Black Jersey Giant rooster

[laura29532]

I recently bought 5 Black Jersey Giants, 5 splash Jersey Giants in June 2020.
They were two day old hatched. They all looked like beautiful chicks but one.
I mean he's pretty but off color. I'm told sometimes they will have some genetic
flaws. I paid top dollar for these chicks as they were to be 100% proven bloodline.
I inquired about this as they are 6 months old now and been thru one molt.
I was told, well you got one free chick with your order, this would be the free one.!
I have never raised Jersey Giants before, any help would be very appreciated.

 

[sourland]

Conformation says 'Jersey Giant', but neck feathers says 'suspicious DNA'. I would not use him in a breeding program.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Certainly don't want to breed that one and when you do any of the others cull resulting blue birds from breeding program that show any hint of red. It will show up in the blues feathered birds most if any of the black birds are hiding it and you need to get that out of gene pool quick.

It could be just that bird was result of not cleaning out the hens before breeding. Stray genetics from other cock. Either way keep an eye on your blues as autosomal red can be a problem in blue varieties.

 

[theoldchick]

If you are breeding JGs this one needs to stay away from the hens. However, he would be a lovely addition to anyone's bachelor flock.

 

[laura29532]

I bought these 5 Black Jersey Giants from Maria Hall from IN. she claims she only has Jersey Giants, she breeds and raises show birds and has all kinds of awards with her birds.! When I message her about this ones head and neck coloring she was like, " I sent you a free one, take this one as the free one.! I'm like really.! I got 2 roosters and 4 hens out of the 6. what makes me very angry is I paid $ 20. each for 2-3 day old chicks. This one had a reddish dot on its head from day one, the other rooster appears to be have leg issues. I am watching him close as to I don't know if its because of breeding issues( to much rebreeding the same birds) or what. But now I'm in a fix, no rooster to do anything with. I will have to start from scratch. My blood is boiling the way she acted when asked this simple question. I have never had Jersey Giants before and ordered 10 Jersey's and 10 Black Cochins and 10 Partridge Cochins. I've never had big ole birds like these. My Brahmas I got last fall were not this big. I really hate fake people passing off mixed breeds of anything.. not sure what to do with these big ole boys, I don't have the heart to kill any of them their so pretty.

 

[theoldchick]

What a shame. I also learned that birds from private breeders lack the hardiness of hatchery birds. I agree in that the breeding principles in order to create a SOP bird is lacking. Kinda like puppy mill dogs-they have all kinds of genetic problems and seem to get sick at the slightest notion. You can either rehome your big boys or build a bachelor pen and enjoy them for what they are. I do want to add that not all breeders are lacking in standards but you have to watch out for the ones who are simply tossing a bunch of hens in a pen of several roosters and hope for the best.