Jersey Giants thread for pictures and discussion

[fifelakelooper]

Hope your hubby does great on his should surgery ChickwannaB. I'll say a prayer for him. My brother in law just had surgery on his shoulder yesterday in Colorado. (torn rotator cuff). He did great...so did the surgeon.

 

[project7030]

How come I dont see any white jersey giants. I was told one of my pullets was a white jersey giant. She was grey as a chick, but shes pure white now and greenish lwgs and feet. Ill try to get a pic of her. Shes much bigger than the rest of the girls.

 

[Wynette]

Good morning, my Jersey Giant friends! I'm sorry I haven't been around much...if anyone needs anything, feel free to shoot me a PM! Summer is super busy for me.

Here's part of the SOP for Giants for reference - I would say (IMO, and I'm NO expert) that the thing we want most in a good Jersey type is a long and very flat back. Not a "U" shape when viewed from the side. And not a short back. It should be good & LLLOOONNNNGGGGG. Size is a HUGE consideration, also. My initial flock was...well....not good. Anyone that has birds from me that are more than 1 1/2 years old....get rid of them if you want to breed to standard. I thought I knew what I was looking for a few years ago, and I thought I knew all the right questions to ask of breeders, but I did not:

Jersey Giant SOP:

MALE:
COMB: Single, rather large, straight and upright, having six well defined and evenly serrated points, the blade following the contour of the neck.
BEAK: Moderately short, stout, well-curved.
FACE: Surface smooth, skin fine and soft in texture.
EYES: Large, round and full.
WATTLES: Medium size, well rounded at lower ends fine in texture, free from fold or wrinkles.
EAR LOBES: Moderately large, extending down one-half the length of the wattles, smooth.
HEAD: Rather large, broad.
NECK: Moderately long, full, well-arched.
BACK: Rather long, broad, nearly horizontal, with a short sweep to tail.
TAIL: Rather large, full, well-spread, carried at an angle of forty-five degrees (45*) above horizontal. Main tail -- broad and overlapping. Sickles -- of just sufficient length to cover main tail feathers. Coverts -- moderately abundant and medium in length.
WINGS: Medium size, well-folded, carried at same angle as the back. Primaries and Secondaries -- broad and overlapping in natural order when wing is folded.
BREAST: Broad, deep, full, carried well forward.
BODY AND FLUFF: Body -- long, wide, deep, compact smooth at sides. Keel -- long. Fluff -- moderately full, smooth.
LEGS AND TOES: Legs set well apart, straight when viewed from front. Lower thighs -- large, medium length, well-feathered. Shanks -- stout in bone, moderately long. Toes -- four on each foot, medium length.

STANDARD WEIGHTS:
Cock ....... 13 lbs
Hen ........ 10 lbs
Cockeral ... 11 lbs
Pullet ....... 8 lbs

DQs:

Bottoms of feet showing complete absence of yellow.

In addition to that, under the BLACK Jersey Giants, it says ..
More than one-half inch of positive white showing on the surface, or two or more feathers tipped or edged with positive white.

As far as the weights, most breeders are trying to breed them larger. There are point deductions for a bird more than 1# over or under the high & low ideal weights, but I can't recall off the top of my head what the point deductions are - I believe them to be minor, and I'll find out for sure on that point.

ChicwannaB - LOVED your story! Good on you for working with your birds to the point that they are so trusting! THanks so much for sharing that story!

theoldchick - as always, LOVE your pics!! You, too, should be highly commended for taking time with your upstarts so they are more friendly as adults. I am guilty of not doing so, and when I have trouble catching a bird to tag or weigh it....I curse myself in that regard!

