Chickens of Brama are difficult to confuse with any other breed. They have a bright appearance. Grouse and other species were obtained artificially, as a result of the painstaking work of breeders. The bird is famous for its aristocratic exterior, calm disposition, and high productivity.
Breed history
Brahma appeared in the middle of the XIX century in America. It was brought out by farmers, crossing several breeds. The breeding involved cochinchins, borefoot hens from India, chittagongs and fighting breed.
The new breed was called gray chittigong. In the mid-19th century, it was shown at an agricultural exhibition in Boston. However, this name did not take root. Two years after the exhibition, farmer Barnham presented Queen Victoria with a bird from his farmyard. From this moment on, partridge gompa spread throughout Europe, including Russia.
In the past century, a survey was conducted on the contained breeds of chickens, during which scientists found out that on the Russian courtyards the most common are Kokhinkhins, Brahms, Faveroli, Plymouth Rocks, orpingtones.
Appointment
Brahma was originally bred as a meat breed, but because of its unique exterior, it became a decorative meat.
Mixing different breeds during selection led to the fact that the weight of the chicken decreased. Despite this, the brama is appreciated for a very tender, tasty meat that can not be compared with any breed. However, improper feeding leads to a decrease in the taste of the products.
Beautiful chickens are bred in private courtyards in small farms. She is appreciated by lovers of collecting various breeds. For large farms, the breed is not of interest, since chickens grow slowly, in a year, a laying hen lays few eggs.
Description
In the breed standards there is a description of all subspecies, including a description of ptarmigan. The breed is characterized by the following external characteristics:
- Ash fluff, feather soft, not loose, well-fitting to the body.
- Roosters have a contrast collar.
- The tail is fan-shaped, very magnificent.
- The skin is yellow.
- The forehead is wide, the head is not large.
- The crest is three-row, without teeth.
- Chest, back wide. High landing body.
- The wing is developed.
- The legs are very powerful, fully feathered.
- Fingers are strong, yellow, in dark varieties - with a grayish tint.
- The neck is medium length, with a bend.
- The beak is yellow.
- The eyes are orange, set deep.
- The earlobes are red.
Marriage is considered if the partridge brawa or other subspecies have a yellowish plumage or white tail color. According to the standard, chickens should not have black stripes on the belt, if the gray color prevails in the color of the bird. A pea-shaped ridge, lack of plumage in the metatarsus, on the fingers are also unacceptable.
Colors
The shade of the pen can be very different. Most often, the gang of ptarmigan, brown, silver-white, black. Less often you can see a gray color.
By standards, there are colored varieties. It is yellow, striped, fawn, white-blue, Colombian red.
Subspecies
Brahma has several subspecies. It:
- light bramah ;
- field brama;
- dark
- pomfret.
Each subspecies has its own special characteristics.
Character
Breed breed is appreciated for its endurance, unpretentiousness in the content and feeding, as well as high vitality. They do not need a lot of space - a small chicken coop and a small paddock are enough.
The nature of the bird is calm, somewhat phlegmatic. She gets along well with other breeds, not aggressive.
Partridge species
The name of the sub breed speaks for itself. Partridge chickens of Brama have a plumage similar to the color of a partridge. They are characterized by the outline of a pen against a field background.
Representatives of the subspecies carry special eggs. They have more pronounced inclusions.
The males are brightly colored. On the neck, back, head there is a bright red feather, in other places it is black.
The poultry breed of Brama weighs an average of 3.5 kg of chickens, and roosters weigh about 4 kilograms. During the year, the bird is able to lay about 110 eggs weighing 50 grams.
Content Features
When keeping hens, their heavy weight must be taken into account. The breed of chicken grouse shrimps needs strong perches, the height of which should be at least forty centimeters from the floor. There should be a distance of at least 30 cm between the bars. The bird can easily climb to this height and feel comfortable.
Large bird sizes should be considered when building roosts. Layers may not fit in small nests.
There should be no drafts in the chicken coop, where bird keeping is planned. It should not be dark in the room - it is advisable to visit it at least 14 hours a day. In the winter season, the day increases artificially.
According to the description, chicken partridge prawns are not afraid of the cold. This feature allows you to keep them in unheated chicken coops.
