Brahma Thread

[Tim63]

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Gosh, I bet it will be fine. I hatched a single chick in January, and no more till two weeks later. I would'nt worry about it.

 

[dak]

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Gosh, I bet it will be fine. I hatched a single chick in January, and no more till two weeks later. I would'nt worry about it.

I hatched a singleton in Dec. He chirped his head off non-stop for a solid week til a buddy hatched. He did fine otherwise.

 

[big medicine]

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Over the years with my Brahma projects I've used predominately cockerels. Not for fertility reasons, but more hopefully they were a step closer to my breeding end goal than their predecessors. The only exception to this that I can think of was last years blue laced red breeding pen, where I used a old red male, to increase size, trying to compensate for the Wyandotte influence. Now this old male(probably 6-7years old) was not the only male in the pen, but did produce chicks.

I ussually use a flock mating approach, often using multiple males. If your pens are big enough, and the breed involved has the temperment for it, there can be advantages. Never underestimate the value of a little competition to inspire the boys to take care of business.

I've known some old Cornish breeders that swore by the old saying that a Cornish cock needed to feel the sun on his back before he was much good in the breeding pen. These same fellas would usually mate their cockerels with hens, and their old cocks with pullets. Because of their game nature they had to use a single male per breeding pen, but would often put pens near each other. If fertility was an issue they would sometimes switch birds between pens, ussually resulting in increased activity. Now if the issue is low sperm production, rather than delivery, none of this is going to do you much good.

 

[dak]

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[rodriguezpoultry]

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Yeah, RP, I agree with that to a point. But the question is : how long do you tie up the female genetics with a limited hatching window for fall show season. I just have four breeding pens of Buffs-all trios. I'll most likely wait a week. If no fertile eggs, i'll split the females to the two K's.

P.S. I know your not Gary, but i appreciate your input too!

With the cocks, mine like to breed later in the season. There's not too big of a window with my breed as it gets HOT in OK/AR in the summer and growth just goes to "bleck". So I'll breed to the cockerels for the first 2 months or so and then split to the cocks for the last month or so.

I'm lucky in that I can tell if there will be no fertile eggs. My absolute best cock will look at a hen and decide within 10 minutes if he's interested. If no interest I can either AI (which I prefer not to do) or put in with a cockerel who will breed anything with legs..or arms depending on how fast I can get my hands out of the way.

 

[Tim63]

Thanks everyone! Gary I have heard that about the fertility increasing as weather warms. The five year old male is the only male so far that has not produced fertile eggs. I don't really have the room for flock mating, and my main interest is breeding show birds, not developing new varieties. I pretty much stick to one male with one-five females per pen, mostly trios. It is easier for me to keep accurate records that way, ie: "whose out of what". Just an observation, my lights are fertile much earlier than my Buffs are. Fertility has never been an issue with the lights. Thats the main reason I have been able to part with some light eggs this year.

I do think it may be an issue of low sperm production rather than delivery with the old boy. I do have one of his sons( a K) in a breeding pen with two hens.

RP the "window" I was referring to was producing show birds in the "peak" of condition, or "bloom" if you prefer, for the fall show season. I try to finish hatching by the end of April at the latest. I find my Buff pullets to be at their peak at about 5-7 months and Ks need to be at least 6 months.

Again, I appreciate all the input!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yes, I was referring to the same window. I believe we all have to stop breeding (I'm not sure with bantams as I've never had any) so that all eggs will hatch in April. If we hatch any later, the birds will not be ready for the show season in the fall. If you don't breed early in the south, the birds won't grow well or will be fairly stunted when winter/fall showing comes around.

Then again I know of others that hatch all year round. I've learned my lesson though. I will never hatch during the winter again or have birds that will be of an age to grow throughout the winter. Not until I have a place where lighting is not an issue. Bad things happen when using natural lighting in the winter...

Langshans need to be around 9 months old if not 10 months old in order to do well against a mature cock. They're simply not as bold or mature as a good cock and don't look "finished" until closer to 1.5 to 2 years.

Again, this is only with largefowl since I have little to zero knowledge as to the growing span of bantams.

 

[Tim63]

I have friends who show large Brahmas, They say they take 12-14 months to mature. We are hatching a few large darks this spring, so i'll be able to comment more on that in the future.

 

[big medicine]

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Tim, how does Junior stack up against the old man, other than some features that improve with maturity ? If Junior has the goods, I think I would consider putting him over the old birds females as well. Other than some question of paternity, you might consider giving the old man a day with the ladies every so often. Won't lessen fertility any, but might get you a bonus chick or two from him.

I believe some old breeders used a little wheat germ oil on their feed to give old males a little boost.

 

[Tim63]

The old bird has better color, more even buff. His son has better type, almost exagerated. He (the K) is the male bird pictured a page or two back on this thread. Each of my pens are kind of set up with a specific goal, or moving me in the direction of a specific goal. All of my breeder males have good type and color, some of them are just a little stronger in one area or another. I am trying to combine excellent color, and type into one bird. One of the females in the cockbirds pen, is his daughter. Which would make him a full sister to the K in question. I am not a fan of full sibling matings.(don't know your thoughts on that?) If the old boy's pen eggs are clear this weekend, I'll split his females between my two K's. Thats what I'm thinking right now anyway.

Gosh, I hope that makes sense?