I loved loved loved my Light Brahmas!! Gentle giants! My littlest granddaughter Kendra has been in her wheelchair since she was 9 months old and she was 2 when we got our first chickens. I was (and still am) her day care provider - full time until she started school and after school now. I think she was around 4 when we added the Light Brahmas along with some Buff Brahmas to our flock. We never had a single issue with any of the Brahmas, ever - well, except for not allowing for their size when it came to putting in the nest boxes.
Calm, peaceful birds, great in the winter, and steady layers of medium to large eggs. The plan was to raise them for eggs, then after a couple of years process them for meat, since they have more meat than most dual purpose birds, and that's what we did. Well, all except for Tank. She stayed.
Kendra loved the chickens. Obviously we weren't going to keep her confined to the house every day, so she spent a lot of time out there when the chickens were out in the yard. Any bird we couldn't trust 100% met the inside of the freezer. Period. Not an issue with the Brahmas, and especially Tank. Tank would fly up on Kendra's lap and nestle down calmly. The first time she did it it scared the peewadding out of us and Kendra and we panicked and removed her immediately. But she went right back. Finally Ken picked her up and gently placed her on Kendra's lap and we each stood on one side of the wheelchair, hands outstretched ready to toss her off. Kendra petted her back and repeated, "Chicken, chicken." Tank dozed off. It was that way every time. Even when Kendra would flap her arms and squeal, Tank remained quiet and calm, going for wheelchair rides. I don't have any photos of that, but now I desperately wish I did! At the time, though, supervising Kendra outside in her wheelchair always took precedence.
We brood our chicks outdoors in a wire brooder pen in the run. We integrate early - full integration by 4 weeks old. At 3 weeks we open the little doors to the brooder to begin mingling chicks (under our supervision, of course) with the adults. Tank was the first one to greet the chicks as they discover the portal door into the rest of the run. Every batch. Every time.
I had to rehome all of my flock in August. The new owner reports that every morning like clockwork, Tank pecks on the patio glass and waits for Jim to come out. He picks her up and carries her out to do chores. There are no plans for me to get more chickens. But if I ever did, you can guarantee that there will be Light Brahmas in the flock. This is Tank greeting the Silkie chicks as they ventured out.
