Thanks....I've had an amazing journey, and I have you, @big medicine , and all of the great folks at the American Brahma Club to thank. All of you have been a huge help in getting me birds, telling me what to look for and supporting me in a million other ways! I have learned so much and have so much more to learn....I can just pray that this year continues the way it started.
I don't know how brutally honest I can be, but I can tell you what I look for. I'm talking here about what I will breed, not what I'm going to show. First and foremost I look for size. If they don't have the size, I won't breed them. Second, the head. At this age it is somewhat difficult to tell how the head is going to turn out, I'm usually looking for the head to be fully developed by 1 year old. In the males, I prefer three finger width, anything less than two fingers wide is unacceptable (and of course the beetle brow). The third thing that I am concerned about, particularly in the partridge variety, is back width. The back should be wide, and stay wide all of the way through the saddle to the tail. This is where most of my partridge cockerels fail, they are more heart shaped, narrowing at the hips so to speak. If they don't pass those three tests, I don't breed them. To tell you how difficult those tests are, out of 9 very well bred partridge cockerels that I have, only two have passed those tests at 6 months old. Some of them may improve before the decision date (probably November-December timeframe). Then, I choose the one that passed those tests and has the best comb, wing carriage and the best tail carriage. That is of course that all the other requirements are there, yellow legs & feathered feet. I try to keep a back up, just incase disaster strikes.Ok, so I've read through the entire Brahma thread, the old and this one! May I say wow and thank you to those who consistently share their expert advice and opinions?! Y'all are awesome!! I'm learning everything I can about my Brahmas, as I want to ensure that I'm breeding to standard. I don't show, but I firmly feel that we should be trying our hardest to keep the breeds true. I've gotten other breeds that were supposed to be "pure" and weren't due in large part to the seller not knowing any better. I refuse to be that person lol. On that note, I would really like to know if I'm on the right track with my cockerel, please be brutally honest as I sincerely wish to learn and know if I'm doing good or not.
This is one of my 5 month old cockerels, he is the one I think is best of this batch.
This one is an 8 month old cockerel that I was beginning to get very pleased about but then I noticed his comb was wrong. As he grew it began looking more and more like a rosecomb?
Same cockerel in the back, showing off his tail. His brother is in front and has a nice comb, but I just don't feel like he has quite as nice a build?
The brother cockerel again
Thank you in advance for any critique!
Val
Looks like Polish or Sultan X Light Brahma.
