jersey giants

[pigfarmer]

Anybody raise/raised jersey giant chickens for a meat bird alternative.
I have done the cornish-x, did not like the breed... lumbering bird, not to mention... not replicable.
I am looking to hatch/raise replacements when needed.

Thanx for any info in advance

 

[AllenWMiller]

Bairo has pointed right to the best method for dispatching a chicken for the table. This is the best Kosher and Halal method for killing a chicken. Now I'm not Jewish or the Islamic but traditional methods have been practiced for millenia for good reason. When the "shochet" (the executioner) places the blade at the roof of the chicken's mouth and follows the groove of the pallet directly to the brain; this ensures an instant death. However, as Bairo discovered it also is a learning curve and you had better have the second bigger and sharper knife read to cut the throat because the only way I can teach this method to folks is by trial and error.

With this method you have to use a killing cone to restrain the bird, pull its head down and use your thumb of one hand to slide between the beak to open the mouth while the other hand slides a knife (or I have found a standard ice pick works as well) up the pallet hits the brain bird is dead instantly. Then still holding the head put the small knife down and get your standard kill knife and slice the throat to bleed the bird out. This method is more complicated but if done properly, is humane, quick and the meat is more tender; since the bird didn't panic. Thus no stress hormones like cortisol or adrenaline were released into the meat. It also means, if done correctly, you can easily dry pluck the bird without scalding and you won't damage the skin.

Now certain Amman and Rabbis are accepting the electrocution method where you shock the bird to stun it then bleed it out.

I'm partial to my method still... First take all food from the birds for 24 hours by placing them in a confining crate and cover with a dark cloth overnight...In the morning take the crate still covered to the killing site...As you remove the chicken don't "grab" it rather push down on the back of the bird first with one hand and take your free hand and put it on top of the head with your thumb under the lower beak so that the beak is about 2/3 the way up the thumb and the tip of the thumb is on the soft pallet...take your other hand under the bird and pick it up out of the crate...while applying pressure on the soft pallet pull back on the head to fully extend the neck being gentle here...The whole idea is to do this in a calm and efficient manner to disturb the bird as little as possible...place the bird through the killing cone and pull the head out the bottom and resume the hold of the head placing the thumb on the soft pallet as before...with your top for fingers cupped around the top of the head running fingers down the comb and your thumb tip at the soft pallet where the skull joins the neck gently but firmly pull the head down and rock your wrist to tilt the whole head back 30 degrees or so while still holding pressure on the soft pallet...then slice the neck pulling the head back to 90 degrees or so once bleeding starts.

The control of the head is key in this method as it basically stuns the bird...The best way to understand this is take a live bird hold it under your arm with one hand so the body is against your side and your arm is under the breast of the bird and with the other had stroke the top of the bird's head to calm it then put your thumb under the beak as described above and your fingers on top of the comb put pressure on the soft pallet and roll the bird's head back about 20 degrees...If you do this right the bird will pass out...Won't hurt it a bit and will come to almost instantly but when you do it right your will see the result.

I don't like the new methods of electrocution because I've seen too much go wrong with this method. And I certainly don't like the butchery that goes on today in both corporate farms and even free range small operations where dispatching animals looks like something out of a horror movie or some fraternity initiation prank.

Killing any animal should always be done with dignity and in a humane manner not only to honor the life that is taken but to give the meat the best possible outcome....

As I said the kosher and halal laws have their purpose as they insure that the animal killed will have the safest and healthiest meat possible.

An old Rabbi I used to be a shochet for showed me the method a Rabbi will used to determine if the meat was killed in a proper Kosher manner and it was simply to check the dead animal's lungs to make sure there were no contusions that would indicate stress and panic. If there were signs then the lung would be inflated to make sure the lung could still work. If it inflated the meat was Kosher and the logic was that the animal died humanely. More simple is a shochet had to always kill the animal humanely and with respect to its life.

So that is my best advice to all of you. Do the method you feel most comfortable with but do it with dignity and respect for the life you are taking; since that life is sustaining you and your family.

Cheers

 

[old*cowboy]

I am crossing a blue NN rooster onto some nice Jersey Giant hens in hope of getting a nice duel purpose bird. I love the blue NN and am trying to beef them up a little.

 

[HHandbasket]

1/4 cup of hot sauce? That's 4 tablespoons, might be excessive.

