Jersey Giant

I live on an 8 acre hobby farm and used to have bantam chickens. Well I don't like to have my chickens cooped up all the time and with the hawks around the bantams just wouldn't do. I looked around wanting the biggest chicken I could find, just to deter the hawks. I found this in the Jersey Giant! Since I have had them I have lost 0 to hawks. It makes me feel better knowing that the hawks aren't bothering my flock anymore. I know that there is till a possibility that it could happen, just much less likely.

My rooster isn't mean, he doesn't love to be held by any means, but doesn't attack me or my kids either. I have a couple hens that like to be held and all of them do a pretty good job laying. I'm not looking for the super egg producer and consider the egg production a bonus to keeping them. I'm very much looking forward to what the future has in store with my flock growth and will continue to learn more about the breed.

I would recommend them to anyone looking to get into chickens as a first timer. (If you have the room.)

I have a Black/Jersey Giant named Judy. She is HUGE, bigger than my four year old chickens at only seven months. She lays daily (I've gotten several double yolkers from her!). And is it just me, or do these chickens have incredibly soft feathers?! The only problem I've had with her is that she is so big, she picks on some of my smaller chickens, plucking feathers out of their backs. I'm hoping she'll stop doing this once they get the totem pole in order, because they (her and three other new hens of her age) are are still new to my coop.

My favorite bird for production.

Huge birds but very slow to mature. Butchered excess roos at 5 months and still not a lot of meat on their bones. Hens slow to lay as well. New hampshires laying at least a month before the Giants. Very calm and handle confinement well but don't do that well free ranging. Happy to just hang out in the coop.

We have a really sweet hen. I'd consider her to be a pet. She's a year old now and doesn't lay an egg very often. She is also the same size as our other hens. My husband laughs at the name Jersey "Giant". I like her though. She will even get into the van if the door is open so we have to keep an eye on her.

With this breed I don't have to worry about hawks, but the bald eagles in the area may still give us a run for the money. Not fast growers by today's standards, but it is fun to see where they are heading.

Jerseys are a nice complement to a faster growing bird breed. If you keep the roosters they could be a good market nitch for those looking for a large bird for Thanksgiving.

I ordered two jersey giant roos from Meyer and I have to say that the one that I didn't butcher turned out to be the best rooster ever. He's super docile (he'll eat out of my 8 yo daughter's hand), he always keeps an eye out for his girls and is presently 12 lbs of gentle giant. I can't say enough good things about him.

Don't expect eggs from these giants like you would a production bird.
Lost one in our New England winter, the rest seemed to winter good.

I have had 2 JG and they were white. Both of them had very sweet personalities and I didn't even raise them from chick! (I bought them at a poultry sale.) They always let me walk up to them and hug them, they appreciated attention, they were happy to walk up to you (especially if you had treats), and overall very nice personalities. Plus, they didn't act mean/territorial with the other hens. They each had really dark brown eyes that were very pretty. Also, after 3 years of having them, they usually lay every other day- it was daily when they were younger. However, they never actually reached their giant size. Even after the 3 years, she's only the size of an Aracauna.

I have one Black Jersey Giant. She is a wonderful bird, very friendly, calm, and a great layer. Gorgeous black feathers with a green tint. Can't think of one bad thing to say!

Our Jersey was typical of the breed, a big girl and the largest in the flock. That said she was not a bully, very even tempered. She enjoyed being held and never pecked anybody. She would place herself between two other squawking chickens as the peacemaker. If I have a complaint it is that she ate more than she laid. This girl could pack the feed away. Decent size eggs, 3-4 week.

Our girl came to an unfortunate end when she went inside out, that was a bad, sad day.

I have two hatchery Jersey Giants. They are black. My birds aren't as big as they are supposed to be, and that is because hatchery strains are usually poor in size. However, my girls are sweet and gentle, always coming up to me to see what's going on. Their eggs are large and brown. My girls have never been broody. This is a great bird for beginners. There's only one problem: if you live in a place with cold winters, there is the danger of their combs getting frozen. Other than that, they do well in winter.

I bought 3 Black Jerseys 4 years ago. One died within 6 months--don't know why, just found her dead out by the hen house. I lost the second one last month. She just disappeared. The last one still lays about 3 - 4 big brown eggs a week. She is a loner with the other chickens, but comes running to me whenever she sees me out in the yard. She lets me pick her up and pet her and none of my Jerseys ever pecked or were aggressive with me or my grandchildren.

I have a 6 week old Jersey Giant named Nausicaa. Whenever i come to check on the flock she is always the first to greet me. I walked in one day to find my pet cat hissing at my Jersey with his tail between his legs, Nausicaa always stands up the smaller in the flock. i would rate this bird 5 stars, but nothing is perfect.

I love my Jersey! She is very sweet. She has very pretty black feathers with a green sheen. She lays pretty brown eggs averaging 4-5 a week. She makes lots of noise which some people might view as a negative but it makes my whole family laugh. I recommend this bird to everybody!

I've raised a few giants. I had a blue roo and he was almost a year before he started crowing and mating, but his personality was good. He would let you handle him.

I currently have one JG hen left. She is HUGE. She only lays about 3x a week, but I keep her for her personality. Eggs are small, but the older she gets the larger they get. She is almost a year and they are medium sized. She started laying at 8 months. You can do anything with her. She loves attention, but she isn't all up in your face about it.

I only mentioned large as a con if you don't have a good place to house a LARGE 10lb chicken.

We purchased our Black Jersey Giant rooster on a whim when our other Speckled Sussex eggs failed to hatch. He has been a valuable member to our flock, always keeping an eye out for anything he perceives as a threat. He is quite gentle with the hens, even when he is seeking their "affections". While our other roosters occasionally fight, he for the most part keeps out of it, however, when I purchased a few roosters for butchering, he immediately placed himself between the flock and the new roosters, especially the new trouble makers. Now that the butchering roosters are gone, he is back to his old docile self.
My one issue is that there are plenty of hens, however he sometimes takes a fancy to our Lady Duck :S

I will defiantly be adding a few more Jersey Giants to our flock!

Man, I waited forever for this girl to start laying. A full year! And she's not the best layer. Her eggs are moderate in size, and in peak season she'll give about five per week. But I have to say, she is one of my favorite hens of all time. She has an easy-going temperament, and never makes trouble in the yard. Her size means she's not a pushover, though. All of the other chickens I have kept have had their issues - chicken drama, mites, sour crop, egg problems, excessive molting, whatever. When everyone else is in flux, my Jersey is just motoring on, keeping an even keel and a steady production of eggs. Having some nasty hens has really made me appreciate how easy she is to have around. I had a Jersey rooster for a bit, but that guy was a jerk and went in the pot.