Jersey Giants thread for pictures and discussion

[AccentOnHakes]

Quote:
lol, No chooks yet, still in the planning stage. Hoping for some giants, but 16" is small enough for all other standards.....

ETA: I'll be doing to the feed store, 25 is way too many, my mom would kill me.

Mail order is...complicated, so no MPC for me. I checked the XL nesting boxes on MPC, so I'm using their dimensions, 15" each side.

 

[bigstack]

4 days old. All B/B/S

4Days and 4 weeks!
I am now upto 42 B/B/S JG's they are in their 1st ugly stage now. A few have almost finished the first feather set. all the rest are still comming in and look like a science experiment. LOL I love them so much! They are my first JG's and my first try at hatching. I got 42 out of 52 in 6 staggerd hatches. Was hoping for some pure Blue. But will breed for it. I want to begin a breeding program. Figure It will take me 6 years to get to where I want to be in the end.

God Bless!
ADDED: 38 at mostly 4+ weeks and the last 4 at 5 days old!

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
You sound committed to this breed ! I love their gentle nature, too.

 

[bigstack]

Well I do have a varied program. I want to use some as purely eggs, some as food, and the best ones for breeding. I want to try to improve the genetics of the Blue & Black. I actually want to try to speed up the growth rate and increase the size without losing egg pruduction or using hormones...etc I want to breed the Blues for a better quality.(show quality) I have an indepth multi stage plan layed out. Of course I know there is going to be issues and problems. I am trying to allow for them aswell. I tried to find the best quality stock to start with. I am planning on introducing 2 more blood lines later this year. I purchased from small breeders who had beautiful birds. I believe this will be a big help and speed along the process. starting with hatchery stock would just have slowed down the whole program. They have nice birds but they are bred for production and not quality! Yes every now and then you get the exception but over all very few Show quality birds come from hatcheries. Nothing against them! I just preffer to begin with what I see and not what some one tells me. If you know what I mean.

AND..... Yes there is a pet or two or 20 aswell! LOL

Thanks and God Bless!

 

[cubalaya]

does anyone know of a blue or splash jersey giant roo for sale in va.?

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Did you try posting on the BST (buy sell trade) section? You could post under the Wanted area.

 

[cubalaya]

thanks

 

[andalusn]

This is Gus our Jersey Giant, I wanted to get some nice JG hens or peeps to raise up to add to the flock but so far the feed store has not had this breed in yet.

 

[jessica32]

Hello everyone-

I have one jg that I hatched in the fall. He is now about 20 weeks and I have just figured out for sure that he is a he. Originally he crowed then stopped and when I put him out with the flock, he was picked on until I had to seperate him while my other cockeral and pullets have done just fine. He is now starting to look like a male in his tail and back feathers so I feel fairly certain that he is a male. What I am wondering is about jg behaviors. Does a cockeral mature more slowly emotionally as well as physically? He is currently living with me in my house because the other chickens will not accept him. He will not assert himself as a rooster like my one other male does. The two males were raised together and the other one is a bantam cochin/standard ee cross (same age). The cross rooster is not the one fighting or harming him, it is my hens. He hides and they pick on what he can't hide- his backside. Will he eventually get to the point that he will assert himself? Is this normal? In another post someone suggested that he does this hiding, not crowing thing because the other cockeral has taken the dominant spot and won't allow him to crow or act like a male. Is this accurate? I am planning on giving the dominant male to my aunt as she desires more roosters. Will losing him allow my jg to take the lead and stop being picked on? Any input would be appreciated.

Also my jg cockeral has a deformed foot. He gets around on it well so I am not concerned about that but, I am wondering if I keep him, can I hatch out his fertilized eggs? I got the egg from a chicken show after I went around begging for eggs to incubate. It was my first incubator hatch and I think the deformed foot was due to my inexperience incubating ( I had some trouble with keeping the temp steady and at one point it got to 104 degrees F and also he hatched early whereas the others were on time). I don't want to cull him as having him in the house alone has made me quite attached but, I don't want him to get picked on all of the time and I want to be able to hatch out eggs that have been fertilized by my roosters without deformities.

 

[kathyinmo]

How many chickens are in your flock? How many roosters?

He will need to be reintegrated into the flock. They will not just accept him back. He is now a total stranger to them. It may help to put him out there, with fencing separating him from the others .... just so they all see each other. Leave them like this for a couple weeks before attempting to throw him in with the others. That might work. It did for me.

As far as who is the alph roo .... that is all up to the chickens. If you do not like the alpha, you can remove him (like you did with this one), and he will then need to be reintegrated into the flock, and will not start out as the alpha. He may or may not regain that status.