Faverolles Hamburg and Jersey Giant

Salmon Faverolles were one of my first breeds. They look peculiar with their beard muff feathered shanks and fifth toe. Both my sisters hated this breed because the roosters like to fight your legs when you walk. Many times the faverolles roosters and lakenvelder roosters had my sisters crying. Of course I kept the spurs trimmed to prevent injury. The breed looks bigger than they are because of the loose feathering. The hens are good layers and they make a good table bird. They are a french meat breed with roosters weighing eight pounds and the hens a little over six. Good selection for northern states because they handle cold real well. Hamburgs are a good breed for people on a limited budget because they consume very little feed. However they are nervous and can fly very well. So if you keep your birds penned they will be difficult to recover. The breed is good layers and do not go broody. The rose comb does well in cold weather although they are not a good choice for northern states because of the low body weight unless you heat your hen house. My cousin kept her golden penciled hamburgs in a rabbit hutch where they did very well. I preferred the spangled hamburgs because they laid a slightly bigger egg and produced more of them. The penciled varieties are quite small. Mature cocks four to five pounds and hens three to four pounds. Got my jersey giants from Golda Miller who is a legend in the breed. Received hatching eggs from her three times. A few of my jersey giant cocks topped the scales at thirteen pounds and averaged twelve pounds. My hens weigh any where from ten to eleven pounds. The eggs take an additional day to hatch. Many of the hens lay jumbo sized eggs right through the winter. When they retire to the roasting pan at three years old they provide a feast. We use to eat them for Thanksgiving and Christmas after they were fattened on corn. We had so many chickens and pigs that we seldom bought turkeys for holidays. They have the room to pack on lots of fat for dressing and noodles. The breed isnt a very good setting hen because they are rather clumsy and step on chicks. The breed takes a long time to mature so they are not suitable for fryers. Never had the white variety of jersey giants. These make wonderful show birds because of their calm nature. I wouldnt suggest having many of these unless you can free range them because they require a great deal of feed. Very hardy and dont require a good hen house.