Brahma

My Brahma Hen is so beautiful, although she is skiddish. In the afternoon she is okay with me holding her but during the day, no deal. I just got her about a week ago so I know she is not EXTREMELY used to me, so i can just wait a little and I bet I could hold her anytime of the day. Brahma's are a medium size, and compared to my precious Bantam, Autumn and the rooster Popeye, she is pretty heavy, but if you are looking for a pretty, dual purpose, medium-heavy bird, I suggest the Brahma

I love my Brahmas. They are large, fluffy, friendly birds who lay well and get along with all my hens of six other breeds. They don't pick on the bantams, but even though they are the largest birds, they aren't at the top of the pecking order (the Red Sex-Links are) because they are so docile. Absolutely wonderful hens. I plan to get more of them in the future!

I have two light Brahmas, The Taichou Twins (Taichou means "Captain" in Japanese) and they are the bosses of the flock. They are firm but fair. They are large, larger than the Orpington, EE, and Australorps, but don't throw their weight around. They are impossible to tell the difference between, so I just call them The Twins. They are the most bold and inquisitive of them all, and are the leaders when they free range. One got out of the brooder when they were young, probably just for some adventure. They are docile, but not keen on being picked up. I got them when they were 4 weeks old, so they had no human interaction before then, so I can't really blame them. But they are first to come up to you for treats. They both seem to be the most intelligent of the flock. They will be the last to start laying, but it's easy to be patient with such nice birds. Sometimes their feathered feet can get a bit mucky, but once they dry out and run around a bit, they are clean again. Beautiful white plumage with interesting black collar and tails. I would definitely recommend them to anyone.

I absolutely love this breed they are so big and fluffy!!! We have 5 Brahmas And they are just the nicest breed we have other than or EE's!!!!! I recommend this breed for beginners . The Buff Brahma roosters are so nice and get along with other roosters great!!!

Gentle. non-aggressive. They do dig a lot but I don't mind. Friends with everyone in the coop.

Mine is so sweet, sometimes she'll snuggle up right next to me and let me pet her but she is a bit on the smaller side although she's just starting to bulk up, and her feet do get dirty sometimes but that's not a big problem at all.

5/23/14: I LOVE my dark brahma's! I would like to get some blues, but probably never going to happen, at least in my area. They're the first breed of chicken that I bought. I've owned them for just over a year (they were hatched the end of March 2013), they're the only breed I've ever owned, & probably the only breed I ever will own. I've had such great luck with them. 15 hens came from Mt. Healthy hatchery. I didn't get any accidental roosters, so I found a breeder & bought 2 young roosters & 1 more hen. I did loose 1 hen this past January, not really sure why, but everyone else is still doing great. With 15 hens I'm getting about 5 & 1/2 dozen eggs a week. Nothing to complain about there! The 2 roosters grew up together, & don't fight at all, plus they've never attempted to go after me. They're all very well tempered. Only complaint is that the roosters do have a couple of favorite hens that have some bald spots. They did very will this past summer when temps were over 100, & the only ones that didn't do well this past winter when temps were down to 20's below 0 were the roosters .... I did have to bag balm their combs & wattles. Was bummed when egg count went from 8 a day down to me being thrilled when I got 1 a day over winter ..... but it was a very hard winter & they were all molting, so I can't hate them for that! It's nature.

10/8/2014: I bought 9 more dark brahma chicks this year! Hatched in early April. 1 ended up being an accidental rooster. Go figure - I want one, don't get one - don't want one, get one. I also hatched out 5 of my chickens eggs in July when I couldn't break a hen from being broody (2 hens went broody for the first time this year). I kept the 2 pullets & re-homed the 3 roosters. Then I lost my favorite hen when a horse stepped on her, & another hen died from fly-strike. So now I'm up to 23 hens & 3 roosters. Plan on getting some blues still. I'm surprised they don't eat a whole heck of a lot, but then again, mine free range during the day. They're excellent foragers. The 2 pullets that I hatched out are actually better foragers than the hens I got from the hatchery. I think that's because their "mother" was around & showed them how to do it at an early age. I will have to check & see how much feed they go through to give everyone a good idea.

I love my brahmas! The first one I got was really sweet and at first I thought it was just because she was older and used to people. But when I got three more LF hens, I realized that they are all friendly! Even in the stress of going to a poultry swap and coming home in a small cage for a 2 hour car ride and being dropped off in an unfamiliar pen, they did not peck me or act aggressive as has happened with many other birds. They are pretty slow and don't run away from people, which makes them easy to catch when you need to get them. They don't lay very much, but at almost 4 years old my blue laced red brahma still lays nice big medium brown eggs. I thought she was done but she surprised me. I actually had to build an extremely short roost for them, and sometimes they still don't get on it. I guess they cant fly because of their size. These girls are huge!

These chickens are pretty beautiful for the garden, also these chickens are good for meat. One thing negative about this chicken though, is that the chicken doesn't lay much eggs. Their feet also gets dirty, usually after they take a dust bath. This chicken also lets me hold it without any trouble, but it shouldn't be held too much since it might get tired of that and try to avoid. Overall, great chicken, I recommend this breed.

