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The more than 200 chicken breeds existing in the world are divided into three groups: egg breeding, meat breeding and egg-meat breeding. Some of the meat chicken breeds belong to the so-called “folk selection”: Cochin and Brahma.
These chicken breeds were valued in their homeland for laying eggs in winter, when there was a great need for this product. But these breeds of chickens were not suitable for northern countries. Being too heat-loving, the chickens died from the cold.
Humanity became interested in meat chicken farming only towards the end of the 19th century. Before this, chicken was the food of the poor (and to this day, chicken is often not considered meat); just remember the legend about Napoleon, who hated chicken.
After breeders paid attention to chickens, industrial “table” breeds of chickens quickly appeared. The main efforts were aimed at achieving meat precocity, that is, the rapid development of pectoral muscles.
As a result, large breeds of chickens appeared, with a live body weight of up to 4.5 kg for laying hens and 5.5 for roosters.But even among meat breeds, the Jersey Giant stands apart.
Breed of chickens "Jersey Giant", description and photo
Jerseys are a relatively young breed of chicken, turning one hundred years old in 2022. But many other chicken breeds are older.
Jersey Giant chickens were bred in New Jersey by breeder Dexter Uham. There is an assumption that in fact, John and Thomas Black worked on the development of this breed of chickens in Burlington County much earlier, crossing large breeds of dark-colored chickens. As a result, Jersey giant chickens are larger in size than any other meat breed of chicken.
Compared to roosters, a female Jersey breed can even be affectionately called a chicken; her weight is “only” 4 kg. Roosters grow to 6-7.
Although true chicken breeders value and love this breed of chicken, today it is quite rare. And it is most likely that it is unprofitable to breed it on an industrial scale due to some of the peculiarities of its maintenance.
Breed standard
Jersey giant chickens do not have any external differences that sharply distinguish them from other breeds of chickens, except for size, of course. If the photo shows only a chicken, without any indication of its size, then it will be very difficult to tell whether this particular chicken is a Jersey Giant meat breed of chicken or an egg layer.
To be impressed by the size of the “chicken” you need a reference to scale.
This is how you can see whether it is a giant or a laying hen.
Character
Fortunately, Jersey giants have a calm and easy-going disposition, although they have Indian fighting cocks in their pedigree. Even a small but aggressive rooster, attacking a person, can cause serious injuries.If Jersey roosters did something like this, they would have already become extinct, just as the real Irish wolfhound became extinct in its time.
Color
The first Jersey giants were exclusively black, but in 1921 they were brought to England, where breeders began work on developing other colors. Later, the Jersey giant chicken breed appeared in other countries in Europe. The result was: white in England and blue framed in Germany. Today, three colors are officially established by the standard: black with an emerald tint, blue framed and white. Any other colors lead to automatic culling of the chicken from breeding.
Black Jersey Giant rooster.
Black Jersey Giant chicken.
Blue Jersey Giant chicken.
Blue Jersey Giant rooster.
White Jersey Giant chicken.
Head
Jersey Giant roosters have a fairly wide, proportional head with a large, straight comb divided into 6 teeth. The beak is not long, strong, well curved. The eyes are large, dark brown in color, almost turning black, and convex.
The earrings and earlobes are large, rounded, without characteristic wrinkles, and bright red.
The beak color of different color lines in the breed differs depending on the color:
- black color Black beak with slight yellowish tip;
- white color. The beak is yellow with dark veins;
- blue color Same as the black one.
The similarity in beak color between black and blue is explained by the fact that the blue color is a weakened black, due to the presence of a lightening gene in the chicken’s genome.
Blue color in the homozygous state is lethal.
The neck is arched and powerful.
Frame
The body is tightly knit. The wide chest and back are located almost parallel to the ground, the fleshy chest protrudes forward, giving the chickens a proud appearance.
The wings are medium in size and close to the body. The feathers are shiny and fit tightly to the chicken's body.
Legs
Set wide when viewed from the front, thighs and lower legs are strong and well muscled. The color of the metatarsus varies slightly among different colors. Black color: black metatarsus with slight yellowness below. White - metatarsus yellowish below. Blue - the metatarsals are the same as those of the black one.
Tail
Pride of the breed. Placed at an angle of 45 degrees to the line of the back. In roosters, long and wide tail coverts are covered by tail feathers. Large braids cover small braids and tail feathers.
Also, chickens are somewhat shorter than roosters and look squat. The tail is located at an angle of 30 degrees to the line of the back. The tail feathers are shorter, but the tail looks more voluminous than a rooster's. Otherwise, chickens are not much different from roosters.
Defects in a purebred Jersey leading to culling
Such vices include:
- light chicken weight;
- uncharacteristic body structure;
- eyes too light;
- uncharacteristic color of the metatarsus;
- at the ends of the toes and the back of the sole there is no yellow-swamp tint at all;
- feathers of a different color from the standard.
Separately by color: for black, white feathers are a disqualifying factor; white has light eyes and pure yellow paws; blue ones have red, white or yellow feathers.
In principle, all these defects indicate an admixture of other blood in an individual.Such a chicken cannot be allowed for breeding.
Productive characteristics
The Jersey giant grows very quickly; by one year the roosters already weigh 5 kg. The most active growth occurs in the first five months, then daily weight gain decreases and maintaining young beef stock becomes unprofitable.
