THE LIGHT BRAHMA. 



Its Origin and Introduction Into America— The Standard Male and Female Described Section by Seo- 



tion— The Principal Defects Explained and the Cuts for Each Given— The 



Method of Mating This Variety to Produce Exhibition 



Birds Set Forth in Detail. 



By I. K. Felch. Associate Editor Reliable Poultry Journal. 



POR nearly fifty years I have been known as 

 the champion of the Light Brahma and to- 

 day I affirm that among all the breeds men- 

 tioned in our standard, they are most worthy 

 of consideration. They are the best of the Asiatics 

 and are entitled to first place among the three or four best 

 money making varieties. No matter how often one writes 

 about them, there is always something good left unsaid, and 

 the lover- of the pure Brahma type may well sound the alarm 

 against the encroachment of the Cochin shape in his beloved 

 variety. Leaving others to display their rhetoric and classic 

 learning, I simply wish to express in plain words what I 

 know about this variety from experience. I will tell of 

 their origin, their development and their influence upon the 

 poultry culture of our land. I will describe the true Brahma 

 shape, their plumage, and tell how to mate and how to judge 

 them. This I will do for the benefit of those who are start- 

 ing in poultry culture and those who are to follow in this 

 industry, which is fast becoming the greatest of agricultural 

 pursuits. 



ORIGIN OF THE LIGHT BRAHMA. 



The breed came to us in America completed, if we may 

 use the term; that is, it passed through no mongrel, no 

 transitory state. So perfected was it then that fifty years 

 have failed to make them one whit better, and a breeder is 

 not able to-day to produce a bird with a higher score than 

 those we had in 1876. One specimen has reached the re- 

 markable score of 97. 



About 1847 they were discovered by a Mr. Knox, on 

 board an India ship in New YoTk harbor, and those six birds 

 are the ancestors of the American Light Brahma. Mr. Knox 

 purchased them for a Mr. Chamberlain, of Hartford, Conn. 

 These birds and their progeny later became the property 

 of Virgil Cornish, who placed them on exhibition in 1850 at 

 the Fitchburg Depot show at Boston, where they were named 

 Brahma Pootra, or short-legged Chittagong. At that time 

 there was a large, ugly variety known as Chittagong. It 

 was the largest and the most popular breed. The breeders 

 of that variety were jealous of the Brahma's advent and did 

 all they could to prevent them from forming a distinct 

 variety, But the Brahma's more symmetrical shape, its pea 

 comb and its prolific laying soon overcame the opposition, 

 and in a short time they became known as the Light Brahma 

 and were acknowledged to be the best of all large fowls. 

 They gradually absorbed the Chittagong blood and that 

 breed disappeared, while the Brahmas, as such, were put 

 into our first standard. There was an effort made later to 

 resuscitate the Chittagong under the name of Single Comb 

 Light Brahmas and they were exhibited at one or two shows, 

 but the race soon became extinct. 



The first birds imported were capable of reproducing 

 themselves and the variety to-day is able to produce pro- 

 geny, ninety per cent of which will score 90 to 96 points. » It 

 shows a strength and prepotency not excelled by any other 

 breed of parti-colored fowls. The standard written for them 

 in 1876 is, and ought to be standard to-day, for birds of that 

 type are most prolific. One hen, Rebecca, has a record of 313 

 eggs in 333 days, and though she laid no more eggs during 

 the other thirty-two days that finished the year, it was still 

 a wonderful record. Another hen, Pareppa, laid for twenty- 

 three consecutive months without showing any desire to. in- 

 cubate, and eight of her sisters showed no desire to sit. 



But one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one 

 bird with a remarkable record prove the superiority of a 

 variety, but I know that birds of the Chamberlain-Felcli 

 strain will average 150 eggs a year besides hatching and 

 rearing a brood of chickens. Flocks of thirty-five, fifty-five 

 and seventy-five have records of 92%, 107% and 110 eggs 

 when one year old. Other flocks have yearly records of 160 

 to 168 eggs each, and seven-twelfths of the number of eggs 

 were laid in the five coldest months of the year when eggs 

 bring the best prices. Eight pullets have a record of 192 

 eggs each, besides raising 64 chicks in the yards of the late 

 G. P. Fay. They lay large, heavy eggs, which weigh more 

 per dozen than those from any other fowls. They will make 

 tender roasts at a greater age than other varieties and if 

 the roosters are kept in celibacy they will make tender meat 

 when a year old. When the Light Brahma females have 

 been crossed with Wyandotte and Indian Game males, the 

 result of these crosses are sure to win the prizes in a dressed 

 poultry contest. 



Such are the records that have been made by the old- 

 style Light Brahma, and it is the old-style to which we must 

 return and adhere if we will have these records remain un- 

 excelled. The variety has been injured by the desire of 

 some persons to breed them with short necks, backs, thighs 

 and shanks and with the looser, longer plumage and exces- 

 sive foot feathering. The poultry coops used in our large 

 shows have been greatly to blame for the change to the 

 Cochin type Brahma. These coops were too low for a nor- 

 mal Brahma to stand in them free and clear. Therefore, 

 only a Cochin-shaped Brahma looked well in the coops, and 

 consequently, birds of that character won the prizes and a 

 large number of breeders, noting the style of bird that had 

 been winning, immediately began breeding to that type of 

 bird and ignored the standard. This would not matter so 

 much if it did not damage the utility and injure- the egg 

 productiveness of the variety. But I know that breeding 

 Brahmas to this Cochin type has diminished the egg produc- 



