Scully Poultry · Our Breeds

Brahma

One of the great traditional large fowl breeds

Breed Overview

The Brahma is one of the great traditional large fowl breeds, developed in the nineteenth century from Asiatic stock and becoming renowned for its immense size, feathered legs and calm temperament. Historically valued as a substantial table bird as well as for exhibition, the breed combines impressive scale with a notably gentle nature.

A good Brahma should be broad, deep, powerful, and exceptionally large, rather than simply tall or excessively feathered. Its characteristic pea comb, heavily feathered shanks and toes, broad skull and profuse plumage give the breed its unmistakable massive appearance, as well as making it a cold tolerant animal. We favour birds with genuine substance beneath the feather: strong bone, width through the body, a sound frame and the dignified carriage typical of the breed.

At Scully Poultry we keep large fowl Brahmas and select for traditional type, size, temperament, fertility and practical soundness. Although now best known as an ornamental and exhibition breed, we believe the Brahma should still retain the qualities of a useful farm fowl. Show features such as breadth, depth, feather quality and strong bone should support the underlying bird rather than replace it.

Our current range of colours do not feature standard varieties, making our flock attractive farm birds rather than true show-going animals. We aim to later derive dark Brahmas from these lines for such exhibition purposes.

Large fowl Brahmas from the Scully Poultry flock

Brahma eggs showing the breed's tinted to light-brown shell colour

Young Brahma chick showing early feathering on the legs and feet

Pair of Brahma eggs from the Scully Poultry flock

Breed Characteristic

The Egg

Brahmas lay tinted to light-brown eggs and can remain useful layers despite their great size. We value good shell quality, size and practical production alongside traditional Brahma type.

Shop Brahma Hatching Eggs

01 · Variety Blue & Splash

Blue large fowl Brahma showing slate-blue plumage, broad frame and feathered legs

01 · Variety

Blue &
Splash

The Blue and Splash Brahmas are derivatives of the recognised black variety, combining the Brahma’s immense frame and feathering with softer blue-grey plumage. Blue birds show slate-blue colouring with darker lacing or shading, while Splash birds are much paler, marked irregularly with blue or grey. We value them for both their visual character and the opportunity they give to maintain strong traditional Brahma type across a varied colour family.

Blue, our very first chicken and largest ever cock-bird, was a splash Brahma and influenced our decision to keep both this breed and colours.

Blue and Splash Brahma from the Scully Poultry flock

Blue and Splash allow the characteristic Brahma frame and heavy feathering to be maintained across a softer family of blue-grey colours.

02 · Variety Lemon Pyle

02 · Variety

Lemon
Pyle

Lemon Pyle Brahmas combine a warm lemon-gold ground colour with contrasting white/splash patterning, producing a bright and distinctive appearance. The colour is found in other breeds, but is particularly attractive on the large Brahma frame and heavy feathering. Our emphasis remains on maintaining substance, width and sound structure alongside the colour, and keeping the colour in line with the standard variety buff Brahma, which has black patterning rather than pale.

Lemon Pyle combines the warm ground colour associated with Buff Brahma-type plumage with much paler contrasting patterning.

03 · Variety Salmon & Blue Silver Orange

Salmon and Blue Silver Orange Brahma showing warm and silver wheaten-based plumage

03 · Variety

Salmon & Blue
Silver Orange

Salmon and Blue Silver Orange Brahmas belong to a related family of silver wheaten-based colours influenced by autosomal red, which adds warm salmon, orange and gold tones over the underlying pattern. Within the family, some birds carry black, others blue, while additional pattern genes can produce cleaner areas of colour or more obvious pencilling and darker markings.

This makes the group especially varied, with closely related birds differing quite dramatically in appearance while sharing the same broad genetic foundation. At Scully Poultry we treat Salmon and Blue Silver Orange as part of this wider colour family, selecting for attractive expression of colour while prioritising type and size.

Blue Silver Orange Brahma from the Scully Poultry flock

Closely related birds within the Salmon and Blue Silver Orange family can differ substantially in colour while retaining the same broad genetic foundation.