Jersey Giants thread for pictures and discussion

[Guccibirds423]

Those birds are beautiful. I am gonna get in touch with her and hope I can get some eggs as well. I am in love now with these birds! So I think 4 breeds of chickens is enough. but with chicken math. I only need around 40 more breeds! Kidding! lol

 

[feathers4fun]

Frankly, you would be hard pressed to find anyone breeding exhibition Giants that DOESN'T have Golda's original blood in them! She was fantastic for this breed!!

At a show last fall, I spoke with judge Gary Overton - he recalls spending time with Golda as a boy, and shared some wonderful stories about her. I feel honored to carry on her heritage in this breed!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I have to get some. Where can I get good SQ stock eggs from?

I will try this weekend. I have a Blue Jersey rooster ( flock protector)
My icelandic's and white empordanesa can literally stand under him

 

[Robert Blosl]

Think I have lined up some Blacks from Wynette also, just by geting some of her eggs shipped by her will be worth the investement as she has a method so good you could drop the eggs of the top of a school house roof and they might not break. I plan to start shiping hatching eggs with my White Rock and Rhode Island Red large fowl so this will help me provide better hatches after shipping. bob

 

[Wynette]

Think I have lined up some Blacks from Wynette also, just by geting some of her eggs shipped by her will be worth the investement as she has a method so good you could drop the eggs of the top of a school house roof and they might not break. I plan to start shiping hatching eggs with my White Rock and Rhode Island Red large fowl so this will help me provide better hatches after shipping. bob

Thanks for that, Bob - but you know, nowadays, with so many post offices closing, the USPS folks are harder and harder on boxes! I agonize over a box of eggs after it has shipped, and alwasy try to get in touch with the folks on the other end a few days after I ship to be sure they eggs arrived safely!

Silkiechicken, what a nice comment - thanks so much, but YOU did the hard work of raising them up! They are looking fabulous!

 

[jdywntr]

I have 15 blue and splash giants. They are about 18.5 weeks old. I will be processing some of the extras soon but I have questions.

This is my first time with giants and I have read that they mature more slowly but is that going to affect every aspect of their development?

Most of them are still not using the roosts but piling in the corner. I have enough roost space, about 25' of roosts that are about 2' off of the ground and made of either 2X4s or large smooth branches.

Also, there has been absolutely no crowing yet. I haven't even heard a garbled attempt. I have seen a few of the cockerels mock fighting but not often.

Finally, will they be of breeding age come spring? Or will that take longer too?

Thanks.

 

[silkiechicken]

Actually Wynette, my parents did almost all the work from weeks 3-now. LOL. I'd make a terrible parent. Here mom, send me pics, I'll be back between quarters. haha

Jdywntr, I didn't find the JG's to be particularly slow to mature emotionally, just a tad physically slow with filling out.... I can't wait till they are "filled out"! I went home for labor day and both boys were already crowing. I think they were 16/17 weeks by then, so I assume they were probably crowing for a few weeks since their crow was more than the "honk" most juvies squeeze out. LOL. Yours may start to crow any time now if they are like mine. They were roosting on the brooder perch a foot off the floor by about 12 weeks and moved themselves to the big coop just after labor day which was about 17 or 18 weeks? The perches there are about 2 feet high and they had to vie for a spot with the adult leghorns.

Compared to leghorns, yeah, they were a little slower to mature emotionally, but compared to non spastic "normal" large fowl like prodution reds, cochins, or banties such as floor mop silkies, they seemed pretty normal. But of course, these are my first and only experience with JG's.

 

[jdywntr]

Thanks silkiechicken. I had little roosts in their brooder and they used them I just have no idea why they aren't using the ones in the coop. Its almost funny to see these huge roos trying to get in a big pile on the floor.

 

[Wynette]

I would caution not to put roosts any higher than 18" at the VERY highest. When they fill out & become heavy, they can injur themselves jumping down from roosts any higher.

I often wonder if the crowing issue is environemental, weather related, or what. I have hatched thousands of chicks, and sometimes they seem to begin lurching out a crow beginning at 3-4 weeks, but other times, they take much longer. I have some silver penciled rock cockerels right now that are 16 weeks old, and I JUST heard the first crow this week.

 

[Framac]

I have 15 blue and splash giants. They are about 18.5 weeks old. I will be processing some of the extras soon but I have questions.

This is my first time with giants and I have read that they mature more slowly but is that going to affect every aspect of their development?

Most of them are still not using the roosts but piling in the corner. I have enough roost space, about 25' of roosts that are about 2' off of the ground and made of either 2X4s or large smooth branches.

Also, there has been absolutely no crowing yet. I haven't even heard a garbled attempt. I have seen a few of the cockerels mock fighting but not often.

Finally, will they be of breeding age come spring? Or will that take longer too?

Thanks.

They would be about 30 weeks old by the first of March, and you pullets may or may not be laying at that time. If they are, from my experience, the cockerels are faster to develop, and would be breeding by the time the Hens are laying. I currently have a 28 week old pullet that has not given me an egg, but her hatch mate is breeding everything in sight.

As far as roosting, my experience is they just click one day. I had a group of 8 that slept on the floor for months, and over two nights they all got it and they then roosted at night.

Finally, my current cockerel was about 22 weeks before he was crowing with regularity. If they don't, count yourself lucky maybe? A strain of non crowing roosters would be worth their weight in gold.(well not quite, but valuable)