black jersey giant layed 1st egg at 5 months

[chkinut]

hey guys, i'm not expecting too many replies on this (if any) but i just wanted to post to say how surprised i am that Lucille (my BJJ) layed her 1st egg at 5 months. in all the research i have done on JG, i was led to believe that they are very slow maturers and not to expect the 1st egg for QUITE awhile....7 - 9 months. so i was not counting on her laying till then. but, she surprised me! this is my 1st time owning one, she loves me and will eat from my hand, but she's still not crazy about me picking her up, but she has settled down quite a bit. i love her coal black feathers and coal black eyes and bright red wattles and comb. she's beautiful. and she's hatchery stock (MPC). i can only imagine how beautiful the non-hatchery-stock are!

 

[BigIslandChicks]

 

[debid]

I suspect that with hatchery stock, the emphasis is on production so it's entirely possible a hatchery JJ would be earlier and more productive than birds from a show line. You've given me hope -- I ordered two Australorps and got one JJ and one 'lorp. She's reddening up with the rest so fingers crossed!

 

[dianaross77]

That's pretty early for a JG! Did you check the color of the bottoms of her feet? Plenty of people end up with JG instead of BA from the hatchery. I wonder if the opposite is true?

 

[Buff-Island-Australorp]

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What color are the bottoms of her feet supposed to be? Do the Jersey's and the Australorps look the same as chicks too?

 

[dianaross77]

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What color are the bottoms of her feet supposed to be? Do the Jersey's and the Australorps look the same as chicks too?

They are identical as chicks, I think. The exception is that BA have pink feet and JG have yellow. That's the only way to tell them apart unless you wait until they fully mature and they're either huge or regular size.

 

[chkinut]

i just went out there and looked, but not as closely as i would've liked....she didn't like me lookin' at the bottom of her feet. they were mostly black, with just a few spots here and there of what looked like a light yellow. what do you think?

 

[whoacowboy]

Hooray! Very Exciting!

 

[dianaross77]

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Sounds like jersey giant to me. Good job! I have 4 hens bred for commercial egg production that are only giving me one egg a day from all four. You're doing better than me!