Brahmas vs. Jersey Giants

[WindyRidge]

Short version: Does anyone have experience with brahmas vs jersey giants as a dual purpose homesteading flock?

Long version: After years of shipping milk as a commercial dairy, milk prices have crashed and it's time to move on. We are starting up a new venture with an on-farm store offering dairy and a variety of meats (pork, beef, chicken, etc.). We are not certified organic, but could be. We have completed the 3 year transition period but I don't want to go through the paperwork certification mess if I don't have to. We will continue to operate organically, just not certified. So our focus is on heritage breeds, sustainable, natural, all those fancy buzz words. Originally I had thought to order chickens to raise every year, but that really doesn't mesh with our advertising push of "small, local, family raised" since any hatcheries aren't going to qualify under that.

I will not be doing this on an extremely large scale. I'm thinking no more than 150 birds total - 100 or so layers and 50 grow outs for meat birds. Pretty much my limit is how many I hit before I get overwhelmed and it stops being fun.

I have had barred rocks and am not horribly impressed with them on the meat side of things. I think I'd find the same for wyandottes. I want a bigger finished bird for meat. I'm not concerned about a magic commercial formula for fast growth - it's ok if they take longer to grow out. They will be free ranged. Our main profit will come from the dairy sales - I don't need to make much on the chickens. So pinching pennies on the bottom line isn't critical. Again, I just enjoy chickens and this is a good excuse to get into them on a small scale. And if I hatch my own, I have the bonus of a never ending stream of wonderful little fluffy peeps.

So I am down to trying either the brahmas or the jersey Giants. I would welcome any thoughts if anyone has experience with either breed.

And as a secondary question, would I be ahead to find a private breeder for starter stock or just order from a hatchery with a plan to improve my own flock over time? I'm leery of investing a lot of money in stock from a private breeder if in the end hatchery birds will do just as well for me as starter stock. Any thoughts there? Or hatcheries you've found to be better than others in terms of quality stock? I've ordered from Meyer and had no complaints but neither was I overly impressed. I have a friend that swears by McMurry.

Thanks all!

[WindyRidge]

Thank you Redfish. Broodiness doesn't matter to me, but that's interesting about the eggs. I was leaning toward the brahmas but now you have me rethinking about the Giants. Decisions, decisions!

[bergere]

Could get some of both, then you can see which you like the most.

[mamahen]

I have both, but my brahmas are just a month old. But I'm not impressed with my jersey giants size/frame. Maybe it's just the hatchery that I ordered from, but they aren't much bigger than my sex-links. They do lay well, and nice sized eggs.

Now my freedom rangers, they are awesome! Large meaty frame, large eggs, and very calm.

[WindyRidge]

Shari, that's not a bad idea at all! I think in the end I'm going to order from a hatchery to get started, and most carry both breeds. So ordering some of each would be easy to do.

Mamahen, what hatchery did you order your jerseys from?

I have freedom rangers now. Last year I got the black rangers from freedomrangerhatchery.com and was very happy with them. This year I got the red rangers to try from the same hatchery and they are horrible. They all arrived alive, but I lost... somewhere around 15 of 50 in the first week. They're now somewhere around 10 weeks old, they vary in size, and seem scrawny. I'd never order the reds again. But being a hybrid the rangers won't breed true even if I had better stock to start with. The friend that swears by McMurry got her red rangers from there and she has bred them herself for the last 2 years or so now. She said the first few generations bred true, but now they're starting to diversify and not stay true to type. She's ready to order new stock to start over. So for that reason the rangers won't work long term - I need to be able to keep breeding my own without periodically having to order new hatchery stock.

In a lot of ways I'd like to find private breeders to start stock from and while I do understand you get what you pay for, affording the prices of private breeders is kinda prohibitive right now with all our other startup costs. I'm thinking of starting with hatchery stock now and then working to improve as I go - maybe order some eggs from private breeders later on. I don't intend to expand and sell hatching eggs or any such thing, and I'm not at all concerned about conforming to an SOP. I'm even OK with ended up with a landrace breed of my own - keeping what does the best around here and rolling with it. I would like large eggs, good production, and good eating size.

I've been reading and reading and people seem to go either way on the two breeds. Virtually everyone gets them from hatcheries so I imagine that has a lot to do with it - hatcheries vary so widely in quality of stock it's a gamble what you're really getting. I'm still torn and pondering what to do. My incubator is still broken so I can't order hatching eggs for a while anyway, and my brooder is full with the last batch of chicks that hatched. Until they get big enough to move outside to my next stage brooder I can't order any chicks either. So it forces me to take a little time and think about this further.

[Deleted]

Brahmas are my favorite chicken to raise. They are docile and very friendly, lay well on a regular basis, and the roosters stay sweet for a long time. We had two roosters in the same pen with the hens and they did not fight each other. One helped raise a batch of chicks after the mother died and he gently took over. Never saw anything like it in my life.

The flavor of the Brahma meat was much tastier and the broth much richer, but with less fat than the other breeds we butchered. There was a marked difference in flavor. There was a difference in the skin color. Our Brahmas had darker skin.

I can't tell you much about Jersey Giants, though, sorry.

[jupiter]

We have Brahmas & we love them! Ours go broody, so we don't have to worry about replacements, & they butcher out at a nice size. I've never raised the Giants, but after this bird flu is a thing of the past, I may try some too. I really like variety in our flock.

[Muller's Lane Farm]

You may want to rethink using a dual purpose bird.  We've kept Brahmas & Jersey Giants  as well as various breeds of brown egg layers.  Thing with dual purpose birds is they just don't lay as well as an egg laying breed, as for using as meat birds; they take longer to grow out than a meat bird which can equal tougher meat.

