Jersey Giants thread for pictures and discussion

[ItsAZOO32]

Ok I have 2 blue JG babies that I kept.. one is a lighter blue and one is a dark blue. I am seeing quite a bit of pink on my lighter blue for 4 weeks old but they both are kinda pink. Sorry for the far away pics but that's what I have right now Let me know what you guys think.

 

[ChicwannaB]

I think you're very lucky, [drooling]

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I have 3 Jersey Giants. 2 black hens, and 1 spash. One of my blacks and my splash hen are from a local breeder. The other black hen is from Meyer Hatchery. A friend of mine gave her to me. I must say. You can really tell the difference in the HS hen from the other hens. They're both bigger and fatter, while the other one is long legged and not very broad at all. I'm in love with the Splash JG. Just LOVE their coloring. Sadly, no room for another breed right now, but at some point would love to get a good flock of them and breed them. All the pictures are so pretty. Keep them coming!

~ Aspen

 

[Framac]

24 eggs in the incubator !!!!!!!

 

[Wynette]

Be Nice

I like these girls! I have two of each but I figure I'd do just these two so Wynette and give some pointers on them.

Goodness, don't go by just MY opinion! I'm learning each day, right along with everyone else - EVERYONE is welcome to comment & give feedback & ask questions! This one will be difficult for me personally, as I think this splash gal is from my [former] line, isn't she? I no longer have that line, but this hen is not bad. Her topline is not nice & flat as it should be - again, tough to tell for sure in a picture, and her legs are spread, too. My biggest worry on this is that her feet (bottoms) appear to be PINK rather than yellow - is that so? If that's the case, most definitely DO NOT USE HER. "Complete absence of yellow" on the bottoms of the feet is a DQ for Giants. Her underline looks decent.

The black is nicer, or it could just be a better picture/she's set up better. See how her head/neck is upright & she's sort of sticking her chest out? THAT is a beautiful profile. Her back looks fairly long & flat, with correct tail angle. And, I don't know if judges look at "balance" in a chicken, but to me, the black appears to be more balanced, front to back. It's hard to describe, but to me, when you see a bird that seems sort of like the feet are attached too far back - it just looks "unbalanced" to me. My own personal preference is for a nice, balanced profile.

Overall, neither of these are bad birds at all! Check the feet though. And THANKS for sharing!

 

[Wynette]

Itsazoo - the lighter one definitely is a cockerel; not sure on the darker one. At first, I thought pullet, but then looked at those thick shanks. So.....

on that one.

Framac - AWESOME! We need more Giants on this planet! What line are you eggs?

I set 30 blue Giant eggs a couple weeks ago - SO looking forward to these hatchlings. They are from my mentor's VERY BEST blue hens. WOOT!

Now.........just hurry up & wait.

 

[Framac]

Wynette,

I got them from Bobbi Porto. Hatch date is April 8th

 

[truthfulkindnes]

I am looking for a JG hen to raise (and potty-train) as a pet, spending much of her time inside the house with me and my 10yo (self-trained) Service Dog. In order to do that I need to start as young as possible. I know that with dog breeds some of the non-show-quality lines can have real effects on the expected personality of the pup. I am anticipating the expected calm affectionate personality of a JG. For these goals does it make any difference whether I get one from a hatchery or SQ?

Also, given the experience some people have with this breed of chicken, will my hen NEED to have others of her own species? (In my opinion, geese do have that need & I have no experience with chickens.)

Thank you.
-- "Truthful" and "Blessing" the wheelchair Service Dog

 

[Zootopia]

I am pretty new to BYC and have been reading till I'm cross-eyed most nights. I don't post much as I find many of the questions I have are in the threads, so I tend to start at the beginning or at least Jan of last year (I've only made it to pg 195 here so far). That being said DH really wants some good quality Black JG. We've kept at lest a few chickens for 25+ yrs only had this large rainbow flock for 7 or 8.
We have a rainbow flock to keep him busy when he feels up to it and sell eggs to help pay the feed bill. We have some Hatchery BJG that he loves and he saw some REAL Giants near my sisters in Ohio at an Amish farm. I grew up up there but had forgotten how big these guys really are. We live in west Texas, low humidity (I have to add water to keep "dry hatch" humidity levels) but hot as Hades in the summer. It was already 81 here today. Our hatchery stock don't seem to have a problem but are the REAL Giants going to be OK? Our hen houses are well ventilated and everyone has plenty of shade and fresh water kept in the shade. We only had a couple really cold days this winter but last winter it froze over for more than a week so we have an independent (he refuses to sleep inside, DH says he claustrophobic) Marans roo who is bald.
I know JG aren't a top layer but I know that some breeders still at least pay attention to production. I have shown rabbits, guinea pigs(Top 10 National Breeder x7yrs before we moved to Texas) and now show dogs so I know that Some show breeders are all about the looks while others are about the whole animal. I have a couple of breeding pens that I breed/cull to SOP of Welsumer and Cuckoo Marans, tho we will not show.
I would appreciate input as to possible breeders of Black only JG and if they would do well in our weather. I would Love to find someone close, but I do not mind shipping in hatching eggs and/or chicks. You may PM the information if you prefer.
Thank you and I will continue to read, so much information, so little time.

 

[oregonboy1974]

First night went good