Quite often I have potential customers ask me, "what makes your birds better than a hatchery - why the cost?" The difference of purchasing from a reputable breeder verses a Hatchery is like night and day! We will answer some of these questions below.
By purchasing from myself (Maria Hall) of Maria's Jersey Giants you can rest assured that I have personally selected the breeding stock, the sorting/collection of eggs, incubation process, boxing of chicks providing the best care throughout your shipment. I have a personal interest in the protection of every egg or animal that departs from our farm in Indiana. The difference between a hatchery verses buying from me is all of our chicks are shipped with tender loving care. There are no conveyor belts and tossing of chicks during the entire process.
- Chicks are provided with handwarmers, food, and paper filters over the holes. Hatcheries do not provide these items.
Because hatcheries mass produce and have so many breeds it becomes hard to focus beautiful qualities of the Jersey Giant breed. As a reputable breeder Maria's Jersey Giants clearly focuases on "Quality over Quantity!" About 3 years ago I attended a County Fair where I daughter was exhibiting some of our Jersey Giants. A mother of a 4-Her was directed to me for questions about Jersey Giants. She said, "I don't know if my Giant is a Jersey Giant because it is not as big as yours- it came from a hatchery!" I asked her, "how old is your Giant?" She said , "two years old!". Would you believe that her Black Jersey Giant was NOT even the size of our SIX month olds? I have had many customers say mine were much larger than HATCHERY birds, but now it was truly clear as to what they meant!
I understand that raising quality birds is not for everyone. So if you do not care about quality and you just want to have a few eggs for the family without a lot of cost then certainly purchase from a hatchery that is your choice.
As a dedicated breeder you can expect the following from me.........
- Communication from the time of purchase to when you received the birds. You can be GUARANTEED that I will follow up with text messages or emails making sure you received your birds and/or eggs. (A large hatchery does not have this time to dedicate to customers)
- Future mentoring on the care of the birds, nutritional guildance, breed selection, and show preparation tips.
- Maria's Jersey Giants was established in 1977 when I took over my grandmothers flock. The Giants are a heritage breed and has been in the family for over 100 years. While Golda Miller of Bern, KS is known for having developed the Blue variety of Jersey GIants, my grandmother Lousie McGuire had been breeding the Blues for many generations.
Breeding superb Jersey Giants requires dedication to the breed. Jersey Giants is the only breed of chickens raised with the exception of Heritage Standard Bronze turkeys. It takes years of dedication when striving to breed perfection. Maria's Jersey GIants takes the whole bird into consideration such as : the breed standard, selection of show potential birds as breeding stock, both meat/laying production, and also Maria's Jersey GIants believe that a Giant should not only be a large bird but also believes that a Giant should be a "gentle" Giant. A lot of breeders are out there just producing numbers without the regard to the above important keys to having a great Jersey Giant.