Brahma Chicken Breed Profile, Characteristics

Brahma Chicken Information Guide:

Breed Profile: 

  • Name: Brahma, Brahma Pootra, Burnham, Gray Chittagong and Shanghai.
  • Varieties: there are three varieties of Brahma chickens light brahma, dark brahma, and buff brahma.
  • Chicken Weight: Males weighs about 5.5 kg (12 lb) and hens weighs about 4.5 kg (9.9 lb).
  • Eggs: 4 to 5 eggs
  • Cost: each chicken cost approximately 4 to 5 $.
  • Rarity: Common.
  • Purpose: Eggs and meat.
  • Egg Laying:
  • Egg Color: light brown.
  • Egg Size: Large.
  • Comb Type: Pea Comb.
  • Feathered Legs: Yes.
  • Number of Toes: 4.
  • Cold Hardiness: Hardy in winter.
  • Heat Tolerance: Not especially heat hardy.
  • Personality: Calm, very friendly, suitable for confinement, easy to handle, Docile, and quiet.
  • Climate: Tolerant to all climates.

Introduction to Brahma Chicken:

Brahma chicken is mentioned as  “King of All Poultry,” for their great size, strength, and vigor. The Brahmas are mild behavioral chickens with giant body, feathered legs and feet and profuse, fluffy feathering. They are native to India, these birdsare reared for meat and egg production, the brahma hens are not good layers, but they lay a decent number of eggs, and are great setters and mothers. These chickens are the best fancy breed which can be the best choice as a pet for its beauty, quiet and polite nature. This breed chickens are resistant to the cold and heat.

The Brahma chicken breed leading meat breed for70 years. When reared as broilers, Brahma chick’sconsumable even from the age of 8-10 weeks. Brahmas rooster gets ready of marketing at the age of 8 months.  A large Brahma could feed a moderate-sized family. Brahmas thrive in dry climates, cooler climates and in well-drained and moist soils. The breed is very easy for confinement as they cannot fly low fences. They are good supporters to confine with calm and docile personalities. The Brahma is the best choice fowl for northern climates. The Brahma chickens are resistant to cold and exposure – their strong  pea comb and tight feathering will protect from all the climatic conditions. This is not suitable fowl for southern climates.

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Brahma Chicken Breed
Brahma Chicken

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Origin of Brahma Chicken:

The Brahmas are introduced to the UK in around 1840-1850. The name Brahma is originated from the river Brahmaputra in India, the Brahma chickens are  a cross  breed from the  large feather legged birds known as Shanghais from China in the 1840s by Grey Chittagongs from India and produced the pea comb  Brahma that we see today. The Brahmas are sedate birds with broad, deep bodies, full breast and long powerful, legs and feet covered with abundant soft feathers which produces lovely big floppy feet. The Brahmas are the well-known largest breeds of chicken and are often called The King Of Chicken Breeds.

Physical Characteristics of Brahma:

The Brahma chicken are large birds, a Brahma chicken are about 30 inches tall. They have a long, deep and wide body. When it stands tall you can observe a narrow ‘V’ from the side.

The head of this large chicken is very small, and they have a face is smooth and without any feathers with large, prominent eyes. They have a short, strong beak and a triple or pea comb and small wattles.

The Brahma chicken has a pea comb and a ‘beetle brow’ where the forehead slightly overhangs the eyes. The Plumage is dense and tight with a thick covering of down under the feathers.

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Brahma chickens reared for both meat and eggs.  The Brahmas chicken is winter hardy birds and lay large light brown colored eggs. The eggs from this chicken weigh up to 55-60 grams. Brahma Maless are larger in size than the hens.

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Some Brahma Chicken Varieties:

Brahma chickens are categorized into three types based on the feather patterns: Light, Dark and Buff.

Each Brahma chicken variety is distinct from another, you easily identify the variety. The feather patterns in each variety are quite distinct and beautiful.

  • Light: this Brahma chicken has contrast in black and white feathers, the Light Brahma is primarily white with a grayish undertone. The hackle feathers have black stripes in the saddle area. The tail of these chickens is black with the covert feathers laced with white.
  • Dark: The Dark Brahma male chicken has silver hackles and a saddle striped with black. And the shoulder area will be in a solid silver color with the tail, breast and body in solid black color. The female chicken has black hackles with slight grey penciling, laced with white. The body, breast, back and wings are a medium grey color with black penciling.
  • Buff: The Buff brahma chickens looks as the Lightbrahma chicken with a Buff taking the place of the White.

Brahma Chicken Behavior:

Brahma chickens are large, stately, docile birds they are good reliable broodies. They can cover many eggs due to the large size. The Brahma chicken lay low in number, but chicks hatch strongly and grow quickly. This breed chicken has beautiful feathers, they are very elegant birds.

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This breed is suitable for confinement and they stay in 2-3-foot fencing. These chickens love dry conditions as their foot feathering, they can develop mud balls on their toes.

The maturity rate is low and take two years to reach maturity. These birds are trusting birds and are easy to tame. Due to their heavy body, they don’t run fast for fly, they just roam in fenced areas.

The  Hensstarts laying eggs from the age of six or seven months old and the eggs are as small as those of the larger miniature breeds. They lay eggs throughout the winter, they are polite towards other breeds so can be kept together with other varieties. They make very low noise and even the Maleserels do not crow particularly loudly. The thick and lush feathers protect them from the cold winters.

Advantages of Brahma Poultry:

  • The Brahmas are Beautiful birds.
  • Very calm and polite birds.
  • The Brahmas are great foragers.
  • They are cold hardy.
  • Very adaptive to all the climates.
  • High meat producers.
  • Very strong and resistant to all weather conditions and diseases.

Disadvantages of Brahma Poultry:

  • They are good eaters, they need more feed compared to other fowls.
  • They don’t lay good number of eggs.
  • Maturity time too long.
  • Feathered feet can be a big problem in muddy regions.

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