Luckily, a recipe is only a guide. You adjust it to suit your tastes and eating style. I am with you in that I think it's too much, but my DH would probably think he'd died and gone to Spicy Heaven if I fed him that! The spicier it is, the more he likes it. Personally, though, I would think 1 or 2 tablespoons would suffice. The rest of the recipe does sound really, really good though. I think I would probably substitute quinoa for the rice, though. I don't eat rice, and quinoa is a much healthier and more protein-packed substitute that works well for me in dishes that call for rice (I make a slammin' stuffed bell pepper, but that's for another thread all together LOL).

I don't have any Jersey giants, but we are also looking at Delawares. We had a delawegger rooster that was not used for food but sold to a nice family so he could be a good flock leader (I was very happy to hear he got his own flock of ladies), and he topped out at just around 12 pounds when he was 7 months old. Don't know what he would have dressed out as, but he was bigger than any of the other roosters we've processed in the last month or so.

As a matter of fact, he's the biggest rooster we've ever had here on the ranch.

I might have to look into the Jersey Giants, though I've never been a fan of that breed. I don't dislike them and am open-minded. I'll talk to DH, see what he says.

He'll probably let me.... if I give him 1/4 cup of hot sauce to put on em! LOL!

 

[Afterburner]

I have one for eggs. She got really big (nearly ten pounds). Her growth was fairly slow. She didn't get full size until nearly 1.5 years of age.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

While I have never raised meaties, nor JG's, I can say that you will not want to raise them for meat. They grow too slowly. You could, however, use them as DP's. Caponize the males, and slaughter the hens once they are past their egg-laying prime(at which point they should be a good size).

 

[omegorchards]

I am raising Jersey Giants for meat. And there slow growth rate is exactly what I want! Slow growth = flavor. I raised and butchered 75 Cornish-X this year and they do indeed produce a beautiful carcass but they don't have flavor! Better than store-bought franken birds yes, but not what I want for all the work I put into raising my own birds. At present I have about 30 Jersey Giants and 10 Midget White turkeys. My goal is to get a self sustaining flock of birds (no possible with Cornish-X) where I can have both a source of meat and eggs. You should visit the National Jersey Giant Club (http://nationaljerseygiantclub.com) webpage for tons of good articles. Check out the article Sher Jennings wrote on using Jersey Giants as meat birds: here is the link to it (opens in MS Word). Good luck!

 

[speedy2020]

Anybody raise/raised jersey giant chickens for a meat bird alternative.
I have done the cornish-x, did not like the breed... lumbering bird, not to mention... not replicable.
I am looking to hatch/raise replacements when needed.

Thanx for any info in advance

Have you consider raising Light Sussex? The rooster is almost as big as Jersey Giant and they are growth much faster rate.

 

[Illia]

My main advice is if you want to eat some Jersey Giants - Make sure you get stock that you know from some sort of praise to be of good enough size and weight. My last JG's I got were pretty much typical chicken size, I was pretty disappointed.


After that, I'd say they will make good dual purpose but not good meat birds. By the Standard of Perfection, a young bird at just around 7 months old should exceed the weight of almost all other breeds out there, which is great, but as a meat bird most people would want to see that weight reached earlier. Also, the question is, how much is bone and how much is meat? I always hear Jersey Giants grow, THEN fill out.


All said and done, I agree with the previous person's comment on Light Sussex. Any imported / Greenfire stock of Sussex are faster growers and very well filled out birds. Very big birds, too, and if you're in such climate - They're very very cold hardy.

But as meat birds I'd always better recommend a different breed or a hybrid of sorts. Dual Purpose though - Go right ahead.

 

[lovemyzoo]

My main advice is if you want to eat some Jersey Giants - Make sure you get stock that you know from some sort of praise to be of good enough size and weight. My last JG's I got were pretty much typical chicken size, I was pretty disappointed.


After that, I'd say they will make good dual purpose but not good meat birds. By the Standard of Perfection, a young bird at just around 7 months old should exceed the weight of almost all other breeds out there, which is great, but as a meat bird most people would want to see that weight reached earlier. Also, the question is, how much is bone and how much is meat? I always hear Jersey Giants grow, THEN fill out.


All said and done, I agree with the previous person's comment on Light Sussex. Any imported / Greenfire stock of Sussex are faster growers and very well filled out birds. Very big birds, too, and if you're in such climate - They're very very cold hardy.

But as meat birds I'd always better recommend a different breed or a hybrid of sorts. Dual Purpose though - Go right ahead.

Outside the Cornish-X, what would you recommend?