Brahma Breeders thread

[brahmapapa]

Problem with that is its harder to know if you're actually getting what they advertise or not...

I have bought alot of eggs on ebay, never got wrong breed or color.....I actually just bought and hatched 6 blue/gold partridge eggs, i was not disappointed. good luck.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Im not an egg fan, hatch rates are too insane and you just cant trust half the people out there sadly. It cost more but I stick with buying chicks.

 

[brahmapapa]

Im not an egg fan, hatch rates are too insane and you just cant trust half the people out there sadly. It cost more but I stick with buying chicks.

i have bought both eggs and chicks, I have had good and bad experiences with both. The downside is that not every breed and color pattern is available in chicks . Sometimes if your desperate enough you take the chance on eggs rather than nothing. There are limits to the minimum quantities that sellers will ship. There are not many breeders of show quality birds that are willing to ship chicks, but sometimes you can coax them into selling eggs.

 

[bumpercarr]

i have bought both eggs and chicks, I have had good and bad experiences with both. The downside is that not every breed and color pattern is available in chicks . Sometimes if your desperate enough you take the chance on eggs rather than nothing. There are limits to the minimum quantities that sellers will ship. There are not many breeders of show quality birds that are willing to ship chicks, but sometimes you can coax them into selling eggs.

I've gone every route...hatching eggs, chicks, adult birds. By far the best thing to do is to try to get a breeding pair or trio from a reputable breeder. Then you really know what you have as far as type. But, that isn't always possible. My next choice would be chicks...yeah, you pay more but you know how many you have when you get chicks. Last choice, hatching eggs. A good hatch rate for shipped eggs is 50%, I never get anywhere close to 50%. If I'm lucky, I get 10%. If I'm not lucky, I get 0%. I spent at least two trios worth of money on hatching eggs last year and was just disappointed....horrible hatch rate and then didn't like most of the birds that I got. Just my two cents worth.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

I've gone every route...hatching eggs, chicks, adult birds.  By far the best thing to do is to try to get a breeding pair or trio from a reputable breeder.  Then you really know what you have as far as type.  But, that isn't always possible.  My next choice would be chicks...yeah, you pay more but you know how many you have when you get chicks.  Last choice, hatching eggs.  A good hatch rate for shipped eggs is 50%, I never get anywhere close to 50%.  If I'm lucky, I get 10%.  If I'm not lucky, I get 0%.  I spent at least two trios worth of money on hatching eggs last year and was just disappointed....horrible hatch rate and then didn't like most of the birds that I got.  Just my two cents worth.

Thanks for the input! I got some eggs shipped in from a friend and when I candled 100% of the air cells were in perfect condition. Only half of them made it to lock down tho. However she told me when she shipped them that she wasn't sure her older cock was getting the job done anymore because he had health issues. Since then I've recieved another order and several of the eggs have detached air cells. We'll see how the rest turn out. Last year I also had problems with some of the chicks I got not being as health as if I'd have raised them myself and I eventually lost all of one order even tho they weren't shipped in and we'd picked them up.

 

[Tim63]

Money well spent buying adult birds. I think two pairs are better than one trio as it gives a broader genetic foundation. Go to shows, talk to breeders, learn their reputation. Instant gratification and breeding quality birds do not go together. Buy a standard. Learn what a good Brahma truly is. Type is paramount. A lot of the crap marketed as "Brahmas" are just pretty birds,........about as close to "Brahmas" as many OEGBs. Kim tells the truth, listen to her.

 

[BeachBumBiddies]

I have Gold Laced, Blue Partridge, & will soon have Blue/Black/Splash..should also have Buff Laced & Silver Laced but not until next year...I sell hatching eggs at the moment...but hope to get into selling live birds more often...most of my customers have had great hatch rates but it's definitely a risk buying hatching eggs because we have no control over the PO & I've heard of workers at the PO doing some really stupid things with boxes marked "fragile hatching eggs"...you would hope they would read the boxes & be more careful but i'm sure they are very busy & that is not always the case...that being said, I always try to work with people that have poor hatch rates as I don't want them to have just one chick...

