The Brahma Chicken makes an excellent pet due to their their docile nature and stately good looks.

The Brahma Chicken is known to be very gentle and thus they make good pets. Due to their overall good characteristics, it is not unusual to find them in the showroom or on country estates. They are well admired and if the set up were right, an owner would find it hard to go wrong with this large fowl. Because they are slow to mature they are not usually seen as a commercial fowl, though their egg laying is about 140 per annum.

The Brahma Chicken is a large chicken that comes in three varieties; these are light, buff and dark. The standard weights of the light variety are 12 pounds in cocks, nine and a half pounds in hens, 10 pounds in cockerels and eight pounds in pullets. The dark and buff varieties are generally lighter. Cocks are 11 pounds, hens are eight and a half pounds, cockerels are nine pounds and pullets are seven pounds. Eggshell color is brown and the skin of all three varieties is yellow. Important breed characteristics of the Brahma Chicken are the head and skull with a pea comb and brow. Plumage should be smooth fitting and not loose feathered and it is largely profuse. They also have small wattles and well-feathered shanks and toes. These qualities allow this chicken to do well in colder conditions. There is also a Bantam Brahma Chicken, and like other bantams, they require less space and are easy to care for.

The Brahma Chicken gained its name from the Brahmaputra in India. Here the Malay and Cochin were crossed and then they were imported to Shanghai, China in the 1840s. They went to New York in 1846 and then to New England in 1853. The Brahma Chicken has been called a variety of names. Chittagongs, Gray Shanghais, and Brahma Pootras were the common ones in its earlier days of refinement. The first book of poultry standards came out in 1856 and the Brahmas Chicken was included in it. After Queen Victoria was given a small flock, their name was shortened from Brahmas to Brahma. Most of the Brahma Chickens development as a breed is credited to the United States between 1850 and 1890. The original parent stock was refined there into what we see today in the light and dark varieties. The buff variety has shown up more recently.

Because the Brahma has foot feathering, it is best to have the birds in a well drained yard. This is because if they allowed to run around in mud etc, they can develop mud balls (or fecal balls) on their toes. If this is not removed, the loss of nails or the tips of the toes may result.

There is currently no special breeding information in our databases for this animal. To submit breeding / propagation information that is specific to this animal please click here.