Poultry Keepers Podcast

Blake Bell Talks Brahmas-Part 1

• Rip Stalvey Carey Blackmon, Blake Bell • Season 2 • Episode 78

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In this episode of the Poultry Keepers Podcast, hosts Rip Stalvey and Carey Blackmon interview poultry enthusiast Blake Bell about Brahmas, one of his favorite chicken breeds. 

Blake discusses the origin, characteristics, and temperament of Brahmas, emphasizing their bold, striking appearance and gentle nature. He also touches on the different color varieties recognized in the United States and the management of Brahmas, including hatching, feeding, and weather hardiness. 

Blake shares his preference for hatching eggs over selling adult chickens, providing insights into breeding and judging standards for Brahmas. The episode includes detailed advice on breeding for specific traits, handling health concerns, and managing Brahmas in various climates.

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Alex:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Poultry Keepers Podcast. In this episode Blake Bell will be sharing with Rip Stallvee and Carey Blackmon about Brahmas and his passion for the breed. So let's get this conversation going.

Rip Stalvey:

Blake is going to talk with us tonight about brahmas. And Blake I'm going to assume now, and I probably shouldn't do that, but I would assume based on the number of photos and comments and posts you make about brahmas, they're probably one of your favorite breeds.

Blake Bell:

Yes, sir. Brahmas and then Black Minorcas are second.

Rip Stalvey:

And you're working on Minorca bantams, is that right?

Blake Bell:

Yes, sir.

Rip Stalvey:

Cool.

Blake Bell:

Single comb and rose comb.

Rip Stalvey:

I don't know that I have ever seen any more Minorca bantams.

Blake Bell:

We're hoping to show a display of those at Shawnee, Oklahoma, this year at the APA National, oh, cool. That ought to

Rip Stalvey:

gather some attention. Okay, I got us on the Minorcas here and let's get back to Brahmas. Tell us where the breed is from originally.

Blake Bell:

Originally they they were came, they came from China, but that was the ancestor of all of our Asiatic breeds. And then The Cochins, Langshans are all cousins, and they were really developed here in America once they got here into what we know as a Brahma today. They didn't look anything like they do now. When they got here, they were actually more of the dark variety. And then the sports came and they popped out and they went with it and they ran with it. And now we have Brahmas.

Rip Stalvey:

What originally attracted you to Brahmas? What about them just lit your fire?

Blake Bell:

The bold beetle eyebrow that just the eagle look on their face. It's very striking and The head and the head and the skull aren't very many points on the scale of points when you're judging them. But first impressions are everything and we always start with the head and skull and we're judging. And on the Bram it's the only breed where the head and skull are of a very distinct indicator of that breed. E

Rip Stalvey:

explain what you're talking about when you say beetle brow. Some of our viewers might not understand that.

Blake Bell:

So the beetle brow is when their skull. Their eyebrows, basically, their skull protrudes over the eyes. It gives them a really bold look it puts a shadow on their eye just because it's protruding so far over their eye.

Rip Stalvey:

And I agree with you, what you were saying about the head just catches your eye first. As a judge, it always did me, and I know it's not supposed to, but that's a fact. That's what you see first. What color varieties do we have approved here in the United States?

Blake Bell:

In largefowl, we have buff, dark, and light, which buff is not solid buff, it is buff columbian. And then, in the bantams, in the APA, we have the same, dark, light, and buff. But in the ABA, There is also white and black approved.

Rip Stalvey:

And I know there's some other colors that are being worked on out there as well.

Blake Bell:

Yeah, there's partridge and blue partridge silver dark so basically just the black on a dark is blue, or blue dark misspoke there.

Rip Stalvey:

That's all right.

Blake Bell:

And there's quite a few other varieties. I know there's a lady in Missouri working on mottleds. And they're beautiful chickens. They're not in our standard, but they're still beautiful American type Brahmas.

