1. Where did you get the birds?
These chicks were hatched from my own mixed flock.
The parent birds are:
• Black Jersey Giant roosters
• Hens: Black Jersey Giants, Sapphire Gems, Golden Comets, Speckled Sussex, Buff Brahma, and Ameraucana.
The original flock came from Tractor Supply
These chicks are 5.5 weeks old in the photos.
2. A little backstory (and where I may have gone wrong):
I’ll be honest, I selected 30 of the darkest brown, largest eggs from my flock thinking they were mostly from my Black Jersey Giant hens. At the time, I was sure I had seen my JG hens laying these bigger brown eggs.
Just recently, after talking with a local JG breeder (who gave me 18 more eggs), I realized I had probably focused on the wrong eggs. I knew there would be some mixes, but at this point, I’m not sure if any of these chicks are pure Jersey Giants. I believe the big brown eggs to be from the Golden Comets (two food coloring tests sort of say that now)
That’s okay though, they are mine and will be well cared for either way. I’m learning as I go, and part of that learning is figuring out which roosters I don’t need.
3. About the setup (for anyone concerned):
The coop you see in the background is only used for the chicks.
My main flock has a dedicated coop space inside my barn.
4. My guess on sexes (based on behavior and appearance):
• I think birds #1–5 may be pullets.
• #6–11 are looking more like cockerels.
For example, #10 jumped up and chest-bumped my beta rooster, not sure if that guarantees anything, but it caught my attention.
One
two
three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
These chicks were hatched from my own mixed flock.
The parent birds are:
• Black Jersey Giant roosters
• Hens: Black Jersey Giants, Sapphire Gems, Golden Comets, Speckled Sussex, Buff Brahma, and Ameraucana.
The original flock came from Tractor Supply
These chicks are 5.5 weeks old in the photos.
2. A little backstory (and where I may have gone wrong):
I’ll be honest, I selected 30 of the darkest brown, largest eggs from my flock thinking they were mostly from my Black Jersey Giant hens. At the time, I was sure I had seen my JG hens laying these bigger brown eggs.
Just recently, after talking with a local JG breeder (who gave me 18 more eggs), I realized I had probably focused on the wrong eggs. I knew there would be some mixes, but at this point, I’m not sure if any of these chicks are pure Jersey Giants. I believe the big brown eggs to be from the Golden Comets (two food coloring tests sort of say that now)
That’s okay though, they are mine and will be well cared for either way. I’m learning as I go, and part of that learning is figuring out which roosters I don’t need.
3. About the setup (for anyone concerned):
The coop you see in the background is only used for the chicks.
My main flock has a dedicated coop space inside my barn.
4. My guess on sexes (based on behavior and appearance):
• I think birds #1–5 may be pullets.
• #6–11 are looking more like cockerels.
For example, #10 jumped up and chest-bumped my beta rooster, not sure if that guarantees anything, but it caught my attention.
One
two
three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
