Brahma Thread

[jeremy]

They are very nice.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, they are very nice!

I haven't been on this thread for quite some time. I have had only two Brahmas, a Lt Brahma and a Buff Brahma, whose photos are somewhere on this thread probably, early on. Recently, I lost my Lt. Brahma, Miranda, at the age of 5 1/2. Caroline, the Buff, is head hen in the main flock and will turn 6 in January. They were both hatchery hens from Ideal, but except for Caroline's too small head and what I suspect are not well-formed nasal passages resulting in daily periods of sneezing for the last four years of her life (she is the Queen of Sneeze, LOL), they have been trouble free. No reproductive issues ever, regular layers until the last year or so, when they'd lay only about half of the year, nice extra large round eggs. I call them Salt of the Earth hens.

The reason I say all this is that my flock is aging. I've already lost the first original flock of hatchery stock (none of those were Brahmas). The Brahmas came a year later and about half of my current birds are four to almost six years of age, so I'm looking to rebuild as they pass on, possibly in the spring, depending on how many I lose over winter. I've decided to go with my favorite heritage breeds, the Barred Rocks and Rhode lsland Reds, but I wanted a third breed.

Though I love my BBS Ameraucanas, they are just not the best foragers, usually only playing a bit at foraging then coming back to hang around the pen and the house while others go far and wide. I'm considering adding some Brahmas as my 3rd choice, but not sure where I'd get them. The Brahmas were excellent foragers. I need birds who free range well and handle cold as well as heat. The Brahmas have fit the bill for us so I think they may be a good substitute for my Ameraucanas. Their eggs are larger and they are better overall layers.


ETA: Gosh, I checked and I posted pictures of Caroline and Miranda on the thread when they were really super young, maybe 14 weeks old.

 

[pgpoultry]

A bit of advice for me, too, please.

This little 5 week old lady is of unknown parentage....though it is likely that mum was a Blue Partridge Brahma and father a Naked Neck X Blue Partridge Brahma. (On this thread I'm sure that many folk will say that she is lucky not to have inherited her father's feather lack!) She doesn't appear to have many leg feathers in the pic. as they are wet from rain. She has a pea comb, again not easily visible.

Her feathers,though I accept that she may feather out differently when she is adult,are a particularly nice colour.

Is she worth breeding on? I'm happy to keep her for eggs if not. (Now I'm waiting for someone to say that cock-a-doodle-do is all I'm going to get).

I love the look of some of the Brahmas I'm seeing on this thread......even Big Medicine's Porcupine Brahma.....

 

[want brahmas 2]

love your roster tim, your darks are very nice birds !!! how big are they ???

 

[Tim63]

love your roster tim, your darks are very nice birds !!! how big are they ???

Too small. Never weighd them but I can tell you they are much smaller than Petersen or Aldrich(Bowman) lights. We just have a few. My 15 year old son insists on keeping them. I am really a bantam Brahma person.You can't really tell from the photo, but the male especially is too narrow. We have one young cockerel that looks a bit more promising. They are SO slow to mature. Won't know for sure till maybe January.

Tim

 

[cubakid]

Personally Tim, I believe the comb issue to be nothing more than a bad comb. The genes to me would be the same as a normal comb, but again they haven't been bred for combs. I too will be watching closely on my females, and will check who the main culprit of this bad comb is from. Most certainly a mom, as I have shown all my breeder cocks and would remember something so severe. I'll also look at his siblings. Seems I don't have good combs on anything out of like 6 breeds or so. The only exception being OEGB, because of dubbing. This cockerel pictured had an okay comb, though nothing to be proud of, until sexual maturity... Then mass comb growth with the warm weather and, boom his comb gets ugly. Can't seem to find a happy medium. I'll probably breed the cock with the best comb to the hens with the smallest combs, during laying season, as I'd like to see the max size of her comb.
Zach

 

[NickyPick]

Tim - thanks. All of my brahmas came from Ideal hatchery. I know their tails are right - too pointy - but I felt they do look enough like the standard so that they're easily recognizable as brahmas. Blackberry is only 6 months old, but already completely dwarfs my EE rooster in the other coop. I'm having a hard time mentally picturing how big he's going to be when he's full grown!
He is very quiet - crows *maybe* once a day. Is this common with brahma roosters or is he just a quiet one?

 

[Tim63]

NP, in my experience the big birds are pretty laid back and quiet.

Zach, I never really paid attention to the female combs until someone told me thats where the bad male combs were coming from. Sure enough,on closer inspection, you can see it. I will test the theory this breeding season. My fear is, loosing the monster heads.

Tim

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Yes, they are very nice!

I haven't been on this thread for quite some time. I have had only two Brahmas, a Lt Brahma and a Buff Brahma, whose photos are somewhere on this thread probably, early on. Recently, I lost my Lt. Brahma, Miranda, at the age of 5 1/2. Caroline, the Buff, is head hen in the main flock and will turn 6 in January. They were both hatchery hens from Ideal, but except for Caroline's too small head and what I suspect are not well-formed nasal passages resulting in daily periods of sneezing for the last four years of her life (she is the Queen of Sneeze, LOL), they have been trouble free. No reproductive issues ever, regular layers until the last year or so, when they'd lay only about half of the year, nice extra large round eggs. I call them Salt of the Earth hens.

The reason I say all this is that my flock is aging. I've already lost the first original flock of hatchery stock (none of those were Brahmas). The Brahmas came a year later and about half of my current birds are four to almost six years of age, so I'm looking to rebuild as they pass on, possibly in the spring, depending on how many I lose over winter. I've decided to go with my favorite heritage breeds, the Barred Rocks and Rhode lsland Reds, but I wanted a third breed.

Though I love my BBS Ameraucanas, they are just not the best foragers, usually only playing a bit at foraging then coming back to hang around the pen and the house while others go far and wide. I'm considering adding some Brahmas as my 3rd choice, but not sure where I'd get them. The Brahmas were excellent foragers. I need birds who free range well and handle cold as well as heat. The Brahmas have fit the bill for us so I think they may be a good substitute for my Ameraucanas. Their eggs are larger and they are better overall layers.


ETA: Gosh, I checked and I posted pictures of Caroline and Miranda on the thread when they were really super young, maybe 14 weeks old.

I'm glad you're thinking of adding Brahmas to your flock. They are a great breed with good personalities.

My bossy Brahma pullet will let me hold and cuddle her and let me lay her on my lap while she just stays there, yet she lets our 50-pound dog know who is in charge.

I don't know about the laying thing, though. I have a pullet who is laying and she gives me about 3 eggs a week, more or less. She only seems to lay when she feels like it and not always in the nest box. We get lots of entertainment out of her egg-laying habits, though!

The other pullet -who we still aren't sure if she is laying or not- just gives me silence when I ask her about laying an egg!

Seriously, she just cocks her head and stares me down.

Good luck with your future Brahmas! They really are a beautiful and sweet breed!

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Tim - thanks. All of my brahmas came from Ideal hatchery. I know their tails are right - too pointy - but I felt they do look enough like the standard so that they're easily recognizable as brahmas. Blackberry is only 6 months old, but already completely dwarfs my EE rooster in the other coop. I'm having a hard time mentally picturing how big he's going to be when he's full grown!
He is very quiet - crows *maybe* once a day. Is this common with brahma roosters or is he just a quiet one?

I've heard of Brahma roos ranging from 11-14 lbs.! You must post pics when he has grown!