Brahma chickens are a large breed of chicken developed in the United States from very large birds imported from Shanghai. Brahma was the principal chicken used for meat in the US from the 1850s until about 1930.
There has been considerable controversy over the origin of the Brahma. It appears to have developed in the United States from birds imported from Shanghai. Limited cross-breeding with Chittagong chickens from Bangladesh is likely what gave the Brahma the distinctive characteristics of head shape and the pea comb that distinguish them from the Cochin (another breed that derives from comon ancestors).Brahmas were first exported to England in December 1852 when George Burnham sent nine "Gray Shanghaes" to Queen Victoria as a gift. Dark Brahmas are a variety that were developed by English breeders from this stock and later re-exported to the United States. Both the light and the dark (pencilled)
Brahma were included in the first British Poultry Standard, published by the
original Poultry Club of Great Britain in 1865.Both the light and the dark were included in the first Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry
Association in 1874. Some birds were very large weighing about 18 lb for cocks and 13 lb for hens.
About Brahma Chickens
