Brahma Thread

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It's sad. It is just part of it.Those sickly chicks that fail to thrive should be culled. You can nurse them along, baby them, give them all kinds of special attention...they usually die anyway. If they do live...they are never right, always sickly, poor immunity, undersized, not birds you want to breed from. I know it sounds harsh, its just more humane to cull them immediatly. The more you hatch, the quicker you will be able to identify the "fail to thrive" chicks.

Tim
I agree completely. I left them with the housesitter last week, so I'm not sure if this one was always having an issue or just started after I got home. The housesitter isn't a chicken person, she wouldn't really know what to look for. Last time she was here when I had chicks, one died and she was devastated. I'm just glad it waited until I got home. Like I said before, I'm pretty sure it was the last one to hatch and it is what it is.
 
I just had the same problem with two of my chicks. Both were pooping fine before, then they seemed constipated and got weak. I tried what I could, but they just didn't make it. They were really healthy chicks, too. Now my chicks who used to come fluttering up when I walked in are all laying in the back of the cage giving me the stink eye. And I am sicker than a dog so I don't want to handle them a whole bunch. But the rest seem healthy, but that was the same with the ones that died. I only have four chicks now, out of seven hatching from thirty six eggs.
I'm wondering if they could be eating their shavings, straw or whatever you have down for bedding? I use just straight paper towels for a while....once they start shredding the paper towels they are usually big enough to be on shavings. I guess it is just what happens when we take nature out of the equation. 7 out of 36, is that your normal hatch rate? Were they shipped eggs or eggs you collected yourself?
 
I'm wondering if they could be eating their shavings, straw or whatever you have down for bedding?  I use just straight paper towels for a while....once they start shredding the paper towels they are usually big enough to be on shavings.  I guess it is just what happens when we take nature out of the equation.  7 out of 36, is that your normal hatch rate?  Were they shipped eggs or eggs you collected yourself?


This was my first ever hatch. I put only fifteen eggs into lockdown. Majority of the total eggs were clear, only three or so blood rings. They were not from my own flock. I use paper shreds, and they don't eat any.
 
Thanks. That seems so small!

That does seem small to me too, but from what I've read on some forums, a lot of bantam breeders are getting their birds too big and judges are placing them regardless. I don't know, but the sop has been around a long long time, so I don't know how,"old" the standard is for bantams, Tim would probably know that better. I haven't weighed my cock bird, but he feels like he's in that range. 2 lbs sure is easier to hold than a 5 or 10 lb bird tho,
 
That does seem small to me too, but from what I've read on some forums, a lot of bantam breeders are getting their birds too big and judges are placing them regardless. I don't know, but the sop has been around a long long time, so I don't know how,"old" the standard is for bantams, Tim would probably know that better. I haven't weighed my cock bird, but he feels like he's in that range. 2 lbs sure is easier to hold than a 5 or 10 lb bird tho,
I was just thinking that they'd probably be about 1/2 the size of a LF. I had no idea that they were so small!
 
Bantam Brahmas are one of the larger Bantams. Compared to other Bantams...Moderns,OE, Sebrights, etc....they look HUGE. Compare them to Standard bred Large Brahmas and they look TINY! One thing(of the many) I enjoy about Bantam Brahmas is the relatively large egg they lay for a Bantam.
Right or wrong......larger birds DO WIN at shows. The "Bantam Standard" says 1/2 point deduction for each OZ. over or under standard weight. It also says, and I quote here, "Any Bantam that is accurately and openly weighed, using accurate scales, and weighs over 20% more or over 20% less than its standard prescribed weight shall be disqualified." I can tell you from experience, both of those are ignored. That is a good thing as the MAJORITY of every class of Bantam Brahmas would have been DQ'd at EVERY show I have ever been to. Smaller bred birds tend to lose type. Again, not saying right or wrong, just presenting FACTS as I see them. 20% of 38 is 7.6(=45.6) if my math is correct. Some of my cocks weigh 50! I have NEVER had a judge bat an eye.

Tim

P.S. Just for reference standard weights for Large Brahmas per SOP....cock 12 lbs, hen 9.5, cockerel, 10, pullet 8. I can tell you winning birds in the Large version far exceed those weights too.
 
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