ask a quick question. I have seven, 10wk old Light Brahmas (supposed to be all pullets) and I was wondering when they reach sexual maturity? I think I may have a roo in the group just going by how different "he" looks than the others. All from McMurray hatchery and so they all look slightly different, but this one in particular is a little more aloof and tends to peck the others. "He" is also bigger, has an enlarged comb and waddle and it's reddening much sooner then the other 6. The other 6 seem to still have the beige coloring on their combs. They were all hatched on Good Friday but just wandering if it is still much too early to tell or if the one in question is just maturing faster??

 

[sroy]

thought you might enjoy my ten new puff balls, light Brahmas about a week old now

Oh my goodness, they are ADORABLE!

 

[bumpercarr]

Hello, obvious newbie here, just wanted to ask a quick question. I have seven, 10wk old Light Brahmas (supposed to be all pullets) and I was wondering when they reach sexual maturity? I think I may have a roo in the group just going by how different "he" looks than the others. All from McMurray hatchery and so they all look slightly different, but this one in particular is a little more aloof and tends to peck the others. "He" is also bigger, has an enlarged comb and waddle and it's reddening much sooner then the other 6. The other 6 seem to still have the beige coloring on their combs. They were all hatched on Good Friday but just wandering if it is still much too early to tell or if the one in question is just maturing faster??

Pictures will help to sex them. In general, the males feather out slower than the females. Usually at 10 weeks, my males are still pretty bald on the back (but a lot depends on lines as well). They will also get red in the wattles/comb sooner than the females. Sounds like a male to me, but sometimes you just have to watch and wait. I don't raise lights, so I don't know what else to look for in them. In darks and partridge there is a blackness in the breast feathers that isn't present in the females (they have penciled breasts, often look more barred when they are young). The dark males also have black shoulders and the partridge males have red shoulders. Usually all of these signs are there by 10 weeks. Another big indicator for me is that the females' tails come in earlier than the males, usually about 3 weeks earlier. So if he/she doesn't have any significant tail feathers coming in and the rest do, she is probably a he.

As far as sexual maturity, the males in my lines are mature (and trying) sometime after 6 months, some close to 6 months and some lines aren't ready until they are almost a year old. Most females begin laying at about 8 months, again some a little on the early side and some on the late side of that timeframe.

 

[Hannah Nichole]

thought you might enjoy my ten new puff balls, light Brahmas about a week old now

Ah, they are so cute!

 

[hensanity]

Just took some recent pics of my favourite guys!

These are my 8 month old cockerels.

This little fellow and his siblings are 3 months old. They are always curious about the camera lol.

 

[sroy]

Handsome boys there!

 

[sroy]

Is it to early to tell if this baby is a cockerel? It's 5 weeks old today. It's a lot bigger than my other 2 the same age. It also likes to bully them around.

 

[bumpercarr]

Is it to early to tell if this baby is a cockerel? It's 5 weeks old today. It's a lot bigger than my other 2 the same age. It also likes to bully them around.

I don't know much about buffs, but based on how feathered out it is at 5 weeks I would say pullet.