Anyone familiar with Sapphire Gems? ...

[StephanieRose44]

I know the Sapphire Gem is just black sex link, but a beautiful one! I was wondering if anyone has any or has been around them or just general knowledge of the hybrid, the genetics. What color would the mother and father be to have the feather come out a silvery bluish color? And since it’s a sex link aren’t they easy to sex by color? Here are some pictures of them. Hope to hear from someone about here beauty’s First two are from when I brought them home (we used to csll them the owls)

 

[Pyxis]

These are sexed just like black sex links - males hatch with a head spot and are barred, females have no head spot and are solid. So, no barring means a pullet. Well, if the breeding was done correctly - Hoover Hatchery seems to have somehow messed that up with at least several batches because some people got 'Sapphire Gems' that weren't barred but then turned out to be males, which is impossible if they're bred correctly.

 

[BarnGems]

I am new to Sapphire gems (Aug 2018) but mine started to lay at 18 wks and most (9 of 10) by 22 weeks. When mine were chicks only one roo had obvious baring, the other 2 looked like larger hens. The three in the middle with red combs and looking at the camera are roos. All the rest in the picture are hens.

 

[BarnGems]

These are sexed just like black sex links - males hatch with a head spot and are barred, females have no head spot and are solid. So, no barring means a pullet. Well, if the breeding was done correctly - Hoover Hatchery seems to have somehow messed that up with at least several batches because some people got 'Sapphire Gems' that weren't barred but then turned out to be males, which is impossible if they're bred correctly.

I've been looking into the barring gene and it can express in several ways. Black sex links are head marked but it seems that my chicks had leg color differences (roos were yellow and hens had black). You can see at just at a week old the leg coloring was there or not and it did not develop in the roos. The lowest chick in this pic (bottom toward cam) is a roo.

So far that seems to be the way for these type of sex link. Though this could just be that mine that worked that way.See the above pic of the roos at

 

[Pyxis]

I've been looking into the barring gene and it can express in several ways. Black sex links are head marked but it seems that my chicks had leg color differences (roos were yellow and hens had black). You can see at just at a week old the leg coloring was there or not and it did not develop in the roos. The lowest chick in this pic (bottom toward cam) is a roo.View attachment 1640769 So far that seems to be the way for these type of sex link. Though this could just be that mine that worked that way.See the above pic of the roos at

Unfortunately, if you have males that aren't barred, then you got some of the ones where there was a mistake with breeding. I had actually contacted Hoover regarding this breed because there was confusion with a lot of people about this happening. Hoover Hatchery told me that they are supposed to be from a solid male bred to barred females, aka black sex links. If you do this breeding, it is impossible to get males that don't have barring.

I'm not sure what you mean by saying barring can express in several ways. The only way barring expresses is white bars on the feathers. It does some other things too, like lightening the leg color of the birds that have it, but the birds will all have barred feathers as well.

https://www.hobbypoultry.com/the-barred-gene-use-in-chickens/

 

[StephanieRose44]

I have two Sapphire Gems 11 wks. They both looked practically identical as chicks but always assumed they were both females. One does have a pink beak/nose and half pink/black legs. The other has all black legs and a black face/beak, so could one be a rooster?

 

[BarnGems]

To better explain what I mean by saying barring expresses in several ways is barring can show on different places on a rooster. Barring was expressed in two of my Roo Gems on their neck feathers. The third (last roo on the right) doesn't show barring. The one in the middle has barring on his neck and the last on the left is barred all over.


As adults all of these roos had barring on their neck feathers to varying degrees. Body wise they all were colored like the hens. Of the 14 I have raised lack of black on the legs meant they were roos. All of them as chicks had barring on their wings.

I hope this holds true for other people and their birds. Hoover is most definitely not saying how they are producing this in volume as blue is difficult to mass produce and usually comes from a solid and a splash cross.