Brahma Thread

[bumpercarr]

All right now let's get back to talking about our birds. I sorted out some of this years young, most of these are out of theblue/ red columbian test breeding .A few are out of the blue laced red pen. Suprising range in the gold base of these chicks, anywhere from a pale buff, various shades of gold, to some approaching red.

I got a different computor after my old one crapped out. The new machine does not have the photo editing program my old one had, yet, so these are just as they came out of the camera. Hopefully I can down load something to help me blow up and then crop these into better shots.

If you got a Windows machine, the picture manager that comes with it does a reasonable job of editing photos. If you have a Mac, I can't help you much

 

[bumpercarr]

So, here are my first two Brahmas. The eggs that I bought were blue/gold LF partridge, but I think there was a recessive gene somewhere since the cockerel is definitely not blue/gold. Let me know what you think. I'm thinking about getting rid of the cockerel and keeping the pullet and then getting a different cockerel and some additional pullets. Any advice will be welcome!

 

[bumpercarr]

I forgot to say that I think the darker one is a cockerel and the lighter one a pullet, but maybe you figured that out anyway

 

[Tammy N]

Quote:
I totally agree with you Tim they look like something from my old toy box that had strings

 

[big medicine]

So, here are my first two Brahmas. The eggs that I bought were blue/gold LF partridge, but I think there was a recessive gene somewhere since the cockerel is definitely not blue/gold. Let me know what you think. I'm thinking about getting rid of the cockerel and keeping the pullet and then getting a different cockerel and some additional pullets. Any advice will be welcome!

Blue is a diluter of black. A bird with two black genes, black parts will be black. A bird with one black gene and one blue and those same parts will be blue. A bird with two blue genes parts will be splash, (a washed out bluish white).

Breeding two blue birds together should produce 50% blue chicks, 25% black, and 25% splash.
Blue to black, 50% blue, 50% black chicks.

So you are still in business here.

 

[bumpercarr]

Blue is a diluter of black. A bird with two black genes, black parts will be black. A bird with one black gene and one blue and those same parts will be blue. A bird with two blue genes parts will be splash, (a washed out bluish white).

Breeding two blue birds together should produce 50% blue chicks, 25% black, and 25% splash.
Blue to black, 50% blue, 50% black chicks.

So you are still in business here.

So, if I bred this cockerel with blue/gold pullets I would get 50% that look like the hens and 50% that look like the cockerel? I actually like the cockerel's coloring better, I'm just worried that he maybe has vulture hocks and I don't think I want to breed that in. The pullet's hocks look fine to me, but I'm a beginner at this so I'm not sure about either one. His hocks may just look different to me because his feathering is darker.

 

[big medicine]

50 % blue, 50 % black from that breeding. Now you do realize that the feather color/pattern is considerably different on male versus female with partridge patterned birds right ?

 

[bumpercarr]

50 % blue, 50 % black from that breeding. Now you do realize that the feather color/pattern is considerably different on male versus female with partridge patterned birds right ?

No, can you explain it to me?

 

[bumpercarr]

I suppose I should share what my end goal is, then maybe I can get some more focused advise. I would like to see our 4-H groups in the area branch out into meat chickens for showing as well as laying chickens. Our state only outlawed rooster fighting a few years ago, so most of the stock that is around for the kids to raise for the fair are from that game stock. They make great parents and they lay a lot of eggs, which is great, but there are more uses for chickens than fighting and egg laying. The only other supply of chickens for these kids are from TSC, which again, are good chickens for egg laying but our local store does not generally carry anything except RIRs, Leghorns and maybe some Barred Rocks. On the other hand, if your kid wants to raise sheep, goats, pigs or a steer, there is an ample supply of breeders that bring in good stock for sale.

I'd like to get some of the kids more interested in chickens and I think that I can do that by having a beautiful breed that is easy to handle and easy to raise. With the beautiful feathering that Brahmas have, with the proper care and showmanship, the kids should be able to do well with this breed. Honestly, I was debating between Wyandottes and Brahmas, but Brahma is easier to spell...just kidding, they had all of the traits that I was looking for in a chicken.

The great thing is that here in NM, it is rare for a community to outlaw having chickens in the backyard. I just think that chickens could open the door for more of the "city" kids (we're talking a town of about 25,000) to be able to participate, 4H and FFA are huge here but so many kids don't have enough room to raise a lamb or a pig. So, that is my end goal, to try to get more kids interested in showing chickens for 4H and FFA. I have a plan of attack, but I need to make sure that the stock that I'm putting out there is top quality, even if the colors are not standard for the regular chicken shows. I need chickens with the personality and feathering to be able to show well with the proper care and I've decided that the Brahma is the one. I think they are also a chicken that the kids can fall in love with, which will help me with my goal.

So, in a nutshell, I'm trying to brainwash a bunch of little kids to love chickens as I do!

 

[big medicine]

Females are what is called penciled, a series of fine light and dark lacing on each feather. Males should have a solid dark(black or blue in this case) belly/chest red/gold on rest of body.

This link will show you some examples, many non US birds shown here as well. Partridge and dark Brahmas are actually the same pattern. Partridge gold based, dark silver based.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Brahma/BRKBrahma.html