Rip Stalvey:

That's cool. What about, I know some of our folks are probably thinking they're great big birds and they might have a little concern about temperament. Is that something folks need to be worried about?

Blake Bell:

The Brahma is probably the most docile chicken in the book. They, the biggest thing to worry about is tripping over them because they're going to be at your feet like a bunch of dogs or a bunch of sheep.

Rip Stalvey:

I laugh because my Rhode Island Reds are the same way. I call them my tripping fall hazards. Yeah. And I was sitting, as you were talking, I was sitting here trying to think, I've judged a lot of Brahmas over the years, and I can't think I've ever judged one that even remotely acted like it wanted to be aggressive.

Blake Bell:

Yeah, I've never had an aggressive one ever, actually. I, and the males are pretty docile to, to the females. I don't like separate anything before a show. I go to, I just go straight out to the breed pen and I pull them out and take them to a show. So they don't, they, the males don't rough the feathers up on the females. They're just an overall gentle breed.

Carey Blackmon:

And that's how you, that's how you know, you got a solid breeding program. When you're planning to go to the show, it's to just walk outside and grab a few of them, put them in a car and take off. Yes, sir. That's awesome.

Rip Stalvey:

Makes all the difference in the world, man. I'll tell you. Do they have any special need, health concerns that folks need to be aware of?

Blake Bell:

On on the light Brahmas specifically, they're actually built a little bit different than the darks. And I say that just because there's not a lot of buff Columbian to even compare them to. So we're gonna, it's lights and darks. The darks are very good foragers. They run, they do all normal chicken stuff. They'll go find bugs and everything. The lights if they're on full feed I find they usually, they will sit by their feed bowl and they will just eat and eat and get fat and eat and they really won't do a whole lot of roaming. And even if I raise them with my darks, they still do the same thing and it's just, it's almost like they're a whole different, just a whole different ballgame on the lights and the

darks.

Blake Bell:

The darks are an overall they're my favorite just because they're a lot easier to take care of than the lights, in my experience. The lights are a little more finicky with a little A few more health conditions, just because they are a little bit bigger. And if they're not bred with some leg length to them, they get too squatty and then they end up just going out in their legs. And they can't do a whole lot of moving.

Rip Stalvey:

I can remember years ago, I would see more darks, dark brahmas at a show than I would lights and especially buffs. There were hardly ever any buffs at a show. But I don't see as many dark brahmas, at least down our way.

Blake Bell:

Dark brahmas faded out a little bit there for a little while. There's a lot of big breeders now that are really, big. Put them back on the map. We have Robert Anderson in Oregon. He ships them all over the country. He has great birds. I just this spring, I shipped over 70 dozen hatching eggs and we had 85 percent hatch rate out of those hatching eggs. So we're really getting those darks back on the map.

Rip Stalvey:

I'm glad to see that because really As far as patterned birds go, that dark color is one of my favorites.

Blake Bell:

It's very striking. It's really pretty when it's right, and it's not so pretty when it's not.

Rip Stalvey:

Yeah, there is that. If somebody wanted to get started raising brahmas would you suggest they get started with hatching eggs or baby chicks? Started adults or adults?

Blake Bell:

Personally I ship hatching eggs, and from a breeder's standpoint, I am giving the buyer the potential to get my best bird I've ever raised. And, there's nothing I can do about it, because they're getting them out of the same breed pens I breed from. For say, 125 for a dozen eggs, you're getting 12 shots of getting my best bird. And then, you get two birds and you can make your own. Where if I sell chicks or started adults or adults, I can always pick out my best birds to keep for myself as the breeder. And then my secondhand birds, which are still really good breeder birds. Then those are the ones that we sell. So I recommend hatching eggs. If it is available most breeders won't sell hatching eggs. It's just. Risky and they have their own way of doing things. So I sell hatching eggs and then like Robert Anderson, he ships out started chicks at three weeks old, I believe. There's a lot of different options. It really depends on the setup and kind of what you're trying to get out of the project.

