Jersey Giant Growth

[Fishfam]

Does anyone have growth weights on Jersey Giants according to a chart? I am trying to figure out the cost/benefit ratio of raising Jersey Giants and processing them sooner than their “maturity date”. I was hoping to get in communication with somebody who has experience with this breed.

 

[FunClucks]

I wouldn't do it. Jersey Giants spend the whole first year growing their frame/skeleton. They only start bulking up/adding muscle in their second year. It's not worth it monetarily to feed a chicken so long for the amount of meat produced.

Now if you have them anyway already and are raising them for eggs, sure, eat the chickens you have, since you already have them and are growing them.

But if you are selecting a breed to get started with, and your criteria include feed efficiency, low cost, or shorter processing timeline than 1.5 yrs, I wouldn't pick Jersey Giants.

Also you're limited on cooking methods since the 1.5 yr old birds will be very old and tough (with strong flavor, which you may love or hate) - you can make them delicious and edible, but these will be birds you'll most likely want to pressure cook, and will not be appropriate for frying. Sticking in the oven as a roast is also dicey - low heat, slow cooking methods are good for old tough birds, but you'll also want to carefully select your marinade or tenderizing method and make sure it doesn't dry out.

What are your other criteria for meat bird selection? There are a lot of other options that would probably work better for you, but knowing what you're going for and what is important to you will help us give better recommendations. Also, how do you plan/want to cook them? This helps narrow it down also.

 

[Fishfam]

I wouldn't do it. Jersey Giants spend the whole first year growing their frame/skeleton. They only start bulking up/adding muscle in their second year. It's not worth it monetarily to feed a chicken so long for the amount of meat produced.

Now if you have them anyway already and are raising them for eggs, sure, eat the chickens you have, since you already have them and are growing them.

But if you are selecting a breed to get started with, and your criteria include feed efficiency, low cost, or shorter processing timeline than 1.5 yrs, I wouldn't pick Jersey Giants.

Also you're limited on cooking methods since the 1.5 yr old birds will be very old and tough (with strong flavor, which you may love or hate) - you can make them delicious and edible, but these will be birds you'll most likely want to pressure cook, and will not be appropriate for frying. Sticking in the oven as a roast is also dicey - low heat, slow cooking methods are good for old tough birds, but you'll also want to carefully select your marinade or tenderizing method and make sure it doesn't dry out.

What are your other criteria for meat bird selection? There are a lot of other options that would probably work better for you, but knowing what you're going for and what is important to you will help us give better recommendations. Also, how do you plan/want to cook them? This helps narrow it down also.

Thank you for your replay.
We intend to use it for various purposes not just canned goods. We are looking into hybrids or crossing heritage bred birds to find a viable option to the meat bird industry. Finding something versatile that can be used for more than just stew meat is our intent. We however don’t want something that is crossed with a Cornish (not heritage).

 

[FunClucks]

There are a few lines of heritage birds optimized for meat production that are currently available. Might be worth checking those out before developing from scratch. Some of these are mentioned on this site, so it's worth some research. I'd look up American Breese, there's a lovely thread on here about a member who's spent 12+ years optimizing his for meat, and they are great! Freedom Ranger Hatchery has a number of heritage breeds optimized for meat (that lay decently also), they have very nice New Hampshires, Sasso, and some other heritage breads that might be of interest to you. I have some of the NH, and they lay every other day and give an excellent size carcass while young enough to still be tender. I bake those breasts, legs, thighs, wings in the oven in a good marinade at 275F for 1+ hrs, and they're super tender and delicious. They produce enough eggs to be used as a dual purpose flock, and most of them lay a decent size egg.

When I mentioned pressure cooking, I meant for eating, not canning, per se. For instance, i'd put a whole old rooster in a 28 qt canner with chicken soup veggies and 1/3 container of water, and then can according to the chicken soup directions - delicious chicken soup, egg drop soup (with broth), and pea soup (with veggies), and pulled BBQ chicken.

If you don't want to use a canner, then you may need to do some experimentation with age of processing and cooking methods for your particular birds.

 

[DemeterAD9]

I wish I had kept weights on my 4 BJGs as they grew but the results would have been unimpressive to say the least. I bought them from Meyer Hatchery last May so they are nearly 1yr old. I imagine getting BJG from someone who breeds to SOP would have much better stock that lives up to being called giants.

I cannot put hands on my BJG unless I grab them at night or on the nest box but I will say the 3 hens are pretty darn average sized and the rooster is tall but not very plump. What was mentioned about them filling out with muscle later has been true, at least for the rooster. He was essentially a bean pole right up till a couple months ago, then he started to look more filled out. Egg laying ability is decent egg size is only small-medium. My EEs and other mutts lay larger eggs than them.

