Jersey Giant Chicken

Jersey Giant is a very large chicken breed developed in New Jersey in the United States in the late nineteenth century by breeders aiming to create the biggest possible dual purpose fowl, using crosses of Black Java, Black Langshan and Dark Brahma stock. It is among the heaviest of all standard chicken breeds, with mature roosters commonly exceeding six kilograms, originally intended as a large-bodied alternative to turkey for the meat market. Despite its size, the breed grows slowly to maturity compared with modern commercial broilers, which limited its adoption as the poultry industry shifted toward faster growing hybrid meat breeds in the twentieth century. Jersey Giant is kept today mainly by hobbyists and heritage poultry keepers for exhibition and as a docile, cold hardy backyard bird, recognized in black, white and blue color varieties.