Rip Stalvey:

I'm sorry, I was just going through some of the comments here. Caitlin says, I love my Brahmas. And the Breedpen too. They're something, aren't they, Caitlin? And she is a fan of the Buffs. And, I gotta agree, when Buffs are right, they're gorgeous. Tried buff birds down here and man, the sunshine just burns that color up down here. It looks terrible. It winds up looking splotchy and just does not look good. But if you got the place for them, they are some nice looking birds.

Blake Bell:

We are working on buffs here too. It's a slow process, but I'm using my buff bantams and my large fowl lights to make my own buffs.

Rip Stalvey:

We've got some pictures you sent us. If you want to when do you want to use those?

Blake Bell:

Whatever you want to do. We can go through those and talk about them or,

Rip Stalvey:

okay, let's do that. These are some photos that Blake sent me today. We'll start with these two. Okay, man, that's a nice looking light. Female Oh my goodness.

Blake Bell:

That is a yearling female. She's last year's hatch. She turned a year old in May or June yeah she's really nice. I wish she had a little more length to her on that back. I'm supposed to have a short tail, but you can always lengthen them out, make them fill up a whole double coop. And then on the buff she just needs to be a shade darker buff. But I keep her around for her type. She's got that massive Brahma skull, three ridges on her pea comb, which in my opinion, if it doesn't have three ridges, it's not a pea comb.

Rip Stalvey:

I agree.

Blake Bell:

Nice dewlap those drastic, extreme ear lobes that Brahma should have, that really gives them that Brahma look. I always think of Brahma cattle, they have all those wrinkles and stuff, that's how that Brahma head should look.

Rip Stalvey:

She's got the head going on, that's for sure.

Blake Bell:

Alrighty, two lights. On the lights, the struggle is getting a little bit of leg underneath them. Like I said, it's on the large trail and the bantams. They all end up being a little too short legged. The male's better than the female here. But, other than that, they're pretty good examples. There's definitely things I would fix about them. But, a lot of people think the lights are prettier than all the other varieties. I still fall for the darks every time.

Rip Stalvey:

I'm with you, buddy. I'm with you.

Blake Bell:

And then you can't see the size difference because the bantam is ahead of the largefowl, so she looks bigger in this picture, but this is a bantam in the front and then the largefowl pullet in the back. They're both the same age, just to show that the bantams do mature a little faster, and, if you want something that you just want to show. You want to hatch it in January and show it by June? Get bantams. If you don't want to show something for 18 months or 24 months, then get largefowl.

Rip Stalvey:

Yeah, there's just a tad difference in the way they mature and grow out. Yeah,

Carey Blackmon:

that's definitely the truth.

Blake Bell:

That's, so this is two of the best largefowl darks. females I've ever raised. These go back to Frank Rees Jr's line, these two females. These are pure Frank Rees Jr. birds. It's we want three or more pencilings on each feather. So when we go through and cull, we're looking for that. We want the penciling to go all the way down to the feet and the foot feathers to have penciling, the fluff to have penciling all the way down. It's very hard. But it's very rewarding when you get it.

Rip Stalvey:

A common thing I see in pencil varieties in the females is the penciling gets blurry. How do you correct that?

Blake Bell:

You have to have a male that has too much color on him. He has to have white within his breast, so a show type Dark Brahma should have a solid black breast, solid black thighs, and and then just that silver on top with the primaries having that silver streak on it. But a breeder type male to get this caliber of penciling, you have to have a male that has way too much color that you can never show. And you have, it's basically a male and female line. And those males every time will throw color just like this.

Rip Stalvey:

Man, I know when I had partridge wine dots, that penciling gave me a fit on those females.

Blake Bell:

It's been a long road, but it's very rewarding in the end.

Rip Stalvey:

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And folks, this is what a dark Brahma male looks like.

Blake Bell:

And I chose this picture in particular just to show that size difference. That's a pretty that's a big water pan, not tall, but big, with a cull duck. So that you can see that, just his skull is half the size of a cull duck.

