The Jersey Giant chicken breed is the biggest chicken breed and is, in reality, among the heaviest of all chicken breeds.
The Jersey Giant were initially bred as a turkey replacement late in the 19th century.
Jersey Giants are calm giant chickens that are a terrific all-around.
A complete blend of dual-purpose fowls, and they also make such fantastic pets.
Although they do lay plenty of cute extra-big brown eggs, they also lay eggs all year round
Table of Contents
The Jersey Giant Chicken Breed History
Jersey Giants are a purebred breed of domestic chickens.
The kind was created between 1870 and 1890 by the brothers John and Thomas Black in Burlington County, New Jersey.
Their original intention was to breed a fowl as big as the Jersey Giant that could replace a turkey.
During that time, they used various chicken breeds such as; Black Javas, Black Langshans and the dark Brahma.
Initially, the Jersey Giants were called the “Black Giants,” apparently named after the brothers and not the color of their feathers. .
In 1921, the name “Jersey Giants” became widely used.
There are three identified colors of the Jersey Giants — black, white, and blue.
The blue colored jersey giants evolved from a white chook with grey smudges sometime in the 1980s.
There is also an unrecognized color of the Jersey Giants, called the splash.
The splash, is produced by two blues. However, just as stated, the splash is not recognized as a color.
The jersey giants are a friendly chicken breed.
At the inception, there had been very little attention paid to the color of the breed, and this led to the Jersey Giant having a variety of coloration within it’s feathers.
Maloney, a Jersey giant painter had began working out methods to make the jersey giant have a standardized color.
He started out displaying his paintings for the public to look and admire.
His paintings paid off, and within a few years, the Black Jersey Giant became an everyday display for the APA (American Pool Players Association) in 1922, as a black fowl.
The White Jersey Giant became produced from the black jersey giants.
They (White Jersey Giants) were identified as a breed in 1947.
READ MORE: What Chicken Breed are Auto Sexed?
In 2001, they were considered as a ‘seriously endangered’ breed by the Livestock Conservancy – then in 2017, it’s was moved to a ‘watch’ list.
They are still considered rare within the US even though backyard’ keepers are helping this specific breed to regain its’ popularity.
The Giant Jersey Appearance
The Black Jersey Giant became identified by the American Poultry Association in 1922.
The White and Blue Jersey Giants followed respectively in 1947 and 2003.
The Giant is a huge fowl – with the males weighing at around 13-15 kilos, with the females weighing about 11 kilos.
The black giants weigh around a kilo less than the white giants.
The Jersey Giants have a broad back and a flat tail.
As we’ve have already stated extensively in context, the jersey giants are an all-round healthy chicken breed.
The Black Giants have a ‘beetle green’ sheen to their feathers in sunlight, which is beautifully stunning.
The Jersey Giants have no feathering on their legs.
They have a single comb and wattle, which are always usually red.
They have a yellow-skinned chook.
The Jersey Giants’ eyes are dark brown; their beaks black with a moderate tinge of yellow at the tip.
The feathers on all Giants are ‘tighter’ than most other ordinary rooster breeds, making them a lot easier to spot during an exhibition.
It also serves them well in cold temperate climates, as they are an excellent, cold-tolerant bird, while they also lay eggs even during the winter climates.
The Jersey Giant Color Genetics
Jersey Giants’ black color comes from the dominant black gene, which means that as long as you breed black jersey giants among themselves, the results will always be black chicks, growing to become a black rooster or hen.
Although, on rare occasions there may be some form of coloring on the feathers, in the neck or tail of the chicken.
Matured Jersey Giants typically have a green sheen to their feathers.
White Jersey Giants are absolutely white recessive, meaning they need two of the white gene to make a white chick.
The chick will stand out without difficulty as dominant white, thus, preventing other colors, along with black and red, from reeking through.
If for any reason, the mating of a white Jersey Giant and a black Giant produces both a white chick and a black chick, that explains the genetic fact that the black jersey giant breeds are very white recessive.
Blue Jersey Giants coloration comes from the blue gene, which is an incomplete dominant gene, implying that the best way for the reproduction of the gene is to make a black jersey giant mate with a blue jersey giant.
As long as you’re breeding black to blue, the outcome will most likely be about 50% blue, 50% black. If you produce blue to blue, you will get 25% black, 50% blue, 25% splash.
READ MORE: Can Mixed Chicken Breed Live together?
Splash, requiring breeding between two black jersey giants with two blue genes, and will be a light blue in the jersey’s coloration, in place of a black offspring.
It has been observed that these particular colors vary among different breeds of the Jersey Giants.
Some will just be very light Blue; others may seem quite whitish with flecks and streaks of blue upon their feathering.
They’re beautiful but can not be used for shows, especially at exhibitions.
The Jersey Giant Chicken Breed Temperament
The Giant is a docile, mellow chicken in general, even the roosters. They are called a friendly hen, and several persons do keep them as pets.
