Backyard Brahmas!!

[BeachBumBiddies]

If you're breeding to sell hatching eggs I can see where POL at 11 months would be a problem....unfortunately all the people before you breeding these new varieties just to sell eggs/birds is what created the problem in the first place. If you plan to be a serious breeder and want to improve your line you can fix the problem in time.
As your chicks grow take note of the pullets that start laying first and give them special consideration as breeders. Cull for type and vigor first then color. Same with the cockerels...mark the ones that feather earliest and mature fastest. If you make utility a priority you'll end up with a line of beautiful birds that are what they were meant to be...a meat bird that matures in a reasonable amount of time and lays an acceptable amount of eggs.
Good luck!

Sorry I never saw your posts to reply. Somehow I wasn't getting notified. Anyhow, I will take all of this into consideration when thinning & culling. Thank you everyone for the info.

 

[torrelee]

My Spruce Goose is about 4 months now. No sign of hackle feathers, and what started out as a mostly single comb looks much more pea like now. Would you all say pullet?? The lady the egg came from had a SLW roo as well, so may be a cross.

 

[islafarm]

pullet

 

[mermaids]

They were hatchery but they are wayyyy bigger than anything else out in the coop - out of the year and half old girls out there the RSLinks are dinky but prolific, the Marans and Easter Eggers are medium, and the Buff Orpington is big. On the other hand, the Light Brahmas are HUGEONIC! I have those plastic nest boxes hanging in the coop and they squeeze into them, but I can guarantee that if there was an egg in there before they decided to climb in it's most likely broken. I have 4 of them, and they are 24 weeks. One of them has been laying for the last 9 days, another started 4 days ago, and a 3rd one laid her first yesterday. One left to go. It's a little early from what I've been reading, but there is no doubt that those eggs were laid by them. I also have 8 Buff Brahmas that are 19 weeks old, and they aren't as giant as the Lights, but they are still pretty doggone big. So I need to get creative here and figure out a better nesting system for them.

Hanging nest boxes?? Please elaborate!

 

[Blooie]

Well, hanging nest boxes was probably the wrong term to use. They are those plastic ones that have 4 flanges on the sides for screwing into the side of the coop. Like this:




We have since added another one in the gap in the upper row.

 

[cabinchicky]

Well, hanging nest boxes was probably the wrong term to use. They are those plastic ones that have 4 flanges on the sides for screwing into the side of the coop. Like this: We have since added another one in the gap in the upper row.

Blooie, is the added wooden bar for them to enter and exit with? Please explain why you added it. I too have these nest boxes in my new coop for LF Cochins. My Cochins are not yet ready to use boxes but any insight will be grateful. Large fowl are a addiction I am trying to limit myself with. lol!

 

[Blooie]

That bar is a helper bar, cabinchicky. It's lower than the roosts, which are out of sight in this photo, and so close to the nests that while they can use it to get into the upper ones, they can't really roost on it very well. It's just not wide enough and they bump into the nests. So it's working well for me, but every coop and set up is different. The third nest box in the top row slid right in - easy as could be, and looks like it's always been there already. The thing I really like about these is that once you have them screwed into the wall, all you have to do is back out the screws slightly and lift up on them - the flanges slide up the screw and the nest lifts off. I can take them off, clean them well, and put them back in just a matter of minutes.

Do you see that big piece of plywood behind the nests? We put that up because not all of the screws would get a full bite of a wall stud without some kind of backing, and the straw would just fall out of the back of the nests if the open space between studs was left behind them. Turned out to be a blessing, because for quite awhile I had little Light Brahmas and Buff Brahmas roosting in the nest boxes at night, which we darn sure didn't want. But I couldn't block them because I had older girls who were laying. The solution was a piece of landscape fabric and one of those split foam pipe insulators. They're gray, come in various lengths, and are split lengthwise. I put the edge of the landscape fabric up over the top edge of that piece of plywood, then clamped it in place with the pipe insulation. With that split in it, the insulation slipped right over the fabric and the edge of the plywood and held the fabric in place with no staples or anything. Then I pulled the fabric down to the floor and cut it off there. I rolled it up in the daytime, just gathering it and tucking it in behind the plywood. In the evening before the girls went to roost but after egg laying was done for the day, I'd go out to lock up for the night and just drop the other end of the landscape fabric down like a curtain. It covered every opening. A bungee cord that went from the lower right nest to the lower left nest held the bottom of the fabric in place. I just hooked one end of it into the vent slots and across to the other side. It worked like a charm. Of course, I had to go out early and make sure the curtain was rolled up for morning, but I was going out there anyway so it was no big chore to unhook one side of the bungee, grab the bottom of the fabric and pull it up to tuck between the plywood and the wall. Broke the Littles and the Tinys of that roosting in the nest boxes. When they started laying, I took the whole assembly down in seconds. Done and done!

 

[cabinchicky]

I hope I won't need a helper bar in the cochin pen. I have 4 of the same nest boxes but all on one level until I need more if I ever do. I have yet to try to integrate a few older hens in this pen to help teach the Cochins a few things. I plan to fold the nest box bars up at night to keep from havong any nest roosting. My oldest Cochin roosts every night on a nest in my other coop and she is considerate enough to roost with her tail out and not mess the nest.

 

[Uzair Ahmed]

This is my 7 months old buff brahma. Just bought it. I need to know if her height is normal for a 7 months old or is it short?

 

[Violetsfeathers]

This is my 7 months old buff brahma. Just bought it. I need to know if her height is normal for a 7 months old or is it short?

Could you get a pic of her next to something for size comparison? She may be a bantam. I have 6month old buff brahma bantams and they're as big as they're ever gonna get