Chicken Breed Focus - Jersey Giant

[wamtazlady]

I only ordered the Jersey Giants because the lady who was going to chick sit for me early this year wanted some. When we split the chicks I only took one Giant. She has turned out to be my favorite of the 8 different breeds I got. She's friendly, not skittish. She's the boss hen but doesn't feel the need to beat up on the others. She is boss because she has a commanding personality. When I go outside she comes running and follows me around. Unexpectedly, she is also the second of the hens to lay. The leghorn as I expected was first. Her black plumage with the green tint is positively lovely.

 

[draye]

I own a Blue Jersey Giant. I'm using him over some of my Naked Neck hens to improve size in my line of Nsked Necks.

I have the blue variety because that was ehat was available. I really and truly want the Ehite variety but cannot find any locally.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

I have a blue jersey giant hen. She is small for her breed, but still the largest hen in the house, and Henrietta knows it. She is Da Boss. I have a terrible time keeping her out of the cat food! She intimidates the kittens, the dogs, and the rooster. She is a great layer and is trying to figure out if she wants to be my friend or not. I got her from a friend as a hatchling. She accidently mixed a black JG roo over something else and voila! Here's Henrietta!

 

[mcrooke45]

I LOVE your nest boxes. JG's need a BIG nest and barely fit in the 12" by 12" stand nests that come with pre-fab coops.

Those tubs make great nests. I just cut out one end. I have them sitting on top of a couple of 2x4s that's on some cinder blocks to keep them up off the ground. I put a few screws on the inside of each one on them on the inside to secure them to the boards. That's all. Simple nests that work great!

 

[ebeagle35]

What size is small, all my bigs are dual purpose but my legbars and sex links. Do you consider these breeds to be small?

 

[GitaBooks]

What made you decide to get this breed?
I love variety in my flock, and I heard that Jersey Giants were friendly, hardy, and unique. I loved that they were so large in size.

Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
Certainly for fun, though I also use my birds for meat, eggs, and I do breed them (most of these chicks we use for meat or eggs).

What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
Its large size.

Mrs. Potter at a month and a half of age (Black Giant from McMurray)


Yosemite at the same age and from the same place (she is shy and not very active, as if she is just observing the "immature antics" of her younger siblings)

 

[crazychicken5]

I have one JG, and she's twice as old as my other hens, she was the sole survivor f a fox attack, but when we introduced her to the flock she fit right in. she is the sweetest most mellow chicken I have ever met. Her name is Ruby. I would definitely recommend this breed to others.

 

[maruadventurer]

Couple pics of the JG's --







All 10 weeks old.
22 in this flock. Balance are kinda shy.

 

[maruadventurer]

One recommendation, for those considering the JG's is color. I have blacks and I do notice that in the heat of the day they do get stressed. They have a kiddie pool and they will stand in it for quite some time cooling off. Whites might be a better choice if you are in the South.

 

[bruceha2000]

I wanted a JG so bad and when the local feed store had some come in, I was first in line to get one. The problem was that they also had a separate bin of black Australorps, which I got 3 of, (2 for a friend, which we ended up keeping anyway) When I got home with my one BJG and 3 BAs, I couldn't tell them apart! We lost one to a dog and I was really hoping it wasn't my only Giant, but at about 10 weeks old now, they still look the same, even the bottoms of their feet are the same white-ish color. I also know that they are probably all hatchery birds, which can make it even harder to tell them apart. The only difference when they were little was that one had a fully black face and the other 3 had a lot of white. Every day we still try to pick out differences between the 3 we have left, hoping that maybe the JG is one of them. Lol Here's pictures of them as little ones; the one with the dark face and the other 3, who looked similar.

Trade ya! Except you are too far away. I'm pretty convinced the 2 "Black Australorps" I got from Meyer (hatched June 8) are Jersey Giants given their VERY yellow feet. Not a breed I wanted at all. We don't eat the chickens so their "roasting size" will be nothing but a food burner disadvantage in the winter when they can't forage and they aren't likely to lay as well as BAs do - in general. My big BA isn't a great layer but her "sister" is my BEST layer, closely followed by an EE. Hopefully I will be happily surprised and being hatchery chicks they won't get HUGE and will lay better than I expect.

One recommendation, for those considering the JG's is color. I have blacks and I do notice that in the heat of the day they do get stressed. They have a kiddie pool and they will stand in it for quite some time cooling off. Whites might be a better choice if you are in the South.

I don't think any chicken likes "high noon" heat. My adult hens range in color from red splash to brown to black and white to all black. All of mine, including the 2 Cubalayas (if not obvious from the name, they originated in Cuba) and the Anconas, also "warm climate" birds, hide from the mid day sun. They will be in the barn or under a tree, lilac bush or the deck but NONE of them will be wandering around away from shade.