Brahma

Brahma Breed Description

Brahmas arrived in the UK around 1840-1850 but their name is derived from the river Brahmaputra in India. The breed was created in America in the 1840s from large feather legged birds called Shanghais which were originally imported from China. The beetle brow and pea comb that we see in all Brahma today came from crossing the Shanghais with Grey Chittagongs from India. They are calm birds that have broad, deep bodies, full breast and long powerful feathered legs. Abundant soft feathers cover their feet which makes them look rather large. They have a small head for such a large bird and the face is smooth and free from feathers. These birds have large, prominent eyes, short strong beak and a triple or pea comb and small wattles. The brow is broad which produces heavy or beetle eyebrows.

Due to being the largest breeds of chicken they are often referred to as the King of Chickens. As with all male chickens, the Brahma cockerel is a stunning bird. A Brahma comes in large fowl (very) and bantam sized birds. Brahma are similar to Cochin except they have a pea comb and having a more upward curve to the tail.

They are not suitable for constant very muddy situations due to their feathered feet. As they have such huge amounts of feather they can also get quite soggy in the rain.

We no longer keep Brahma but we have left the page here for education purposes.

Brahma Breed Temperament

These gentle giants are very easy to tame. Brahmas do mix well with other sizes of chickens but in more aggressive flocks they can be subject to bullying. A Brahma lays quite well but they can get broody at times. As broodies, they do make excellent sitters as they can cover rather a lot of eggs. They make excellent mother hens.

Breed Size

Brahma are classed as a large fowl – heavy. Soft feathered.

Eggs

The Brahma lays quite well, however, not the best layers at all. Her eggs which are a pale biscuit colour are surprisingly small considering it is such a large bird. They will come into lay at roundabout the 35 week mark. If they hit that mark in winter they will probably not start to lay in the spring when the days start to lengthen.

Further information

More info on our birds for sale can be found here. If you are looking to join us on one of our courses please check out our courses page