This large breed make excellent pets as they are docile in addition to being good to look at. Because they are slow to mature they are not usually seen as a commercial fowl, though their egg laying is about 140 per annum. They may be light, buff or dark in colour, the latter two of which are lighter in weight. The head and skull have a pea comb and brow. They also small wattles and well-feathered shanks and toes, as are evident in this picture. It is named after the Brahmaputra River area. Here the Malay and Cochin were crossed and exported to Shanghai, China in the 1840s. They went to New York in 1846 and then to New England in 1853. The first book on poultry standards, issued in 1856, mentions the Brahmas chicken. After a gift was made to Queen Victoria the name was changed to Brahma chicken. The breed was minaly developed in the United States between 1850 and 1890, when most were light or dark, with buff birds emerging more recently.
