Chicken Poop in eBay Listings
I'd like to debunk some misinformation that can be found amongst some
eBay listings that are searchable under "Jersey Giant hatching eggs".
No, I do not feel I have to put others down to make myself look better,
but when you have to wallow through the Chicken Poop to find the facts
or true information, it can be very difficult! I want to ease some
frustration for both the well-intended person learning more about the
breed and for myself to have a place to document the future rumors I'm
sure someone will question me on at some point in the future.
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NEW: An
eBay seller who is either dishonest or ignorant (remember, ignorant
just means uneducated) claims that his poultry is "pedigreed and show
quality". Let me debunk some myths here. All animals have a "pedigree".
A Pedigree is simply lineage, all animals came from parents who came
from parents...you get the idea. Whether or not the pedigree is knownis
another story. There is no poultry organization that I know of that
provides "pedigrees" or a registry service similar to what we have for
cats or dogs or horses, for our poultry. It's really just a confusing
statement for someone to say that their poultry is pedigreed for show.
Aside from that, I have no real clue what someone might be trying to
claim, but it seems misleading to me and hopefully the potential buyers
aren't led astray by this.
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There are THREE colors of Jersey Giants that are recognized by the APA:
Black, White and BLUE. Although Splash is a common color of Jersey
Giant, they are not yet a recognized color and are unavailable for
showing. However they are an integral part of the breeding program AND
the National Jersey Giant Club is in the process of writing the breed
standard for Splashes and we hope to have them included as a Recognized
Color soon.
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As the Jersey Giant breed was developed for the meat market,
characteristics like a meaty breast have been very desirable from the
get-go and there isn't much need unless you start with inferior
commercial-hatchery stock to breed these traits into the Jersey Giants.
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Any Jersey Giant rooster who is 16 lbs or greater would be very large,
and would be the exception not the rule. I would hesitate to take
anyone's word that they have one that is bigger without seeing the live
bird on a scale, in person. Most roosters are in the 11-15 lb range at
maturity.
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Willow leg coloring, to the best of my knowledge, does not indicate the
color of the skin being white or yellow at all! I don't know where THAT
idea came from, but it sounds pretty dodgy IMHO (In my humble opinion).
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If someone might be slamming me by saying that they were disappointed
by adding bloodlines from my flock into their birds....let me say that
there are a lot of factors that go into raising birds than just
genetics. Too harsh an environment without proper feed, not having
constant access to fresh clean water, and not having adequate shelter
can result in unthrifty and undersized birds. Some of these conditions
border on animal abuse.
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Jersey Giants have some of the BEST traits in a chicken, bar none. This
is why I love them, this is why I raise them. When you have everything
else you want, you can then be focused ALSO on things like the plumage
color without damaging the other qualities in your breeding program.
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A hen who only lays eggs for a few months before consistently laying
double-yokers is genetically flawed and should be culled and never used
for breeding purposes!! If that is a consistent trait, then I'd avoid
that bloodline. Yikes, I've never seen that and I have some ladies who
are still laying fairly regularly who are 6 years of age!!
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It should NOT take several days longer for Jersey Giant eggs to hatch.
Most times when people report this, then they have an incubator problem
such as a somewhat lower temperature or possibly unthrifty stock (see
above) may be a cause. My husband is a professional at troubleshooting
incubator problems, if you have any - just give us a jingle! We are
happy to help others however we can as long as we are not taken
advantage of.
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An older hen who is 2+ years old, will sometimes go broody but I've
only known of this to happen consistently if eggs are not gathered at
least once daily. As far as being good at self-incubating, if the hens
have a proper, private place to do this where other hens or birds
aren't around to interfere, she doesn't get startled off her nest, etc.
then they are capable and willing to hatch their own eggs and do take
wonderful care of the babies. If there are too many birds or
distractions around, eggs can get broken which can lead to egg breakage
egg-eating hens (and roosters) and fewer eggs to gather for whatever
purpose, be it for eating or setting.
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FYI: It is my person opinion that Jersey Giants don't need improvement
or should not be "crossed" with other breeds, I've never heard of a Red
Jersey Giant, and I have both Ameraucanas and Jersey Giants but
certainly do not feel as though they should be interbred! It's kind of
like the idea of breeding a Chihuahua to a Great Dane. Kinda stupid.
Things like that could be the detriment of the breed, as misinformed
people think that they are getting "pure breed" Jersey Giants or
Ameraucanas and they are indeed getting mutts. Then one misinformed
person sells to another misinformed person....and our breed gets
muttled in the process. What a mess!
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An eBay auction listing for multiple breeds that are "pure breeds" has
photos of birds all running together - now I'll be the first to admit
that years ago I had and did great with a home eating-egg flock of
assorted combined heavy breeds, BUT that is what you are getting with
an auction like that. If that is what you want, that is fine. If you
*think* you might be getting purebred anything, I would strongly
disagree and caution you.
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Running birds together doesn't mean that the birds will only breed
their own kind or the rooster you want to be the breeder will only
breed certain hens. Roosters don't have ethics when it comes to
breeding, if it's a hen...they will breed it. Hens won't later be seen
on Montel crying saying "Not my baby daddy!" or "I only slept with Mr.
Beefy!"
Back to Home Email Cinda
Call for
more realistic information on Jersey Giants:
870-298-2276