Sapphire gem or Plymouth blue rock

[ClineFamily]

Is a sapphire gem and Plymouth blue rock the same chicken? Sorry new to chickens and I have seen both of them and they look like the same chicken

The biggest difference to tell them apart is in the rooster. The sapphire blue Plymouth rock has a "lace" look around his neck and back. The sapphire gems rooster has a solid shiny black neck and back.
Also from what I understand a true sapphire gem has dark face and legs.
Here are my sapphire gems. 1 rooster and 3 hens. My hens are all a little different shades on grey but the neck is always darker than their body. Also sapphire gems do not breed true. Not sure about if the blue plymouth rock does or not.

 

[The Moonshiner]

The darker head and back on the roosters and darker head on the hens is typical for any blue variety. Blues can be laced or not it just depends if they have the gene for it and with hybrids or mixes it goes either way.
Both sapphire gems and Plymouth blue rocks are basically the same. Both were originally sourced from the same place and were bred to be a blue sex link with males being barred and females not barred.
The hatcheries are a couple years into selling them and have now no doubt brought something else into the mix which is showing by the latest birds showing leakage.
Also there's males coming out without the barring which defeats the purpose of their creation.

 

[renk777]

From the older SG thread, I remember someone weighing in on the breed. Finally found the comment:

"DOMINANT BLUE D 107 is a result of crossing synthetic original paternal stock Blue Plymouth Rock with Barred Plymouth Rock maternal stock. Day old chicks are color sexed. Day old cockerel chicks are barred with a white spot on the head and day-old hen chicks are dark without a spot on the head."

Here's the page in that thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-is-a-sapphire-gem.1219553/page-23

Wondered what 'synthetic' meant but haven't given it much thought since then. So interested where the info is coming from that the rooster is splash Andalusian? Maybe one explanation supports the other if the splash Andalusian is used to create the 'synthetic Blue PR'. Perhaps the Plymouth Blue Rock (PBlueR vs BluePR) is the synthetic result of a splashA x barred PR? Maybe the synthetic plymouth blue is the SG's sire as well as the hybrid being sold as a PBlueR) but the SG is the result of the synthetic PBR x Barred PR? Not sure if that makes sense. Not even sure what synthetic refers to in chickendom. So sorry for the confusing comment!

 

[Newyorkrita]

From the older SG thread, I remember someone weighing in on the breed. Finally found the comment:

"DOMINANT BLUE D 107 is a result of crossing synthetic original paternal stock Blue Plymouth Rock with Barred Plymouth Rock maternal stock. Day old chicks are color sexed. Day old cockerel chicks are barred with a white spot on the head and day-old hen chicks are dark without a spot on the head."

Here's the page in that thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-is-a-sapphire-gem.1219553/page-23

Wondered what 'synthetic' meant but haven't given it much thought since then. So interested where the info is coming from that the rooster is splash Andalusian? Maybe one explanation supports the other if the splash Andalusian is used to create the 'synthetic Blue PR'. Perhaps the Plymouth Blue Rock (PBlueR vs BluePR) is the synthetic result of a splashA x barred PR? Maybe the synthetic plymouth blue is the SG's sire as well as the hybrid being sold as a PBlueR) but the SG is the result of the synthetic PBR x Barred PR? Not sure if that makes sense. Not even sure what synthetic refers to in chickendom. So sorry for the confusing comment!

Maybe I am the only one that finds all this confusing.

 

[Kemical Fenix]

I'll be able to answer this when mine get older, I have 2 of "each"(got from different feed stores), so well see of there's any difference.

 

[Mama_Dee]

In the Sapphire Gem thread they tracked down their origins. Sapphire Gems are created by breeding a splash Andalusian male to barred Rock female. No one in that thread seemed to see the leakage.

There was a lot of variety in how dark or light the resulting offspring was. The barring in the male chicks is light enough that it can be hard to see until the rooster feathers come in. Alot of the hens had nice looking lacing.

ETA: Truthfulness in advertising is a problem across industries unfortunately.

My understanding is that they also don't necessarily breed true. I don't know personally, however. I have 3 barnyard birds sold as there was an oops while the family was on vacation. Wrong roos in wrong pens. 2 are absolutely mixed Rhode Island Red and Sapphire Gem. One, however, looks much more Sapphire Gem and shows no RIR at all. As these are pets I don't plan to breed, it works for me. The silver mingling with the red is actually pretty to me. But as my roo is also a rescue (Barred Rock) that would be mega barnyard mix lol