 

[bumpercarr]

I have Gold Laced, Blue Partridge, & will soon have Blue/Black/Splash..should also have Buff Laced & Silver Laced but not until next year...I sell hatching eggs at the moment...but hope to get into selling live birds more often...most of my customers have had great hatch rates but it's definitely a risk buying hatching eggs because we have no control over the PO & I've heard of workers at the PO doing some really stupid things with boxes marked "fragile hatching eggs"...you would hope they would read the boxes & be more careful but i'm sure they are very busy & that is not always the case...that being said, I always try to work with people that have poor hatch rates as I don't want them to have just one chick...

Shipping chicks is a challenge as well. You will usually have some losses too. The best way is to buy/sell at the farm or at shows IMHO....but that can mean lots of road trips.

 

[bumpercarr]

Money well spent buying adult birds. I think two pairs are better than one trio as it gives a broader genetic foundation. Go to shows, talk to breeders, learn their reputation. Instant gratification and breeding quality birds do not go together. Buy a standard. Learn what a good Brahma truly is. Type is paramount. A lot of the crap marketed as "Brahmas" are just pretty birds,........about as close to "Brahmas" as many OEGBs. Kim tells the truth, listen to her.

And I should have listened to you and Gary....but I guess we all learn from experience. I like having genetic diversity as well. No matter what variety you are breeding, you need to know what you are looking for and what "goes" well with it. For instance, I'm all about gold partridge. My goal is to get a really nice line of gold partridge. But to do that, I need some really nice darks as well. So happens that it works out that I can show the darks as a recognized variety. So, I win on two fronts. I work on darks for show and work on partridge to try to get to type (and hopefully show sometime in the future...almost there!). If you are breeding a laced variety, what other laced variety or Columbian or penciled will help to improve your type? The best advice that I ever got was from Gary who said, build the house and then paint it....don't do it the other way around. So build the type and then worry about perfecting the paint. There was a great article written by Aaron Hamilton in the APA yearbook (2013 I think?) about pretty feathers not making the bird.

One thing that I have to say (and for those that are members of the American Brahma Club I apologize...I know you read this in my article) the members of the ABC are amazing! They have a wealth of valuable information and will help you in any way that they can. I haven't met a single person that scoffed or treated me as if I didn't know anything (which I don't). If you have the extra $20 to join, and have the ability to go to some shows to meet some of them, you will be impressed with how open and helpful they all are. Gary walked up and down rows of Brahmas with me and explained to me EXACTLY what was great, good, not so good, or bad about the birds that we were looking at. Tim and Gary both have a wealth of information about breeding, genetics and flock management. Both encouraged me to buy the standard from the APA, which I refer to all of the time. Many other members of the club have been just as helpful and encouraging, from getting me birds that meet the standard to talking to me about breeding practices.

So, enough of the lecture from me. I just want to say that all of these guys (and myself) only have one thing in mind when we offer you advice....we want the best representations of the breed to be the ones that are out there for sale as hatching eggs, chicks, juveniles....whatever it is you are buying, try to buy the best. You won't be disappointed and you won't go through the days and months of heartache and dissatisfaction that the rest of us have. We're only trying to help you avoid the problems that we already went through.

 

[brahmapapa]

I've gone every route...hatching eggs, chicks, adult birds. By far the best thing to do is to try to get a breeding pair or trio from a reputable breeder. Then you really know what you have as far as type. But, that isn't always possible. My next choice would be chicks...yeah, you pay more but you know how many you have when you get chicks. Last choice, hatching eggs. A good hatch rate for shipped eggs is 50%, I never get anywhere close to 50%. If I'm lucky, I get 10%. If I'm not lucky, I get 0%. I spent at least two trios worth of money on hatching eggs last year and was just disappointed....horrible hatch rate and then didn't like most of the birds that I got. Just my two cents worth.

I agree about buying a trio or two pairs, the problem is I live in northern ny and there are not many shows in this region to attend to be able to see and select adult birds to purchase.