Brahma chicken: size, eggs and care guide

The Brahma is a large-size breed laying about 150 to 200 brown eggs a year, with hens around 9.5 to 10 lb and roosters around 12 lb. A Brahma rooster can stand roughly 30 inches tall, near enough to reach a kitchen counter. It is often called the King of All Poultry, and among purebred chickens only the Jersey Giant rivals it for mass.

How big is a Brahma?

A mature Brahma hen weighs about 9.5 to 10 lb and a rooster about 12 lb, with a typical standing height of up to 30 inches. That puts it in the large class, which is what drives its feed requirement of roughly 0.34 lb per bird per day before waste, free-ranging or seasonal adjustments.

Brahma egg production

Eggs are not this breed's main strength. A Brahma lays around 150 to 200 medium to large brown eggs a year, about 2.9 to 3.8 a week, so it is usually kept for other qualities and the eggs treated as a bonus. Output drops further during the moult and the darkest weeks of winter. To turn that into a monthly total and a dollar value at your local egg price, run it through the egg production calculator.

Temperament and noise

Extraordinarily gentle for its size. Brahmas are slow, calm, and almost never aggressive, and their sheer bulk means they rarely need to be. They are easily bullied by smaller assertive breeds despite towering over them. Noise level is rated quiet, which matters if you keep chickens close to neighbours.

Origin and history

Built in America in the 1850s from enormous feather-legged birds imported through the port of Shanghai. It set off a genuine speculative mania, the "Hen Fever" of the 1850s, when single birds changed hands for sums that would buy a house. It was the dominant American meat bird until roughly 1930.

Cold and heat tolerance

Cold tolerance is excellent and heat tolerance poor. The pea comb is small and close to the head, which gives it noticeably better frostbite resistance than a tall single comb.

Does the Brahma go broody?

Often. A broody hen stops laying and sits, which is a nuisance if you want eggs and a gift if you want chicks hatched naturally without an incubator.

Care specifics for this breed

The feathered legs and feet are the maintenance item. Mud cakes onto foot feathering and freezes, and scaly leg mite is harder to spot and treat under feathers. Keep the run well drained and check feet more often than you would with a clean-legged breed.

Feed cost for a flock of Brahma

This is an expensive bird to feed, and it is worth budgeting for honestly. At roughly 0.34 lb of feed per bird per day, six Brahma birds cost about $28.81 a month at $22 per 50 lb bag, noticeably more than a standard-size flock for a similar or smaller number of eggs. Free-ranging offsets some of it, winter adds about 10%. The feed cost calculator gives the exact figure for your flock size and local feed price, including bags needed and how long each lasts.

Is the Brahma right for you?

It suits cold climates, keepers who want a genuinely impressive-looking gentle giant, and families wanting a calm large bird. It is a weaker choice for hot humid summers, small runs, or anyone prioritising eggs per pound of feed. If you are still deciding, compare it against the other options in our guide to the best egg-laying breeds for beginners, or work out how many birds you need with the flock size calculator.