Brahma Thread

[Tim63]

Tim this is "Ducky Girl" she was about 3.5 months?? in this pic, she is my only LF Light, but sweet as can be and I get some nice eggs from her now.

Can you give some examples of what she has good and bad? Its the only pic I can find
my uneducated guess looking at her is a few black spots on her back and her foot feathering is wrong, other than that I havent a clue

Where shes white, shes clean white...no black. Thats good. She realy lacks brahma type though, too narrow Her tail is pinched. According to the standard, middle and outer toes should be well feathered. The lacing on her hackles is indisticnt..kind of smutty. She is sparrow headed. None of this of course means she not an awesome chicken. She would not do well at a show, thats all.


BTW I have a pretty good male line of Buffs. I won CH FL in a class of 115 at the FWSS last Jan with a Buff K, and a few other smaller shows. It sort of depends on the judge in my opinion. I have found that judges who breed games typically select a male??? Of course I am speaking solely of bantams.

I do like females with smuttiness/black in the cushion to put better color in the male's saddles, buff and light.

Tim


Edited by BYC Staff

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Tim what does smutty refer to. I also thought she looked a little narrow. I had several hens last year I got rid of all of them because they were late layers took almost a year and they had alot of black through the back.

 

[sharron]

ME TOO BUT I also see the need for both, sometimes u just want to have fun

amen

 

[Tim63]

Kind of blurry, running together , indistinct border,as opposed to a crisp, distinct white lacing around the black. Smutty may be a poor choice of words. Look at the lacing on this hen's hackles. This is my idea of a perfect light brahma female. It is from an old standard. I have it framed and on the wall in my "barn".

 

[Tim63]

My idea of a well spread inverted "U" shaped tail.

 

[Vickis Girls]

Hey Tim, This is great info. It's exactly what us newbies have been asking for. Sure, all the birds are pretty to the ill informed like myself, but these pics. really leave no doubt. This is what I've been waiting for! Thank you!

 

[Tim63]

Glad to help!

 

[chickee]

Tim, I need HELP!

I have looked at my 8 BBB roosters over and over and have finally narrowed it down (I think) to 2 of the Hobb's line (7 mo. old) and 2 of the Neff line (8 mo. old) roosters. I am hoping you can help me decide on one rooster from each line.

I am concerned that #1 Neff line rooster seems oversized and #1 Hobb's line rooster has a comb that the rows aren't straight.

Thanks!

Neff line ~ 8 months old

#1 & #2




Hobb's line~ 7 months old

#1 & #2


##

 

[snowbird]

Tim, I need HELP!

I have looked at my 8 BBB roosters over and over and have finally narrowed it down (I think) to 2 of the Hobb's line (7 mo. old) and 2 of the Neff line (8 mo. old) roosters. I am hoping you can help me decide on one rooster from each line.

I am concerned that #1 Neff line rooster seems oversized and #1 Hobb's line rooster has a comb that the rows aren't straight.

Thanks!

Neff line ~ 8 months old

#1 & #2




Hobb's line~ 7 months old

#1 & #2


##

There is one of these males that is head and shoulders better than the rest.

 

[Tim63]

Just from the photos the bottom Neff bird appears to have a better tail. I don't really like the low angle the top bird is holding his tail and it looks a bit narrow. The bottom Neff bird's wings are a bit low but i suspect that is because he is trying to balance on the roost.

I love the tail on the top bird from Darlene. His wings appear a bit low/loose. The bottom bird has better wing carriage, but may be a bit narrow in the head.

Its all about putting the pieces together. For example I will mate females that are a bit narrow in the tail but excellent up front with a male bird with an super wide blown tail. Or vice versa.

The bottom male from John's line is my favorite of the four.


My birds (Light and Buff0 are basically a combination of Neff and Spence/Williams lines combined. The male birds I use in my buffs are more heavily Neff influenced. As a matter of fact I still have a cock bird that is pure Neff. Hes a bit old for much fertility now. I still rely heavily on his sons and grandsons in the breeding pens.

Have you considered crossing the two lines? Sometimes it works, sometimes not. You could do maybe one pen with a male from one line and females from the other. Or one pen from each line and one each crossing males from one line onto females from the other.

Also, don't get too hung up on small stuff like a bird a bit too heavy. ALL of the birds that win are too heavy. Not saying it right, just true. Greg Williams told me Bob Arbuckle told him, "If you can't be better, be BIGGER". That is a heavy dose of opinion, but one I share.

I tend to fixate on combs also. They count very little as far as points go. Remember, its the overall package, there is no such thing as a perfect bird. TYPE is paramount.

Tim