BRAHMA-POOTRAS.
It is a disputed point among great authorities whether Brahmas form a
distinct variety, or whether they originated in a cross with the Cochin,
and have become established by careful breeding. When they were first
introduced, Mr. Baily considered them to be a distinct breed, and has
since seen nothing to alter his opinion. Their nature and habits are
quite dissimilar, for they wander from home and will get their own
living where a Cochin would starve, have more spirit, deeper breasts,
are hardier, lay larger eggs, are less prone to sit, and never produce a
clean-legged chicken. Whatever their origin, by slow and sure degrees,
without any mania, they have become more and more popular, standing upon
their own merits, and are now one of the most favourite varieties.
"The worst accusation," says Miss Watts, "their enemies can advance
against them is, that no one knows their origin; but this is applicable
to them only as it is when applied to Dorkings, Spanish, Polands, and
all the other kinds which have been brought to perfection by careful
breeding, working on good originals. All we have in England are
descended from fowls imported from the United States, and the best
account of them is, that a sailor (rather vague, certainly) appeared in
an American town (Boston or New York, I forget which) with a new kind of
fowl for sale, and that a pair bought from him were the parents of all
the Brahmas. Uncertain as this appears, the accounts of those who
pretend to trace their origin as cross-bred fowls is, at least, equally
so, and I believe we may just act towards the Brahmas as we do with
regard to Dorkings and other good fowls, and be satisfied to possess a
first-rate, useful kind, although we may be unable to trace its
genealogical tree back to the root. Whatever may be their origin, I find
them distinct in their characteristics. I have found them true to their
points, generation after generation, in all the years that I have kept
them. The pea-comb is very peculiar, and I have never had one chicken
untrue in this among all that I have bred. Their habits are very unlike
the Cochins. Although docile, they are much less inert; they lay a
larger number of eggs, and sit less frequently. Many of my hens only
wish to sit once a year; a few oftener than that, perhaps twice or even
three times in rare instances, but never at the end of each small batch
of eggs, as I find (my almost equal favourites) the Cochins do. The
division of Light and Dark Brahmas is a fancy of the judges, which any
one who keeps them can humour with a little care in breeding. My idea of
their colour is, that it should be black and grey (iron grey, with more
or less of a blue tinge, and devoid of any brown) on a clear white
ground, and I do not care whether the white or the marking predominates.
I believe breeders could bear me out, if they would, when I say many
fowls which pass muster as Brahmas are the result of a cross, employed
to increase size and procure the heavy colour which some of the judges
affect."
For strength of constitution, both as chickens and fowls, they surpass
all other breeds. Brahmas like an extensive range, but bear confinement
as well as any fowls, and keep cleaner in dirty or smoky places than any
that have white feathers. They are capital foragers where they have
their liberty, are smaller eaters and less expensive to keep than
Cochins, and most prolific in eggs. They lay regularly on an average
five fine large eggs a week all the year round, even when snow is on the
ground, except when moulting or tending their brood. Mr. Boyle, of Bray,
Ireland, the most eminent breeder of Dark Brahmas in Great Britain, says
he has "repeatedly known pullets begin to lay in autumn, and _never
stop_--let it be hail, rain, snow, or storm--for a single day till next
spring." They usually lay from thirty to forty eggs before they seek to
sit. The hens do not sit so often as Cochins, and a week's change of
place will generally banish the desire. They put on flesh well, with
plenty of breast-meat, and are more juicy and better shaped for the
table than most Cochins; though, after they are six months old, the
flesh is much inferior to that of the Dorking. A cross with a Dorking or
Creve-Coeur cock produces the finest possible table fowl, carrying
almost incredible quantities of meat of excellent quality.
The chickens are hardy and easy to rear. They vary in colour when first
hatched, being all shades of brown, yellow, and grey, and are often
streaked on the back and spotted about the head; but this variety gives
place, as the feathers come, to the mixture of black, white, and grey,
which forms the distinguishing colour of the Brahma. Mr. Baily has
"hatched them in snow, and reared them all out of doors without any
other shelter than a piece of mat or carpet thrown over the coop at
night." They reach their full size at an early age, and the pullets are
in their prime at eight months. Miss Watts noticed that Brahmas "are
more clever in the treatment of themselves when they are ill than other
fowls; when they get out of order, they will generally fast until eating
is no longer injurious," which peculiarity is corroborated by the
experienced "Henwife." The feathers of the Brahma-Pootra are said to be
nearly equal to goose feathers.
The head should have a slight fulness over the eye, giving breadth to
the top; a full, pearl eye is much admired, but far from common; comb
either a small single, or pea-comb--the single resembling that of the
Cochin; the neck short; the breast wide and full; the legs short,
yellow, and well-feathered, but not so fully as in the finest Cochins;
and the tail short but full, and in the cock opening into a fan. They
should be wide and deep made, large and weighty, and have a free, noble
carriage, equally distinct from the waddle of the Cochin, and the erect
bearing of the Malay. Unlike the Cochins, they keep constantly to their
colour, which is a mixture of black, white, and grey; the lightest being
almost white, and the darkest consisting of grey markings on a white
ground. The colour is entirely a matter of taste, but the bottom colour
should always be grey.
"After breeding Brahmas for many years," says Miss Watts, "through many
generations and crosses (always, however, keeping to families imported
direct from America), we are quite confirmed in the opinion that the
pea-comb is _the_ comb for the Brahma; and this seems now a settled
question, for single-combed birds never take prizes when passable
pea-combed birds are present. The leading characteristic of the peculiar
comb, named by the Americans the pea-comb, is its triple character. It
may be developed and separated almost like three combs, or nearly united
into one; but its triple form is always evident. What we think most
beautiful is, where the centre division is a little fluted, slightly
serrated, and flanked by two little side combs. The degree of the
division into three varies, and the peculiarities of the comb may be
less perceptible in December than when the hens are laying; but the
triple character of the pea-comb is always evident. It shows itself in
the chick at a few days old, in three tiny paralleled lines." It is
thick at the base, and like three combs joined into one, the centre comb
being higher than the other, but the comb altogether must be low,
rounded at the top, and the indentations must not be deep. Whether
single or triple, all the combs in a pen should be uniform.
The dark and light varieties should not be crossed, as, according to Mr.
Teebay, who was formerly the most extensive and successful breeder of
Brahmas in England, the result is never satisfactory.