Brahma Thread

[WyandotteTX]

Have always heard about you and have seen your birds for years Chad(Spence). Have always admired your birds and I am glad to say I have two of your Buff pullets and have hatched out about a dozen birds this year. I talked with you a little bit at the Brazos Valley show this year, enjoyed the conversation.
I am sorry to hear that you are liquidating your Brahma flock, they have been a standard of excellence for many years. I hope all is well with you and your family also.
John

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Quote:
how old are they? one year, two? - It seems it may be the roosters, either they aren't very fertile or they aren't breeding correctly... Suggestion would be learn to AI and AI your hens, incubate those eggs and see if you have similar results. If you do, I would suggest new roosters. If not, you may just need to invest some time next season in AI'ing your girls if you really like your roos.


Also try trimming the roo's vent area as well, I know in cochins all that fluff on both male/female causes alot of problems, the roo tries to do his job but it all just gets in the way and his...product is wasted.

 

[dbounds10]

Here are my beautiful Brahma girls...They are 2 days from 19 weeks and I am waiting for my first eggs. They are not as red in the face as the BR's but I think they will be laying right after the BR's in a couple weeks.

Olga and Ursula at 2 week.

4 Weeks

7 weeks

18 weeks

 

[SanctusPullus]

Quote:

The Best.

 

[Domes Farm]

Quote:
The only brahmas I have experience with are dark bantams and can also have trouble with fertility. In my opinion, some of the things that effect fertiltiy/breeding in my birds are temperature, space, feed, and oddly the length of the roosters spur. My birds tend to breed the best if they have access to lots of room and green grass. When I first got the birds I was having terrible fertility and I THINK it was due to my roosters spurs. The spurs were over 3 inches on each leg and he couldnt get the job done. After removing the spurs the rooster was a totally different bird and fertility has been great ever since.

 

[BLaBauve]

 

[sableboi]

Pretty Girl ...

 

[njeggvt]

Quote:
how old are they? one year, two? - It seems it may be the roosters, either they aren't very fertile or they aren't breeding correctly... Suggestion would be learn to AI and AI your hens, incubate those eggs and see if you have similar results. If you do, I would suggest new roosters. If not, you may just need to invest some time next season in AI'ing your girls if you really like your roos.


Also try trimming the roo's vent area as well, I know in cochins all that fluff on both male/female causes alot of problems, the roo tries to do his job but it all just gets in the way and his...product is wasted.

Thanks - I took your advice & finished trimming this morning

 

[njeggvt]

Quote:
The only brahmas I have experience with are dark bantams and can also have trouble with fertility. In my opinion, some of the things that effect fertiltiy/breeding in my birds are temperature, space, feed, and oddly the length of the roosters spur. My birds tend to breed the best if they have access to lots of room and green grass. When I first got the birds I was having terrible fertility and I THINK it was due to my roosters spurs. The spurs were over 3 inches on each leg and he couldnt get the job done. After removing the spurs the rooster was a totally different bird and fertility has been great ever since.

Thanks - I will try that

 

[janinepeters]

Not sure if this is the proper place for this question, but in the past I posted elsewhere and no one responded. Let's hope it goes better here.

How much larger are standard sized brahmas, relative to the typical dual purpose bird, such as wyandotte or plymouth rock? How well do they lay, relative to rocks and wyandottes? What size nestbox do they need?

I currently have a mixed flock of various standard sized dual purpose birds (no standared brahmas), and a few bantam brahma hens. The bantams lay OK, but not as well as the larger birds. I have wanted to get standard sized brahmas, but worry that they won't fit comfortably in my nestboxes, and that they won't lay well.