Questions for anyone who has Brahma Roos

[DemeterAD9]

I'm planning for next spring already because I am impatient and like to get all my ducks (chicks?) in a row before I do anything. Currently doing some looking around on where to source some nice brahma hatching eggs and/or chicks.

Some backstory. I have a medium mixed breed flock of 49 (working on getting down to 30) who are used for both meat and eggs, leaning more on the meat side of things. My main man is a lovely blue copper maran who is well mannered and fairly stout which I like. What I don't like is his big single comb that has already lost the tips last winter and out of my many birds he was the only one to get frostbite on his toes and have a few toe tips fall off. He has many good daughters, the sons have already been done away with due to their big combs and bad cockerel behavior. I intend to use him again this coming spring but that means there will be a generation of inbreeding, not a huge deal but if I keep inbreeding I know some bad things can pop up.

I intend to replace my current rooster with a brahma cockerel next summer so I can use him as a breeder come spring of 2027. Bringing in some new blood via replacing the main breeding rooster just seems like the best way to go about things. I want a short combed rooster, one that is on the larger side of things and will produce some decent sized young destined for dinner. I know brahmas are a slow growing breed but I'm okay with waiting a little longer. The most commonly available colors seem to be light, dark and buff. I already have a light and a buff hen and both are very docile. Right now I am leaning towards dark due to their partridge patterning, plus I really liked my previous dark hen who I culled for health issues.

As I've already ordered from Meyer a couple times before I currently plan to use them again and get a few cockerels to pick from and maybe even a couple more hens. But I've also done some looking on eBay and I see some very nice buff/red partridge and BBS brahma eggs for sale... Nothing is set in stone yet.

My questions are these, how big are your adult brahma roos? Are they particularly hard on your hens due to their size? Anyone have any hatchery vs breeder experience in brahmas specifically? Have you found the temperament of the brahma roos to be better than other breeds? Any recommendations for brahma breeders for the fancier color types?

Bonus pics of my old dark Brahma’s daughters, fathered by the blue copper maran.

 

[nuthatched]

Cackle Hatchery is hoping to have some more varieties of brahma next year, I would give them a look.

 

[Ebz5003]

I'm planning for next spring already because I am impatient and like to get all my ducks (chicks?) in a row before I do anything. Currently doing some looking around on where to source some nice brahma hatching eggs and/or chicks.

Some backstory. I have a medium mixed breed flock of 49 (working on getting down to 30) who are used for both meat and eggs, leaning more on the meat side of things. My main man is a lovely blue copper maran who is well mannered and fairly stout which I like. What I don't like is his big single comb that has already lost the tips last winter and out of my many birds he was the only one to get frostbite on his toes and have a few toe tips fall off. He has many good daughters, the sons have already been done away with due to their big combs and bad cockerel behavior. I intend to use him again this coming spring but that means there will be a generation of inbreeding, not a huge deal but if I keep inbreeding I know some bad things can pop up.

I intend to replace my current rooster with a brahma cockerel next summer so I can use him as a breeder come spring of 2027. Bringing in some new blood via replacing the main breeding rooster just seems like the best way to go about things. I want a short combed rooster, one that is on the larger side of things and will produce some decent sized young destined for dinner. I know brahmas are a slow growing breed but I'm okay with waiting a little longer. The most commonly available colors seem to be light, dark and buff. I already have a light and a buff hen and both are very docile. Right now I am leaning towards dark due to their partridge patterning, plus I really liked my previous dark hen who I culled for health issues.

As I've already ordered from Meyer a couple times before I currently plan to use them again and get a few cockerels to pick from and maybe even a couple more hens. But I've also done some looking on eBay and I see some very nice buff/red partridge and BBS brahma eggs for sale... Nothing is set in stone yet.

My questions are these, how big are your adult brahma roos? Are they particularly hard on your hens due to their size? Anyone have any hatchery vs breeder experience in brahmas specifically? Have you found the temperament of the brahma roos to be better than other breeds? Any recommendations for brahma breeders for the fancier color types?

Bonus pics of my old dark Brahma’s daughters, fathered by the blue copper maran.
View attachment 4224114View attachment 4224115

I got my main rooster, a Buff Brahma, from Meyer a year ago, and he's the only rooster that's worked for me! He's tall and big, and tends to step hard on the necks and backs of my hens, including my Cochin Bantam, that is much, much smaller, to mate. This bothered me, but other than losing a few neck feathers, they don't seem stressed or scared by him. He is the only rooster I've had that will actually alert to food and then actually feed my hens, rather than stuffing his own face, lol. He alerts loudly to predators, even during the middle of the night. Calls all hens in the run at the first sign of a predator. He won't constantly survey the yard during free range time, like my Marans and Olive Egger would. He doesn't run very fast, due to large size. Attempted chasing us in the beginning, but has since mellowed out after getting his head shut in the run door ( accident, but it put him in his place!) He has produced calm, friendly offspring. He has protected/ sheltered newly integrated cockerels and pullets. Gets along fine with smaller roosters. I have had to give away/ eaten every other non-bantam rooster, but not him! I would recommend Meyer Buff Brahma roosters!

 

[Digitalis]

Hi. Your hen is beautiful!

I ordered three Dark Brahma hens from Cackle Hatchery in April 2024, and one of them turned out to be a rooster. He’s about a year and a half old now, and he is a very mellow guy. I never weighed him, but he’s pretty hefty.I have six roosters, and he’s sits in the middle of the totem pole.

As far as his temperament, he’s very calm and passive. He’s never shown any aggression toward me, and he’ll happily eat out of my hand even though he’s not one of the first to run up to me for treats. I say he’s in the middle of the totem pole not because he bullies any of the other roosters, but just because he doesn’t get picked on like a couple of the others do. Maybe it’s because he does his own thing and doesn’t try to challenge anyone, lol.

I wouldn’t say he’s a great protector/provider, though. He’ll eat for himself and doesn’t tidbit any that I’ve noticed, and when I let them all free range, he usually hangs back closer to the coop and won’t always follow the hens when they take off.

He doesn’t try to mate aa often with the hens as some of the others, and he’s not aggressive with them in the instances that he manages to get them. He prefers to do his little “show-off” and wait for the hens to show receptive behavior before mounting them rather than run after them and yank them by the neck feathers like some of the other Roosters do. And while he’s a hefty size, it hasn’t appeared to me to be more than the hens can handle

He doesn’t have a strong protective streak either, which is actually fine for me personally because I’d rather take the risks with predators rather than deal with a rooster that’s human aggressive since I don’t have the heart/guts to cull them.

I live in Pennsylvania, so we do get quite a few very cold winter nights, though obviously not as severe as other places. Last winter was a cold one for us, and we had many nights where the temperature was in the single digits, and my boy didn’t have any problems with frostbite. Of course, he has the pea comb, and fairly small wattles. No problems with frostbite on his toes either.

P.S. As a comparison, my current roosters are:

(1) Jubilee Orpington
(2) Surprise! roosters that I got out of the Golden comet bin at Tractor Supply, but actually look more like buff Orpington‘s
(1) Barnevelder
(1) Delaware
(1) Dark Brahma

Hope that helps!