Jersey chickens left for breeding lay their first eggs at the age of 6-8 months with a body weight of 3.6 kg. A fully grown Jersey laying hen weighs a kilogram more. For a meat breed, the Jersey giant has very good egg production rates: 170 eggs weighing 70 g per year. Jersey giant eggs have brown shells. With quality feeding, it is strong.
Pros and cons of the Jersey giant
The advantages include:
- unpretentiousness to living conditions;
- flexible and calm character;
- well-developed brooding instinct;
- fast growth;
- high percentage of meat yield.
Flaws:
- tendency to obesity;
- need for large living space;
- loss of taste in meat when poultry is over a year old.
Since the unpretentiousness of Jersey giants to living conditions due to the requirements for a large range of walking is somewhat exaggerated, it is logical that the Jersey breed has not become widespread on an industrial scale.
Jersey diet
The composition of the diet for the Jersey giant is no different from the diet for any other meat breed of chicken: 40% corn, 40% wheat and 20% various additives, including vitamins, shell rock, cake and chalk.
The second diet option: ready-made feed.Here it is necessary to take into account that, mainly, food for egg breeds of chickens intended for stimulating egg production goes on retail sale. You can get out of this situation with the help of food intended for chickens. Since chickens of any breed grow quite quickly, this food is able to provide the Jersey giant with the protein and calcium it needs.
Feeding is carried out 2-3 times a day.
In winter, the Jersey giant can be given chopped vegetables and herbs as a supplement. The nutrition of laying hens intended for breeding must be monitored especially carefully. Jersey giants are prone to obesity, and an obese chicken is not able to produce a high-quality fertilized egg. Accordingly, the percentage of fertilized eggs in the clutch will be very low. Consequently, the norm for laying hens is cut a couple of months before the start of laying eggs. In the summer, to make life easier for themselves and to improve the living conditions of the chickens, Jersey giants can be released to walk on the grass.
On such grass, Jersey chickens will happily find all the necessary vitamins and minerals for themselves, leaving behind a dead desert in which there will not even be ants.
Content specifics
The Jersey giant can adapt to being kept in close quarters, but its health in this case will leave much to be desired. When keeping chickens indoors, it is necessary to take care of well-designed exhaust ventilation, which will remove ammonia that accumulates in the floor area. Chickens love to roll around in the litter, and Jersey giants are no exception. This is where the ammonia released from decomposing droppings collects. If there are systematically high concentrations of ammonia in the premises, livestock mortality may begin.
Jersey chickens tolerate Russian winters well and are able to roam in enclosures during the day. The aviary area for one Jersey chicken is 0.5-1 m.
Due to their large body weight, Jersey chickens do not fly (although it is not known whether Jersey chickens themselves know this), but it is better to fence the enclosure with a fairly high mesh or make it with a roof so that smaller breeds of chickens, which know for sure that they can fly, were unable to enter the enclosure of the Jersey giants.
Yes, this is what your enclosure will look like in reality instead of the advertising green grass with Jersey chickens walking on it.
Moreover, with the stated density of chickens per unit area of the enclosure, it will look like this in a maximum of a month.
To completely clear a plot of land from grass, insects and underground larvae with earthworms, it is enough to fence it and put chickens there. The population density of chickens depends on the time allowed for cleaning the area. One chicken per 50 m² will cope with the task in 2-3 months, if the area is not overgrown with weeds, and in six months, if it is necessary to destroy powerful plants. It is not recommended to leave chickens for a longer period; trees may also run out.
In fact, chickens really need to be given green grass and vegetables, but it is better to harvest it yourself and give it to them in an enclosure specially built for them, than to let them go in search of pasture.
Breeding
If you decide to start breeding Jersey giants, but your neighbors do not have chickens of this breed, it is irrational to drag live adult chickens from afar. It is much easier and cheaper to buy hatching eggs and, following the instructions, hatch the desired chicks.
In the first 24 hours after hatching, chicks usually do not eat, even if there is food in front of them. But they need water. It is better if it is heated to 50°.
In the first days of life, not only Jersey, but also any other chickens should be given a chopped egg, since growth during this period is very rapid and babies need a large amount of protein to build their own body. Or you need to take care of special food for Jersey chickens in advance.
General recommendations for raising chickens boil down to meeting just a few conditions:
- air temperature not lower than 25°;
- long daylight hours;
- absence of drafts;
- clean heated water;
- special feed for chickens;
- vitamins and antibiotics.
Unfortunately, infections often occur in industrial incubators, so chickens will need antibiotics. In the future, if your chickens are healthy, then the chickens can do just fine without medications.
The power of the light bulb and the level of heat it generates is selected depending on the ambient temperature. If it’s +30 degrees or higher outside, then the light bulb needs a minimum power, just for lighting.
The principle here is simple: if you don’t know how to do it right, do it as in nature. In nature, chickens receive heat from above the body of the brood hen.At the same time, they may have wet soil under their paws. Therefore, a cold floor is not as bad as the inability to warm your head and back, although it cannot be cold with a bedding.
Grown-up Jersey chickens are capable of breeding from six months. The ratio of hens to roosters should be 10:1. Jersey giants are good hens, but due to their large body size and some clumsiness, hens can crush eggs or throw them out of the nest. Therefore, the eggs from under your Jersey chickens must be collected and also placed in an incubator.
If the purity of the breed is to be preserved, the producing flock must be kept separate from chickens of other breeds.
The construction of housing and an aviary, as well as feeding Jersey chickens, can be seen in the video.
Owner reviews
Most likely, once you try to breed the “Jersey Giant” breed, you will fall in love with it and will no longer imagine life without purebred Jersey chickens.