Not all hatcheries that do volume are large corporate entities.  Although not local to you, Schlecht Hatchery in Miles IA is a small, family owned hatchery.  schlechthatchery.com/  We've bought our meat birds from Etta & Greg the past 8 or so years (time flies, it could be longer).  They are close enough (just over an hour) that we are able to drive over & pick them up.  


I love my Rocks (in various colors) and sex-links for egg laying.

[Maura]

If I was going to hatch out my own chicks, I’d start with the best. Sometimes you have no choice but to start with what you can get and improve from there. But, these are chickens not race horses. If the hens don’t go broody, you can put the eggs under a different breed of hen and not have to worry about your incubator.

I haven’t had Jerseys or Brahmas. I have had buff Orpington and loved them. I’ve also had Rhode Island Red and they are an excellent dual purpose breed. They lay sooner than the giant breed and are big enough to consider for the table. However, they are much more aggressive than the Orpingtons and the roosters can be very protective of their ladies.

[bergere]

Here is a breeder of JG's.... that is all they breed, so you might get some good ones from these folks.

www.mariasjerseygiants.com/


www.poultryshowcentral.com/or-wa-west-coast-jersey-giants.html

www.americanbrahmaclub.org/

I have been going through private breeders lately,to find the best stock possible. The commercial hatcheries, most of their breeds just aren't up to snuff.

[wally]

I have to agree with cyndi. In a perfect world a dual purpose flock would be the way to go. If you want eggs get layers, you want meat get meat birds. A dual purpose bird will fall short on both on eggs and meat .

[Deleted]

Hmm. I don't remember my Brahmas stinking more than any of the other chickens. They do have feathered legs and feet, so when it's muddy out, their feathers on the feet get dirty and it gets tracked into the coop area. I do remember my Brahmas were easier on the grass than some of the other breeds that scratched up and killed anything growing. They loved bugs and veggie/fruit peelings. The "good" egg layers (leghorns, RIR, etc.) were spastic and hateful to each other. . .the Brahmas more gentle and forgiving. Those are some characteristics you might want to consider. If you have egg layers, they need more space/free range or they will pick each other too much when confined. Brahmas are good if you have children, BUT. . .they are so sweet you may find it hard to butcher them when the time comes. The egg layers on the other hand, I had no problem dispatching.

By the way, ours came from Ideal.  Always got good birds from them.

[WindyRidge]

Redfish, I may have missed it but what breed did you settle on as your personal favorite dual purpose?

I do understand the comments from those of you who recommend sticking with eggs or meat. I understand that a dual purpose can't out perform either. I don't think I need them to. I'm heading into this venture because I enjoy chickens. Again, it will be on a small scale and if it can just pay for itself I'll be happy.

I'm really temped on the brahmas with a deciding factor of, I just like the look of them better. My only concern is egg size. I think larger eggs would sell better. Some hatcheries list their eggs as medium size, some large. Depends on the hatchery I guess.

Thank you everyone for all your comments. They have given me much to think about and are all appreciated!!

[bergere]

I love my Welsummer eggs.. but they are a lighter weight bird, compared to some of the other brown egg layers.

I love Pure Cornish chickens to eat. They are hardy, good free rangers, fast.... LOL

It really does depend on the breeder and their breeding line, to what size egg or body type one gets in each breed. Have seen a big difference between hatcheries and breeders that have been around awhile and know what they are doing.

Breeds I used to raise, just going to write out the Big brown/brownish egg layers.

Light Brahamas, my line, birds were big, active, average sized egg, bit on the aggressive side, but they ate mice and squirrels when they could catch them.
Silver Grey Dorkings... loved these birds, average sized egg, sweet temperament, but the predators loved the hens. Look like giant pigeons.
Salmon Favorelles.. nice eating bird, bigger, average to large eggs, but tend to go broody. Super, super gentle and sweet birds.
Speckled Sussex... small eggs, average sized bird, nothing to write home about. Loved the spots though. ( also have these currently,,, sold a number off a few months ago, because while they would hatch the eggs, they ate the chicks, these are hatchery birds)
Silver and Gold Wyandottes... nice birds, on the heavy side, nice big eggs.
Partridge Rocks.. wasn't impressed

Orps.. back then and now... not impressed, then or now. Ones I have now, hatchery birds, super, super aggressive, to everything. Sold off the most aggressive, leaving 10 birds... of those 10 birds, I am no down to two, because my DS likes those two. Sold the rest off.
Small eggs, and they are all feathers.

RIR... not bad birds, good layers, some lines can be very aggressive to other birds. One I have had, were easy going.

Had some EE, when I moved here.... wasn't impressed.

Really loved the taste of the pure bred large dark Cornish birds... but they can be aggressive to other breeds.

Sure I am forgetting a breed or two.

Currently...

Golden Comets,, out standing layers of very big brown eggs, think they would dress out nice too, nice large bird.
Still have a couple left.

Buff Orps... 2 left...

Welsummers.. average sized, nice temperament,, love their darker spotted brown eggs, large to Xlarge. Slowly adding more to my flock.

Speckled Sussex, ones I have now, I use to hatch chicks out, they are very broody, small to average eggs, when they are laying. They have more mass than my Buff Orps.

Blue Copper Marans, nice beefy birds, eggs are smaller than I was hoping for, Average sized. Love the dark brown color. (going to look for a line that lays larger eggs)

Hatching out some Full sized Wheaten Ameraucana eggs from a well known breeder, now. Will see how they do.

Then my many Bantam projects....

[Deleted]

Black Australorpes are excellent layers and are good sized. They go broody, too.