Love our Brahmas. Just starting to get back into Chickens again & this is the breed for us. They are docile, & even adults we got that have never been handled are gentle. Plus they are beautiful. We have Light & just got some Golden Laced chicks from Dan Powell lines. Probably getting some Buffed Laced as well. Can't wait to see what they look like when grown as their parents are gorgeous!

I love this breed the elegant way they look, the peaceful nature, whats not to love except... they are food hogs and can't get enough dirt. if you know a way to keep em clean ive got know prob!

Wonderful docile bird and easy to handle. They are late to mature and do not begin to lay until 23+ weeks. They make little noise and don't scratch too much. My rooster hardly ever crows, and they free range well. The only con could be is having feather footed bird and keeping a coop and run clean and dry is a must. I did have a bird lose a toenail and am having a hard time keeping it clean because the feathers hold the poo and any other mud or debris. The hens combs' are nice and small, and didn't get frost bitten this year (with exception of my rooster and a very small noticeable spot now healed) . Their overall docile demeanor makes for an excellent starter flock. I will be trying a different breed this year with a higher production rate faster maturation and smaller feed consumption. My brahmas continued to lay well through the cold Maine winter months.

I adore my brahmas, they are just big/soft/gentile giants. They lay a decent amount of tan eggs. They are a bit low on the pecking order and were missing their tail feathers until everyone knew their place in the pecking order. Very cold hardy. Going to phase my flock more into the brahmas just because of how easy going they are.

Don't get me wrong - I really do like my Brahmas, but I don't love them.

Brahmas do very well in mixed flocks, in my experience are never bird-aggressive and can usually take up for themselves. They usually get along with EVERYONE in the flock but never seem to have any close friends.

It's neither a pro nor con to me - but they do go broody fairly often. My girls usually tried to brood about once a year but didn't drive us batty like the Cochins did. Also, they're weird. I don't know how to explain it any better than the fact we don't often call our Brahma by name, but instead elect to call her "Dur dur durr".

However, Brahmas are pretty bad layers of hysterically small eggs, and they'll eat you out of house and home. The one dark Brahma I have left probably eats more than the other 7 chickens in the coop combined.

Our four birds (1m, 3f) were part of a mixed flock (4 Brahmas, 4 RIRs, 4 Barred Rocks) bought from different suppliers. They took a while to join in the group preferring their own company; with more pushy birds they can get shoved aside despite their size. The feathery feet are a curse in muddy conditions.

I have 4 hens of this breed and I really like them. They are fairly frequent layers, but their eggs are not very big and really light, pinkish-tan. They LOVE the dust bath, are cold-hardy, like to go outside in the snow, easy to get along with, but the big, fluffy, feathers, especially on their feet, like to collect poop. If you do not like dirty chickens, do not get the light variety, because it will show. The buff


I like the "earmuffs" on the Buff Brahma.
ones are prettier, also. Warning: the roosters are HUGE, big bullies and are rough with the hens.

Brahmas are a pretty good breed! They're fairly good layers and have excellent temperaments! They are absolutely gorgeous birds and make good lawn ornaments! The only thing that I dislike about the breed is they're HUGE and they eat a lot of food. Overall, pretty good breed.

I got into Brahmas by accident. I went on vacation last year and left 8 Maraduna Bosque Hen eggs for a friend to hatch for me. When I returned from vacation she told me that I had 4 beautiful little yellow babies to pick up. So, I went to pick them up and she hands me the box with 5 chicks. I look at her like......huh? Five instead of four? She said she had done a hatch of Buff Laced Brahmas at the same time and had 1 hatch out.....so she thought she would be able to tell the difference......LOL.....neither of us could figure out which one was the Brahma.....so she just said Merry Christmas! I brought the chicks home and it didn't take very long before I could tell which one she was (yes it was a hen). So I named her Holly. Holly grew up to be one of the most gorgeous hens I had ever laid my eyes on. So, I called my friend and told her I needed to get a roo and another hen to keep Holly company. That's what started my Brahma addiction and it hasn't let up since. They literally let me pick them up in the middle of the pasture like a puppy dog. They follow me everywhere and they started laying at 6 ,months old. Nice big eggs! They are named Buddy, Holly and Ginger. And, yes I've been back for more since then! Several colors going on now....LOL


"Buddy"

I have one light brahma that I purchased as an adult hen. She is a good layer of medium, cream colored eggs. She lays 3-4 days in a row then rests a day. She is by far my most consistent laying hen at this time. She isn't all that friendly and prefers not to be handled, I'm OK with that so long as she continues to be consistent with her eggs. Bossy Pants (yes, that's her name!) is a beautiful bird. Her foot feathers tend to get dirty which one would expect.

Okay,
I adopted a light brahma because she is so beautiful and heard that they are sweet and are extremely friendly. I adopted her and she is a complete spaz. If I go near her she runs to the other side of my yard. If I try to pick her up it sounds like I'm killing her. She squeals like a pig when I pick her up and she slaps me in the face with her wings. I am praying that she will calm down when she starts to lay!!!