What can you tell me about black jersey giants?

[Chickfever]

Are they flighty? How old when they start laying eggs? Good layers? Broody? Anyone have pics of them compared to "normal" sized birds?

 

[onthespot]

I just looked at some today. The breeder told me they are very heavy, solidly built birds, that are supposed to have very large feet and their feet should be strong yellow colored on the bottoms. i have five black girls that a couple are just starting to show some color on their combs, I think they are around sixteen weeks. They still look very immature and I do not expect eggs from them for quite a while. Other colors, (blue, splash, white) supposedly sell better than the blacks. That is about all I know of Jersey Giants.

 

[jossanne]

In my little bit of experience, and from what I've read, JG's are calm and mellow. They aren't especially good layers, especially for the amount of food that they eat. They are also fairly slow to start laying, but I can't tell you how many weeks. I never could tell which birds laid which eggs.

 

[erthymom2]

I have black ones and blue ones 10 weeks old. They eat and drink much more then my other chicks/birds but that was expected due to their size. I handled then since they hatched out so they aren't as skittish as others, but they still don't hop on my hand or tolerate alot of huggs just yet.
I do shamelessly bribe them with treats to get them to come to me now and they love just about anything I put out for them. They sleep together still in a pile like a bunch of puppies!!

 

[Southerngirl]

Gentle Giants. We raise the white and the black Jersey giants. They are HUGE !!! If they are handled when they are young they turn into huge babies. They are usually the first to run towards me when I am in the yard. The kids carry them around like dolls ! I will try and post pics for you this afternoon of some. They usually are not considered "filled out" until they are about 1 1/2 to 2.They grow their bone structure first then they start to fill out. We absolutely adore them. A wonderful addition to the barnyard

They are not flighty at all; hens usually lay at 6 -8 months; some can be very broody. It just depends on the hen usually !

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Mine have been good layers and broodies. My oldest is seven years old and is still popping out nice big eggs. She raises lots of babies for me each year too.

 

[Blisschick]

Here's my Jersey Giant page: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=512-Jersey_Giants

 

[gritsar]

Hey BC! Good to see ya around!

 

[onthespot]

The site says they may be too heavy for using as general use broodies because they crush the eggs. If they are so so layers and broody but crush the eggs, the sound mostly like pets to me. Maybe I should not keep my giants...

 

[Promiselandfarm]

We bought the prize winning pair at the state fair. We were told they were four months old and the hen just started to lay. They are huge birds but as others have stated gentle and quiet. The do eat a good deal and are heavy birds but grow slowly into their muscle structure and quickly into their bone structure. We have the blacks.