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The word "brama" evokes an association with the aristocratic caste of India - the Brahmins. This is probably why many poultry farmers are convinced that Brama chickens were imported from India. Moreover, the proud look of the chicken suggests an important noble person. In fact, everything is more prosaic. Brahmas were bred in North America at the end of the 19th century by crossing Vietnamese meat Cochinchins and the Malay fighting chicken breed. The Malay breed, by the way, appeared in Europe 200 years ago.
They were registered as a brama breed in 1874. In those days, brama chickens were highly valued as a meat breed. The weight of the roosters reached 7 kg, because of which they could hardly stand on their feet. The fact is that the bram had a large muscle mass with an elegant skeleton, and the laws of nature are such that the more muscles on the bones, the thicker and stronger the bones must be in order to support the weight of the muscles. There was a clear imbalance among the Brahms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With the advent of broiler chicken breeds, the importance of the brahma as a productive meat breed decreased, and selection began to be carried out with a bias towards decorative appearance.
Modern Brama chickens do not correspond to the description of the breed of the last century. Today their weight has decreased and their appearance has become more decorative.
Brama breed standard
The weight of the modern gantry is almost 2 times less than the previous one. Roosters weigh 4 kg, and chickens 3. Compared to common breeds of chickens, this is a lot. In addition, the brahmas are high-legged, and due to this, they seem to be the size of a goose.
Brama rooster
It looks like a very large and massive bird with a small head on which a low triple comb grows. The beak of the brahma is short and strong. The earrings are small, while the earlobes are large. Comb and lobes with red earrings. The ear openings are closed with delicate feathers.
Brahma, in general, is a "hairy" breed, in which weak plumage is a disadvantage.
The neck is medium in length with a nice curve. The exit of the neck is high, which increases the visual size of the cock. A plentiful mane grows on the neck.
The body is dense, tightly knit. The body of the brama rooster gives the impression of "square" because of the wide back, chest and shoulders. Plumage on the body should be abundant everywhere.
The loin of the rooster gradually rises to the tail, which "pumped up" against the background of the rest of the feather of the brahma. The tail of a rooster should be short but fluffy. Ponytail braids should not be long.
The legs of the rooster are covered with a lush feather. The yellow metatarsus are well feathered in front, feathers grow on the toes.
Disadvantages of the Brama breed... Insufficient plumage on the metatarsus, bald middle finger, flat body (herring effect: very large when viewed from the side, almost invisible from above), too long legs, white lobes.
Chicken brama standard
The brama hen differs from the rooster in its smaller size and more horizontal tail than that of the rooster. In color, the differences between a rooster and a hen are within their color variety.
Brama chicken colors
In theory, chickens of this breed can be:
- light (white);
- dark (black);
- partridge;
- fawn.
In practice, it is difficult to find a brama with a high-quality color in Russia, since they are often crossed with Cochinchins and other breeds of chickens.Bram of different colors is also crossed among themselves. Inbreeding also does not add high quality chickens.
In Russia, the most popular are light and dark bram colors. This breed ranks second in number among decorative chickens. On the first floor there are bentams.
Light brahma
The light breed of Brama chickens has two-colored plumage. The black tail feathers from above may be covered with white integumentary feathers. A mixed feather in the mane on the neck. White on the head, it is gradually replaced by long dark feathers with a light shaft. The body of the light gate is white.
Dark brahma
The color of the rooster of the dark branch of the Brama breed is also called silver-black. The head and neck of the rooster are covered with a light feather with black longitudinal stripes. On the shoulders, back and lower back, the cover feather is also light. On the lower back, the color of the long feathers follows the color of the feather in the mane.
The chicken has a more original color, although it looks simple at first glance.
The brama hen has a gray speckled color, ranging from dark to light gray. A healthy hen with a shiny feather, when moving, gives the impression of shimmering feathers due to the alternation of light and dark stripes on each individual feather.
There is an interesting rivalry between these two color varieties. The owner of the brama chickens in the video claims that the white branch is larger than the dark one.
Other sources say the exact opposite: the dark bram branch is half a kilogram heavier than the light one.
Considering that 500 g with a rooster weighing 4 kg is a relatively small error, it can be assumed that in fact both of these branches are the same in average weight, and a difference of half a kilogram exists between individual individuals. And perhaps due to fat, since the breed is prone to obesity.
Brahma partridge
The partridge coloration of the bram is the coloration of its wild ancestors. The rooster looks quite elegant, but the hen, painted in brown tones to match the color of the earth, looks inconspicuous in the jungle.
Today the Brahm breed is bred in two directions: in Europe, these chickens are decorative; in the USA - meat. The partridge brama is a branch of American selection, so the rooster can reach a weight of 5 kg.
In the video with quoropatchaty bramas, you can not only see the high-quality color of this branch, but also find out some of the nuances that you should pay attention to when choosing chickens for breeding.
Pale bramah
This chicken lives up to its name. The rooster is brighter. The rooster has yellow only chest, belly and legs. The head, neck, back and loin are covered with brighter reddish-brown feathers. The black tail feathers are partially covered by a reddish brown integumentary feather. Tail braids are black.
