Jersey Giants thread for pictures and discussion

[Wynette]

Is blue a colour you can show,
and has any one ever tried to mix a silver spangled hamburger with black jersey giants?

A silver spangled HAMBURGER?

Why on earth would you want to cross these two breeds? Just curious!!

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Hamburger! I should call my sisters Hamburgs that!

 

[feathers4fun]

...

someone previously mentioned that they were able to sex Giants via eye color - I'd not seen that eye color is a sex linked trait, so I got with my mentor, who got some expert opinions:

Replies are from a judge, a successful breeder/exhibitor of Jersey Giants for almost 50 years, and the director of two districts in the NJGC who is also a successful breeder/exhibitor of Jersey Giants:

-They have never heard of this method.
-Light eyes in Jersey Giants are a disqualification (as per APA Standard).
-Their own chicks are born with dark eyes

A genetics specialist (who is also a poultry judge) further stated "eye color is not sex linked."

Just wanted to set the record straight on this one! It would be nice if it was this easy, but apparently, it is not.
[/quoteI Thanks Wynette for clarification on this. I wondered about that statement too as it does say dark brown eyes in the SOP.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Hello peeps!

 

[ChicwannaB]

http://www.genetics.org/content/18/3/210.full.pdf interesting article about sex-linked stuff and chickens, draw your own conclusions.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

 

[Wynette]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this entire article (which was written in 1932 and is very interesting) is speaking of CROSS BREEDING:

4. Light (yellow, orange to bay) versus dark (brownish
black) iris color, (Br, br)
That the main genes controlling this contrast of eye colors are a sexlinked
pair is concluded from their typical criss-cross inheritance, as in the​

reciprocal matings* 5 and 6, and from their linkage relations.

This article is indicating that it is possible to determine gender by eye color when you are talking about cross mating different breeds (*reciprocal matings). I do not believe this is possible in purebred matings, but I am no expert.

From the opening paragraph:

After a preparatory detailed survey and several test matings of breeds to discover
those containing the most favorable contrast of characters, chief attention
was directed to reciprocal crosses between Columbian Plymouth
Rocks and Gold Campines.​

 

[feathers4fun]

Definitely a good read though it wouldn't be possible with purebreds. I find it interesting that they looked at several sex-link options of which just one is pretty much the only way we create them in modern day. Learn something new everyday

 

[Wynette]

Feathers, it WAS an interesting article, wasn't it? I just love reading these old articles...SO much is still relevant, and it really tickles me that folks were so into breeding so long ago. For whatever reason, to me, it seems like poultry keeping is a relatively recent hobby/fancy; so, it's neat to read older articles like this!

 

[Wynette]

I have a question for all you Jersey Giant folks - is anyone interested at all in having a sort of "learning session" on this thread? I've been thinking about it for awhile now, and I think it would be fun, and a great learning opportunity for all of us if we posted two good-quality pictures of Giant birds, and compared them. It's a fantastic way to train your eye to look for things you may not typically look for when observing chickens.

If anyone is interested, let me know - I think how we can handle is that anyone wishing to submit a picture should get a new picture of the bird, and PM it to me - no one will know whose bird it is, and using a picture that hasn't been posted before will help for anonymity (sp?)

I think if we do this, the birds should be close to the same age and the same gender. Color doesn't matter. A good side profile picture is best.

If there's no interest, NO worries whatsoever, but we've done this over on the Marans threads with good results, and I thought I'd mention it here. OR HEY - I have another idea. If you'd rather not send a pic to me, I can ask another moderator who doesn't post in this thread to handle the pictures and posting them - this way, then I wouldn't even be "in the know" and I would offer feedback as well.

Again, this would be more for fun and learning, NOT to tear someone's bird down. Thoughts?