Hi everyone! I'm new around here and I just ordered 15 Black Jerseys from McMurry Hatchery. They should be here next week. I'm so excited. We live on 1.2 acres with lots of horse farms, cattle farms and a sheep farm surrounding us but very few people have chickens. This is why I ordered from a hatchery. From what I've read the hatchery Jerseys are smaller than breeder Jerseys but that's ok. This is my first experience with chickens. I plan on letting them free-range during the day and we've converted our shed to a chicken coop for at night. I decided on JGs because I wanted dual purpose chickens with a greater emphasis on the meat. We don't eat a whole lot of eggs. If I get a decent amount of eggs that's great but not my primary purpose. I have twin boys who are 12 and they eat like crazy so I wanted a larger bird. We also have hawks, raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, and the neighbors swear there's mountain lions around but I'm skeptical. I've read that the JGs have good predator awareness and the roosters are very protective of the hens but friendly with people. I thought this would be a good time to order as it is now consistently in the 90's (with no central air...lol). I have a large a Rubbermaid tub for a brooder that I've lined with towels over top of a heating pad for the cooler night. I purchased 21% protein chick feed and chick grit. do you also put hay/wood chips in the brooder? Any advice is appreciated since I'm new. Thanks!
Michelle
Awesome! Congrats! : )
I got by girl, Mrs. Potter, from McMurray too!! She is friendly, intelligent, a good layer, a good breeder, a good forager, and is raising her second batch of chicks in the last 4 months!! She is about the size of all my other hens, possibly even smaller, but she matured at the same rate as them and is a good dual-purpose hen, so I'm fine with that. She's basically like the hatchery quality Australorps.
I've used hay, wood chips, and even towels/sheets in the brooders of my chickens and all have worked well as long as they provide grip and stay clean and dry.
Jersey Giants are very good birds, but so are a lot of breeds, so don't feel you have to only get them if you want a variety of dual-purpose foragers. The Speckled Sussex, New Hampshires, Plymouth Rocks (all colors), Wyandottes, Orpingtons, RIRs, White Giants, and many of the other dual-purpose breeds are equal in size, foraging ability and predator avoidance.
One of the big things to avoiding predators is tall grass (they hide in it from hawks), high perches, being locked up at night, open areas around the coop (predators don't like to feel exposed), other places of shade like trees or bushes to hide under, easy access to the coop and tall perches (for jumping out of the way of any predators during the day), and a family dog or cat to mark the area around the coop daily to deter predators.
Raccoons, skunks, and hawks are probably the ones we've had the most issues with. Opossums prefer to the chicken food and eggs, skunks usually only go for the eggs (unless desperate, like our momma skunk was), raccoons are probably the biggest threat of those three, and hawks are persistent and keen eyed and will return day after day if they think they can get a meal. Foxes will come out during the day and are fast and intelligent, which is why a dog and access to tall perches that birds can fly up onto are some really good bets.
Our roosters work together with-in sub-flocks to guard the hens and do a great job with warning. However, a large predator will take an attacking rooster. Roosters can only really fight off the smaller predators like opossums or small hawks. They are very good protectors though, and try their best, which is so sweet. I love my big boy rooster, he will lay down when I come out because he knows he gets a break from predator duty. He dust-bathes and sun-bathes and then when I leave gets on with the hawk-watch. : )
Best of luck with your new birds!! : )
Remember, shade, cool water (at all times), and a place to bathe in cool dirt help keep chickens from over-heating as much as their breed-type.