I plan to assess all my birds soon and to process the rooster and 2 hens, keeping the hen who either lays the largest eggs or feels the meatiest, haven't decided yet. All I know is I need to reduce my flock and focus to make room for the growing chicks, keeping the best breeders for next year. I may be back with weights, if I remember!

 

[DemeterAD9]

Apparently talking about it yesterday gave me the pep talk I needed to go ahead and do the deed. I ended up processing the smallest hen and the rooster plus a prairie blue bell that hasn’t laid yet. All are just under a year old.

Live weights for the BLJ hen and rooster are 5lbs 1oz and 6lbs 9oz. Processed is 3lbs 9oz and 4lbs 10oz. I weighed one of the larger BJG hens too and she was 5lbs 11oz (one I may keep). Not at all impressed with the rooster, he weighed less than a large fowl mutt I raised to only 20ish weeks (that was a monster who weighed 6lbs dressed). Out of all the birds I’ve butchered the rooster was so narrow I had a hard time gutting it, and I have small hands! Makes me feel a little better knowing I am taking out less than ideal genes from my flock. Funny thing is, the info from Meyer hatchery states the hens could weigh up to 10lbs and the Roos up to 13lbs. I know my birds were not necessarily fully mature but they should have been close to full size, especially in bone structure. I simply am not convinced the hen nor the roo would have hit those heavy weights with their small bodies. I would not consider this breed, or at least the ones from Meyer, an ideal breed for raising for meat. While they are sustainable they are on the smaller side and rather slow to grow compared to others.

The smallest bird is the PBB, middle is the BJG hen. Both hens were fatty, greased really. I’ve only processed cockerels before so it was different.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Both hens were fatty, greased really. I’ve only processed cockerels before so it was different.

Before they start to lay pullets and hens store excess fat, especially in the pelvic region. This excess fat is what they mostly live off of if they go broody. That way they can mostly stay on the nest instead of needing to go look for food and water. So, yes, a huge difference in the amount of fat in a female versus a male.

If you want to make schmaltz (rendered chicken or goose fat) you need females, not males.

Funny thing is, the info from Meyer hatchery states the hens could weigh up to 10lbs and the Roos up to 13lbs.

If you go to the Jersey Giant SOP those are the weights given for mature JG hens and roosters. Pullets and cockerels are less. You usually need to go to a breeder breeding for shows to meet those standards.

Breeders carefully select specific hens and roosters to mate to give them the best chances of getting a championship quality show bird. Even them, most of the chicks that hatch do not meet that standard well enough to win a prize.

Most hatcheries use the pen breeding method where which rooster mates with which hen is random instead of a carefully matched pairing. You are not going to get many show quality chicks out of that no matter how carefully you select the breeders. The hatcheries goal is to mass produce a bird that follows the SOP reasonably well but not as well as a breeder breeding for show would. The prices you pay for chicks represents that mass market approach. If they were breeding for show we would not be able to afford their chicks.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Before they start to lay pullets and hens store excess fat, especially in the pelvic region. This excess fat is what they mostly live off of if they go broody. That way they can mostly stay on the nest instead of needing to go look for food and water. So, yes, a huge difference in the amount of fat in a female versus a male.

If you want to make schmaltz (rendered chicken or goose fat) you need females, not males.


If you go to the Jersey Giant SOP those are the weights given for mature JG hens and roosters. Pullets and cockerels are less. You usually need to go to a breeder breeding for shows to meet those standards.

Breeders carefully select specific hens and roosters to mate to give them the best chances of getting a championship quality show bird. Even them, most of the chicks that hatch do not meet that standard well enough to win a prize.

Most hatcheries use the pen breeding method where which rooster mates with which hen is random instead of a carefully matched pairing. You are not going to get many show quality chicks out of that no matter how carefully you select the breeders. The hatcheries goal is to mass produce a bird that follows the SOP reasonably well but not as well as a breeder breeding for show would. The prices you pay for chicks represents that mass market approach. If they were breeding for show we would not be able to afford their chicks.

Oh I wasn’t really expecting to get the weights Meyer states but barely getting half the stated size? Disappointing to say the least. Before putting hands on them I was expecting at least 8-10lbs live for the roo and 6lbs for the hen. Hatcheries shouldn’t be listing the max size of show quality birds but rather the average weights of their breeding stock, at least I know that now!

And the thing about fat in the hens, makes sense! The more you know