The weight of these chickens is the same as that of the light and dark varieties.
The red brahma and the blue brahma are most likely crossbred chickens, if we are not talking about dwarf brahmas.
Characteristics of the Brama breed
Brahma are late ripening, and this immediately makes them unsuitable for industrial cultivation. Brama chickens grow very slowly, and they only reach puberty at 7 to 8 months. At the same time, egg production in chickens is also below average: 100 - 110 eggs per year. Egg weight 55 - 60 g. In the second year, egg production drops sharply.
It is believed that the brahm has a well-developed hatching instinct, but sometimes it happens that the brome's hens “forget” about the eggs lying in their nest. Therefore, for breeding hens, it is recommended to cross bram with smaller egg breeds of chickens. With such a crossing, the incubation instinct is preserved, but the brood hen is more responsible in its duties. Most likely, this is the reason for the very large number of unclean bram.
Bram, as hens, has another significant disadvantage: due to their large weight, they can simply crush eggs by stepping on it with their paws. When pressure is applied to the egg at one point, the shell of the egg does not withstand.
Perhaps a duck egg will withstand a light 3-kilogram bramah. Turkeys crush duck eggs. So it is better to first check if the duck eggs can withstand the brama as a brood hen. Goose are able to withstand the pressure of a large chicken.
Features of feeding bram
Chickens of this breed are prone to obesity, therefore, the composition of the diet and the amount of feed given to the chickens should be approached carefully. Poultry should be provided with fresh feed with sufficient protein content. Chickens also need vitamins and minerals. In the case of an inadequate diet, chickens get sick. For large breeds, a full-fledged diet is especially relevant, since chickens will not be able to make up for the deficiency by searching for food on their own.
If the owner does not have a zootechnical education, it is better for him to rely on professionals and use ready-made feed. Experienced poultry farmers can make up their own diet with the addition of vitamin premixes and shell rock to the crushed grain.
Content
The features of the content here are quite simple. All uplifted chicken breeds require a very clean litter. Otherwise, dirt and droppings can stick to the paw feathers. Bram roosts should be done at a low altitude, since this bird does not fly well due to its heavy weight.
Breeding and feeding chickens
Here the opinions about the bram are exactly the opposite. Some argue that the chickens are very capricious and demanding of the conditions of detention. Others, on the contrary, that this is a very unpretentious bird with one hundred percent hatching and survival. It may very well be that the matter here is in different conditions of keeping and feeding, as well as in the seller of hatching eggs.
Poultry farms can often buy infected eggs or already sick chickens. Unfortunately, until the chickens begin to die, it is impossible to understand that they are sick. Since many diseases are very difficult for chickens to be tolerated and occur in a hyperacute form, it is rarely possible to save chickens.
The main scourge of chickens and chickens is coccidiosis. On farms, antibiotics and special drugs against eimeria are used to combat it. Private traders who are afraid of the word "antibiotic" and try to cure chicken diseases using folk methods often lose their entire population of chickens.
Dwarf gates
If the large variety became decorative, then, naturally, the breeders could not pass by and not breed the dwarf breed of these chickens. Although this breed is usually not described, as people are more attracted to giants.
At the same time, the dwarf brama chickens in the photo, in the absence of a scale, are no different from their giant counterparts.
But the weight of the roosters is only 1.5 kg. The chicken has 1.3 kg. Laying hens give 80 small eggs per year.
Also, like their large counterparts, dwarfs are distinguished by a calm, balanced disposition.
When arranging a chicken coop for dwarf chickens, it must be borne in mind that these babies also fly badly. Therefore, the perches for them should be at a height of 20 - 30 cm.
Feeding is the same as for large chickens.
"Everything is like the big ones", only in proportion to the size.
Bram owners reviews
Let's summarize
Brahmas will surely turn out to be the pride of the yard, but one should not expect from them a serious return on eggs and meat. These chickens are for the soul and communication.
I bought a brama of chickens, they have grown them, they are not yet a year old, they are 9 months old, but I can’t distinguish where the rooster is they differ in anything?
Hello
The chickens differ in some way, but in the case of the bramas, the differences are small. Brahma reaches puberty only after 9 months. By this time, the roosters should have earrings and lobes. They will also start trying out the voice.
But due to the abundant plumage and similar set of the tail of the bram, it is really difficult to distinguish a young rooster from a hen. The braids, and even those short ones, will appear in the tail only at 1, -5-2 years. The scallops of roosters are also small, but they can serve as a difference, since they are larger than those of chickens. Brahm catkins are well developed in roosters. They are quite large, especially compared to those of chickens.
There is one more nuance. You could be "lucky" on same-sex chicks. The more individuals, the higher the likelihood of buying heterosexual chickens. Among the ten, there will almost certainly be hens and cockerels (according to the law of meanness, there is often a ratio in the style of 7-8 roosters, 2-3 hens). If only 3-5 chickens were purchased, they may be of the same sex.
How much is brama