Jersey Giants thread for pictures and discussion

[beagleman77]

I have a roo and a hen that will be a year this march hen lays large brown to white tinted eggs I get a egg a day from her my roo is close to two feet tall weighing 9-10 pounds I call him taz short for Tasmanian devil he is the meanest roo I've ever had I will try to post pics later I just got to findout how to

 

[MargaretYakoda]

I have a roo and a hen that will be a year this march hen lays large brown to white tinted eggs I get a egg a day from her my roo is close to two feet tall weighing 9-10 pounds I call him taz short for Tasmanian devil he is the meanest roo I've ever had I will try to post pics later I just got to findout how to

Jersey Giants are usually very even tempered birds, even the roosters. And the eggs should be all brown. They also don't generally lay every day. Most days, yeah... but not every day.

Any chance your birds were hatchery Jersey Giants? Because it sounds as if they're not 100% Jersey Giant.

 

[beagleman77]

I bought them from a local feed store they said they were pure bred black giants I looked on the internet about them they are just like them

 

[MargaretYakoda]

I bought them from a local feed store they said they were pure bred black giants I looked on the internet about them they are just like them

Feed store birds are pretty much the same as hatchery birds. They're not carefully bred, and might not be pure bred at all. This site has an excellent comparison of hatchery bred birds vs commercially bred birds. http://janickibuttercups.weebly.com/heritage-breeds.html
But what you can't see there is the temperament.
If you get Jersey Giants from a reliable breeder, it's highly unlikely that you'd get an aggressive bird.
But if you get a hatchery bird, you're getting the genetic equivalent of a puppy mill dog.

Also, your rooster is 10 pounds or less? But the APA Standard of Perfection states that a Jersey Giant cock should be 13 pounds. http://nationaljerseygiantclub.com/media/Document_22.pdf
That's a big difference.

And, their eggs aren't white.

I mean, I don't want to be argumentative, but I strongly suspect you've got birds that may be partly JG. But not pure JG.

 

[beagleman77]

I did have her in a pen with two Araucana hens and thanks so much for the websites

 

[mathewmarie]

Feed store birds are pretty much the same as hatchery birds. They're not carefully bred, and might not be pure bred at all. This site has an excellent comparison of hatchery bred birds vs commercially bred birds.  http://janickibuttercups.weebly.com/heritage-breeds.html
But what you can't see there is the temperament.
If you get Jersey Giants from a reliable breeder, it's highly unlikely that you'd get an aggressive bird.
But if you get a hatchery bird, you're getting the genetic equivalent of a puppy mill dog.

Also, your rooster is 10 pounds or less? But the APA Standard of Perfection states that a Jersey Giant cock should be 13 pounds. http://nationaljerseygiantclub.com/media/Document_22.pdf
That's a big difference.

And, their eggs aren't white.

I mean, I don't want to be argumentative, but I strongly suspect you've got birds that may be partly JG. But not pure JG.

Awesome. Ok. So i bought Jersey Giants from a store. I love them. But, the article you linked to was compelling and i'd like to make it a priority to preserve and promote the heritage version of Jersey Giants. Can anyone recomend an APA approved hatchery i can order from? And does this mean i need to ....cull my flock of one year olds all at once or can i transition slower and maintain my little (ahem) farm...

 

[MargaretYakoda]

Awesome. Ok. So i bought Jersey Giants from a store. I love them. But, the article you linked to was compelling and i'd like to make it a priority to preserve and promote the heritage version of Jersey Giants. Can anyone recomend an APA approved hatchery i can order from? And does this mean i need to ....cull my flock of one year olds all at once or can i transition slower and maintain my little (ahem) farm...

No worries. I got my first chickens from the feed store too. Live and learn, my grandma would say.

Those birds are Australorps and Orpingtons, and I do love them. I got lucky with my JGs and happened to get eggs from a couple of Sher Jenning's birds. And they are GORGEOUS birds. No comparison to the feed store birds at all.

You might want to take a look at the National Jersey Giant club's breeder list: http://nationaljerseygiantclub.com/index.cfm/pageid/34

Be prepared, though. Those birds are unlikely to be cheap. Maria Hall, http://www.mariasjerseygiants.com/ is one of the most important breeders of Jersey Giants, and her eggs sell for $150 plus shipping. That's for just one dozen.

As for culling the hatchery birds.. well.. that mean cock would be in my stewpot first. The others I'd keep around, but I would be very careful not to let them breed.

 

[MrsBrooke]

I run a dual breeding flock and laying flock. Mean hatchery egg-eaters are easily replaced and quite tasty, I hear.

I think I got a hatchery Australorp with a little JG in there. She's got little white paw pads, but at 5 months old, she's taller than my near-a-year Big Papa Aussies breeder roo.

She's got a nice square back, too.

MrsB

 

[Beer can]

Good to see some action on this thread finally, I'm not a jg breeder yet but I hope to be. I was going buy chicks from Maria Hall even though they are $$, but then I decided on white JGs cause it seems no one cares about them and I'd like to help preserve the breed and have some giant capons some day. I ordered ten from SandHill the max for whites, you can get 25 of the blacks. And ten black langshans and five blue ones to round out the min order. I don't know how good their stock is but that's what I'm going to have to work with. I believe SandHill's whites he says have been a closed stock since he got them from Mrs Miller, Maria Hall's stock of blacks came from Golda Miller, who had whites and blacks. I might end up with good big birds from the get go but if not I figure it will be a few years, four maybe five of breeding and if I don't see improvement in size I'll just get a good bred black rooster and cull all the black after keeping the whites (when they are big enough to butcher of course, not as chicks). Probably thinking to far ahead right now, gotta get the chicks first Lol! I'll post pics when I get them.

 

[mathewmarie]

No worries. I got my first chickens from the feed store too. Live and learn, my grandma would say. 

Those birds are Australorps and Orpingtons, and I do love them. I got lucky with my JGs and happened to get eggs from a couple of Sher Jenning's birds. And they are GORGEOUS birds. No comparison to the feed store birds at all.

You might want to take a look at the National Jersey Giant club's breeder list: http://nationaljerseygiantclub.com/index.cfm/pageid/34

Be prepared, though. Those birds are unlikely to be cheap. Maria Hall, http://www.mariasjerseygiants.com/ is one of the most important breeders of Jersey Giants, and her eggs sell for $150 plus shipping. That's for just one dozen.

As for culling the hatchery birds..  well.. that mean cock would be in my stewpot first. The others I'd keep around, but I would be very careful not to let them breed.

Wow! I ain't buying anything from Maria, i'll go broke!

I did find a hatchery in Michigan more reasonably priced tho so maybe i will try some of those and see what happens.

Next question (revealing my ignorance) How can i mark the bird so i can distinguish the feed store birds from the APA birds?