Fifelake - Sam is right that they could begin fighting, but I wouldn't worry about that for awhile. If it's too much of a worry, then go ahead & begin making your cull choices, but trust me...the longer you wait, the better. Again, though - you have your own comfort level, and it's not worth agonizing & worrying over this each & every day...so, if you must cull now, just do it & DON'T LOOK BACK. Get some good pics & we can help you choose if you like, or e-mail them to me & I'll be happy to weigh in if you'd like.​

 

[Carolynspeeps]

I have been watching this thread since I got my first JG a couple months ago. I hope to get pictures soon to get everyone's opinion. I have a blue, a splash and a black. What I am still wondering is about the leg color....the Black has dark (black) legs with yellow pads. I think this is correct???? The Blue has more slate colored legs with pale pads and toe tips and the Splash has light grey legs with pale pads and toes. My question, I suppose is what SHOULD the leg color be?

 

[Wynette]

Caronylspeeps - here is more info.:

SHAPE: BACK: Rather long, broad, nearly horizontal, with a short sweep to tail. For the hen: Rather long, broad it's entire length, carried nearly horizontal, ending in a short sweep to tail.

COLOR:
COMB, FACE, WATTLES & EAR LOBES: Bright red.
BEAK: Black, shading to yellow toward the tip.
EYES: Dark brown.
SHANKS & TOES: Nearly black with a tendency towards willow; black preferred. Underpart of feet, yellow.
PLUMAGE: (for blacks) lustrous greenish black; undercolor dull black.

My splash birds' legs tend to be willow in color with much more yellow than blacks. I've never shown before, so I do not know what a judge would have to say about this, or if it's just the normal coloring.

Okay, so for clarification on the weight comment I made earlier - a bird that is underweight is -2 for each pound under.

Weight over standard: no cut for first pound, -2 for each additional pound. Seems odd to me that some of the "bigtime" breeders are breeding them purposely to be larger than the SOP. Any thoughts?​

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Personally, I have found it MORE difficult to get the BROAD back, rather than the long back. It says, "rather long," and I wish it were more descriptive. I have had some narrow backs and immediately culled them out. I really like the wide back on the Maria Hall birds.

As far as the weights, most breeders are trying to breed them larger. There are point deductions for a bird more than 1# over or under the high & low ideal weights, but I can't recall off the top of my head what the point deductions are - I believe them to be minor, and I'll find out for sure on that point.

Here are some excerpts....

On page 33 of the SOP (I do not have the latest edition) it says:
WEIGHTS
Any bird (except some turkeys) that deviates more than 20% either up or down from the weight listed for its breed, sex and age, should be disqualified.

On page 30 it says:
CUTTING FOR DEFECTS
WEIGHTS
Under standard:
2 points for each pound under (*until disqualifying weight is reached)

Over standard:
American, English, and Mediterranean breeds:
1. No cut for first pound
2. 2 points cut for each additional pound (*until disqualifying weight is reached)​

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:

They never weigh the birds at the shows, I have been told.

 

[Carolynspeeps]

I am fairly new to the show circuit, but I have never seen anyone use a scale during competition, with the exception of Serama (the SCNA does weigh these birds).
It seems to me that when the majority of birds from the "best" breeders are a certain way, (perhaps a bit larger than standard) this would appear to be the standard. Especially if no one is weighing them out. Food for thought.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
I have seen the yellow go up the leg. (ALL the Sandhills birds I had were culled for this last year). I cull for this, as the standard calls for the yellow to be only on the underpart of the feet. I asked a judge about this. Now I forgot what he said.

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
I have seen the yellow go up the leg. (ALL the Sandhills birds I had were culled for this last year). I cull for this, as the standard calls for the yellow to be only on the underpart of the feet. I asked a judge about this. Now I forgot what he said.

Kathy, it's a good question - I'll shoot a PM to fowlman and see if he can pop in real quick & speak to this. My splashes yellow does go up the back of their legs...I wonder if this would be a fault?

I agree with you on the width of back. I also feel it tends to go along with a larger bird...larger = wider in most cases (?) at least from what I have seen. Not that I have seen a long, tall, NARROW backed bird. I cull for this as well.

Carolynspeeps - if it's anything like horses, I 100% would agree to what you are saying about known good breeders breeding larger, and then that becoming accepted as standard. I have seen scales at shows but haven't actually seen any birds weighed, though they don't allow spectators past a certain point when the judging is going on so you can't see a ton (at least in the shows I've been to).