Brahma Thread

[Tim63]

Bantams or large fowl? I hate to say it because I greatly treasure everything Mr. Urch has done for purebred poultry, but I had ~15 Dark Brahma Bantam chicks from him last year and every single one of them had Vulture Hocks. Just my experience and he may have dealt with the problem, but just a word of caution.

Very few dark bantams that are completely free of VHs. I don't know of any Large darks with them? I think the only big birds with them are imported birds or birds that have been crossed to other breeds to get a new color, and of course birds out of these two examples. The three large varieties typically shown have clean hocks. AND if you look at MANY of the dark bantams shown.....there has usually been some heavy duty plucking going on. Jimmy Rust has some VH free bantams...type is not up to Buffs and Lights though of course(Jimmy's birds are farmed out at the present to another gentleman). John Beamers in Canada has some excellent Dark bantams. I believe he got some from Greg Williams who had eliminated the VHs in his line of bantam Darks using sports from his Black project. Greg of course no longer has birds.

Tim

 

[Nikki816]

He's still pretty young (hatched mid October) but can anyone point out and strengths or weaknesses on him? He was the bigger and broader of the 2 I hatched out, the other has already been been rehomed. I couldn't get a top pic of him

 

[BGMatt]

Very few dark bantams that are completely free of VHs. I don't know of any Large darks with them? I think the only big birds with them are imported birds or birds that have been crossed to other breeds to get a new color, and of course birds out of these two examples. The three large varieties typically shown have clean hocks. AND if you look at MANY of the dark bantams shown.....there has usually been some heavy duty plucking going on. Jimmy Rust has some VH free bantams...type is not up to Buffs and Lights though of course(Jimmy's birds are farmed out at the present to another gentleman). John Beamers in Canada has some excellent Dark bantams. I believe he got some from Greg Williams who had eliminated the VHs in his line of bantam Darks using sports from his Black project. Greg of course no longer has birds.

Tim

Good point, I haven't heard of LF with them either, just always clarifying. I'd expect most lines to have some, but not all birds having them. Have always liked the look of the Darks.

 

[Alaskan]

I was referring to frying in particular, I have yet to process a heritage breed that I liked the way they fried.

The key to making the meat tender is cooking at low temperatures.

This article from the heritage breeds site is a must read.


http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

 

[bumpercarr]

The key to making the meat tender is cooking at low temperatures.

This article from the heritage breeds site is a must read.


http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

Great article! Thanks for sharing.

 

[bumpercarr]

How do your adult birds react to having chicks added to the flock? I've read that Brahmas are very accepting of additions, but I was wondering what everyone's experiences have been.

 

[Alaskan]

I haven't had a problem with Brahma hens.... I haven't had a good rooster


But with chicks, if you are actually adding chicks, they need a broody to adopt them. Without a broody to adopt them, I wouldn't even try to add them in until they are at least half the size of the adults.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

I haven't had the ability to eat one of my chickens yet. It is certainly coming, my husband will only allow me to have so many. I don't normally fry chicken, I like them in the crockpot. Don't know if I can eat one that I've named though. I'm still trying to face the fact that I bought a calf 8 months ago that is soon to be in the freezer.

It gets easier, honestly its not as bad as you think.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Here is the definition from the 2011 "Bantam Standard", The SOP definition is similar if not identical, I'm looking at the "Bantam Standard" now though. "VULTURE HOCKS: The stiff quill feathers growing in the thighs, extending backward, straight beyond the hocks." There are also drawings in both books. Brahmabreeder summed it up well.

I was just kind of gently poking fun at the gushy, exuberance on the "delicious fried" statement. We do eat young culls. They are good fried. They taste just like chicken!

Tim

I figured you were, it may have been snickers time. I was serious as to how they fry up and also what age do you cull the young ones to eat. I was referring to all the 9-15 month old various breed roosters we have processed so far don't appear to be frying material but when you put them in the slow cooker or pressure cooker yo are right they taste like chicken.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Very few dark bantams that are completely free of VHs. I don't know of any Large darks with them? I think the only big birds with them are imported birds or birds that have been crossed to other breeds to get a new color, and of course birds out of these two examples. The three large varieties typically shown have clean hocks. AND if you look at MANY of the dark bantams shown.....there has usually been some heavy duty plucking going on. Jimmy Rust has some VH free bantams...type is not up to Buffs and Lights though of course(Jimmy's birds are farmed out at the present to another gentleman). John Beamers in Canada has some excellent Dark bantams. I believe he got some from Greg Williams who had eliminated the VHs in his line of bantam Darks using sports from his Black project. Greg of course no longer has birds.

Tim

I need to get my trio from Dick Hortsman back out back out but I don't think they have any vulture hocks. I just haven't had time with the weather and other farm projects to do much more than just feed them.