At any time of the year, the bird needs sand and ash. In winter, for this, a container is installed right in the chicken coop, which is filled with sand and ash. It should be large enough for the bird to bathe in its contents. In summer, the capacity is put in a paddock.
Brahma refers to those breeds that do not need large aviaries. For its content is quite enough limited space.
You can keep a bird without a rooster. Its absence will in no way affect egg production. However, with the leader, the layers feel safer.
Diet
For the rapid development of chickens, increase egg production, the diet should be balanced and complete. At the same time, it is important to observe the norms of feeding, otherwise the bird quickly grows fat, which will negatively affect productivity. Malnutrition in young animals also affects negatively. Chickens begin to slow down in development, their average daily gain decreases. To avoid all this, you need to correctly calculate the diet.
Grouse chickens grow slowly. Therefore, their diet should be especially balanced. They add protein food to the feed.
It is useful to feed the Brama with meat and bone, fishmeal, give boiled eggs, meat broths, cottage cheese. All these products will allow the bird to develop normally. In the diet of chickens and adult chickens, there must be green feeds and vegetables. It is useful for them to give carrots, cabbage, pumpkin. These vegetables are a rich source of vitamins.
Chickens can be fed ready-made feed, or you can make the mixture yourself. It is useful for them to give the following products:
- meal or meal;
- corn;
- barley, wheat (in crushed form);
- baker's yeast;
- mineral supplements, vitamins;
- fresh grass;
- vegetables.
The diet should be wet mixers. To enrich them, add fish oil, fishmeal. In a separate bowl there should always be mineral additives. This is chalk, shell. It is useful to set up a gravel feeder.
In the cold season, the feeding rate increases by about 10%, that is, if in the summer 150-170 grams of feed is enough for a chicken, then in winter the amount increases to 200.
In winter, vitamins are included in the diet. They can be purchased at any specialized store.
From five months, the amount of protein food decreases. This is because by this age the bones have not yet formed and may not withstand a sharp increase in muscle mass.
Drinkers are organized in the poultry stand. They must constantly have water. If you drink chickens from the tank, then the water in it is changed twice a day, the tank is washed. Once a week, it is useful to solder the bird with a slightly pink solution of manganese. This will help prevent the development of pathologies, including coccidiosis.
Breeding Brama
According to the description, the chickens of Brama are partridge and other subspecies easily bred. For this, families are formed - 10-12 layers are left for one rooster. The bird itself patiently lays eggs and copes well with maternal responsibilities.
When breeding, do not leave chickens younger than two years old on the tribe. This is due to the fact that pomfret carries large eggs only from the second year of life, and the larger the egg, the better and stronger the chicken.
Young bream must be kept separate from other breeds. This is due to their peculiarity of growth, feeding. Chickens develop more slowly than in birds of other breeds.
The rest of the breeding of Brama is not particularly difficult.
Disease
According to the description, the chicken grouse breed often suffers from joint diseases. This is due to low motor activity and high weight. Also, chickens can suffer from vitamin deficiencies, bacterial infections.
With an unbalanced diet, laying hens often have vitamin deficiencies. Most often, vitamin A is lacking in the body of laying hens. Due to its deficiency, metabolism is disturbed, and the digestive system suffers. Signs of the disease are: lethargy, lack of appetite, plaque appears on the mucous membrane of the eye. In advanced cases, ulcers appear, the skin is affected, the feather falls out. Cure the disease begins with the addition of fish oil to the feeders. The duration of treatment is two weeks. Be sure to change the diet. It should include in large quantities pumpkin, onions, carrots and other vegetables rich in vitamin A.
Chickens often suffer from parasites, including fleas. They settle in the litter, so it must be burned. In order for the bird to get rid of fleas, it is necessary to put sand and ash, in which the brama will bathe. This procedure helps to get rid of parasites, and also serves as a prevention of infection.
In order to prevent pathologies, the bird must be kept clean: clean the chicken house on time, monitor the freshness of the water, the condition of the feeders and drinkers.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that bramah is more considered a decorative bird. Her unusual plumage will become a real decoration of the bird compound. With proper care, the laying hens will provide a sufficient number of delicious nutritious eggs, and roosters are excellent meat. The bird will add brightness, will delight with its decorative effect, as well as with egg and meat. With good content, the bird does not get sick and can live up to five years.