Rip Stalvey:

It is. It's when you draw attention to it like that, I hadn't really noticed that before, but it's impressive.

Blake Bell:

They are one of the largest birds in the standard. I chose this picture to demonstrate the buff Colombian pattern and then the three ridges on the rose comb, or the pea comb, and to have width, which Angela Han in her Crevacore video mentioned a picture with width and this was, I, it's just so important in every breed that we have birds that looking from the front, they stand on very square legs. And have a width all the way through the, through to the tail. Because the width, it just helps with so many things, egg production. It shows that they have good meat over their back and they're not all bone. They're not all feathers either. Cause they can't eat feathers. And that means the females are going to lay lots of eggs. They have enough room in their internal. Internal, for their internal organs to be proper, to be large enough to to compensate for that large bird. Because if you have a small frame bird or yeah, a small place for a heart, the heart's not going to get big enough. And that bird is just not going to live very long. It's like a dog. The great Danes, they're the largest breed. They don't live very long. If we breed into a pedigree, they're going to live a little longer.

Rip Stalvey:

Makes all the difference in the world. All the difference in the world. Okay, I think that's all of the slides we got there. But I tell you what, I could get excited about those Dark females. They look really spectacular, bud.

Blake Bell:

Thank you.

Rip Stalvey:

Let's talk about managing Brahmas for a minute. What about weather hardiness?

Blake Bell:

They are very cold hardy. My coops they're, some of my coops are behind me. I just use hoop coops. So I use two cattle panels. Four 2x4s, and then chicken wire around it with a tarp. And open ended on both sides. It gets down to negative 15 here. Sometimes negative 20. No special treatment as long as they have fresh water and feed. They'll survive all the winters. No frostbite. The heat they need fresh water twice a day at least, once it gets above 100 degrees. They're good to 100 degrees, but anything over 100 degrees you'll have some fatalities.

Rip Stalvey:

Makes sense. What about hatching? Anything special folks need to know about hatching Brahmas?

Blake Bell:

So as far as Brahmas go, I usually run five females with a male. You can run a few more than that. I find best fertility is with five females. Sometimes he gets picky and he'll only pick four or five. And anything above that he won't mess with just because they are so big. Takes quite a bit more work for them to breed. Other than that I dry hatch all my eggs. I don't add any I, I keep the humidity the same all the way through. I don't change it for the hatch, the lockdown or any of that. It's just the same all the way through, just like a hen would. I find that if I change the humidity the chicks are so big in the shell, it'll actually drown them. Even if it goes up or down, it just messes with the eggs. So I don't touch it. That's been the, that's been the best results I've got. And that's what I tell all the people that buy hatchet games from me.

Rip Stalvey:

It's hard to beat the way the mama hen does it, in all aspects. I was just talking with somebody today and I said, poultry management is just common sense, really? And let the chickens be chickens. That's all you got to worry about. Oh, we got a comment here. Keep on trucking wants to know, wants to talk about the eyes of the Brahman. And I see a lot with lots of wrinkly, overhanging, extra skin around the eyes. Should that be culled as soon as it appears?

Blake Bell:

As long as they can see, I would call that just a Brahma face, in my opinion. As long as they can see, and it's not obstructing their vision or any obstructing their nostrils, their vision, or their eating ability. I would say it's fine. We got to watch for the eye shape. We want a big round eye. We don't really want too narrow of an eye, but it needs to be bold. So I wouldn't cull as long as it isn't obstructing vision.

Alex:

That concludes todays' episode on Bramas. Be sure to join us next week as Blake Bell finishes this great lesson. We appreciate you listening to our show and as this year is drawing to a close we hope you take some time and reflect on your past year with poultry. Then think about what you wan to accomplish next and make plans for a successful year to come. So long eveyone and we'll be back next Tuesday.

People on this episode

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John Gunterman

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Mandelyn Royal

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Rip Stalvey

Co-host