They get along with other breeds of chicken and humans in general too, even though their massive size can be intimidating to a few smaller children considering they stand so tall.
The hens seldom become broody, However, when they do, we realize that they are not the best sitters due to their weight – sadly, they’re prone to breaking the eggs.
The egg length is so massive, and due to this, they take a lot more days to hatch than other breeds.
Also worth noting is that pullets won’t begin laying eggs until after 6 months old, as opposed to a handful of chicken breeds.
However, the Jersey Giant eggs can be set underneath a regular broody chicken as a surrogate hen to make sure a continuous supply of first-rate birds.
The Jersey Giant Adult
Both the roosters and hens have single comb, wattle, and a red ear lobes.
The eye color of the Adult Jersey Giants range from dark brown to black.
If a jersey giant does have a mottled eye, then that is a rare phenomenon.
The Jersey Giants Roosters has a lot deeper crow than other chicken breeds, they are a lot louder also and if you do pay attention to them for the first time, they are tremendously impressive.
The hens lay extra-large brown eggs and this is mostly due to their natural big sizes. The Eggs they lay come in a variety of faded cream, faint white, down to a brown color.
Then hens begin laying at a lot later age, compared to other chicken breeds.
The Jersey Giants Chicks
Because Jersey eggs are large, sometimes they’ll take 1 or 2 more days to hatch. The chicks have a “tuxedo” pattern — their heads and bodies could be either black, blue, smokey or pale Blue, and yellow from underneath the chin to down the belly.
When the primary feathers come in, it is very typical for the jersey giants, except the dark-colored chicks to have white feathers, just inside their wings.
They are beautiful to look at.
The legs of the chicks will have quite a few shades of coloring on them, but it doesn’t reach their toes.
This is a common phenomenon, and the coloration will begin to fill in on their toes as the chick matures.
From the beginning, all colors are usually darkish brown to black eyes and yellow bottoms trailing to their feet.
Dark chicks may also have pale beaks with streaks of brown shade. These too will darken with age.
The Jersey Giants chicks tend to mature slower than many other chicken breeds because of their size.
For the first six months, they are primarily growing their skeletons to guide their adult weight.
After six weeks, they may be about the equal length as other breeds, but from then on, it becomes a lot more apparent that they are growing a lot bigger.
At approximately four months, they’re gangling, thin, lacking proper body coordination, and quite clumsy.
However, during a period of nine months, they will have begun filling out their muscles.
Jerseys reach their full grownup weight among 18-24 months.
Do you think the Jersey Giant Is Right For you?
Well, I bet you are already fascinated at the thought of having such a glorious chicken breed in your yard. However, firstly, you need to understand if the Jersey Giant is what you need.
The Giant makes an amazing backyard hen. It is friendly, docile, gets along well with other chicken breeds and due to it’s size, other breeds of chicken will definitely be afraid to pick fights with it.
They are excellent foragers, a free-range breed, and this tremendously helps their muscle development.
Due to their large size, they are not usually easy prey for hawks. If they’re to be confined, the hen house should be at least a four square feet/chook.
Overall, we say, more space is better for them. A lot of sources recommend an 8 sq feet chicken house for the Jersey Giant.
Their egg-laying isn’t also too shabby coming in at about 150-200 eggs yearly, averaging among 2-four eggs weekly.
The eggs they lay usually range from being huge, small to medium sized
and they are brown egg layers.
However, where the Giant virtually stands proud is in its meat production.
The meat is stated to be extraordinary, and one chicken can easily feed their own family of four.
Having stated all these, the Jersey Giants aren’t quick to mature.
It will be as a minimum six months before a rooster will tip the scales, coming in at least ten pounds.
Very many persons who raise this breed states that the glory of their full-body growth comes out in the second year. Thus the jersey giant isn’t for you if you are simply after a chicken that should mature quickly.
The jersey giants have to be regularly fed with vitamins, proteins for egg production, and minerals for their bone power development.
It is essential to now not skimp on the nutrition that they need; it’s going to lead to issues which include bone and muscle weakness.
It is needless to say that the value of feeding such a huge chicken breed is a crucial requirement to it’s overall well being.
Now, don’t forget, when selecting your breed, the Jersey Giant will cost you higher in feeding and maintenance over time when you consider that they eat more and take longer to mature.
In consideration of their weight, perches within the chicken coop must be placed a chunk close to the floor.
Besides the consideration for a possible leg injury, the jersey giants do not suffer any form of health issues or insecurities.
The Jersey Giant is a pretty healthy chicken breed.
This hen is genuinely not really an ideal choice for dwellers in the city however, for everyone with the prerequisite space, yard, time, and resources just enough to rear this unique breed should most definitely go for it. They are a great choice for you!
In Summary,
The jersey giant is an excellent chicken breed that’s worthy of your time and effort to raise.
If you found this jersey giant chicken breed article helpful, leave your feedback below.