Sapphire Gem vs Production Blue

Duckee

Crowing
6 Years
Jun 11, 2014
845
1,061
251
Southern Illinois
I recently aquired 4 chicks from a local man. He said 2 chicks were sapphire Gems & 2 were production blues.He did not give ages, but guaranteed all were pullets!
He said these are the Gems:
20200709_160017.jpg

This one is all blue and appears youngest
20200709_160049.jpg

This one is starting to get light yellow around neckline and appears to be second youngest.

He said these are the production blues:
20200709_163038.jpg

This one has dark orange going down breast. Appears to be one of the oldest.
20200709_163446.jpg

This one has a black & white neck & breast. Appears same age as other PB.

What I know:
Sapphire Gems:
They are a mix of 2 types of plymouth rocks.
They lay brown eggs
They are sex linked. Males have a light spot on head at birth and develope barred wings as it feathers in.
Production Blues:
A mix of blue australorp & RIR.
They lay brown eggs.

Can anyone shed more info on these breed please?
Like, are PB chicks sexlinked too?
How to know for sure which is which hybrid?
Are they all pullets?
Or any other info...
Thanks.
 
Are these of his own making? They may not be exactly the same as the hatchery sapphire gems so there may be some variations to them from what I know most about. How old are they? I don’t see anything that makes me think boy. I’ve had light sapphire gems that were girls. Some people suspect the lighter ones make it harder to see the yellow dot on the head so that is why some lighter ones get put off as pullets. I don’t know how true that is.
 
The first pic of the PB does look like my PB. I picked mine out of a bin of about 50 and I don’t recall seeing those type of feathers around any of their necks. All the PBs in the bin either had the red down the breast or they were all blue.
 
I dont know their age and it is hard to guess because the are feathered well even on heads, but are small in size. I would say they were 4,5, 6,6 weeks in the pics, but again, too feathered for that age. Friendliest chicks ive ever had...people lovers for sure!
I found this on hoovers website...maybe they are all gems!
1305347.jpeg
 
Hoovers listed that picture under Sapphire Gems.
hmmm, makes me wonder if these hatcheries are interchanging the names???
Since i didnt get them until 4+ weeks old, anything is possible. Im excited to watch them grow and find out if I have one kind, 2 kinds, or maybe something totally different :thumbsup
Edited to add: i didnt get these from a hatchery. Got from a local man.
 
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Which one of these chicks is not like the others?...
Looking more & more like I have 3 production blues and 1 sapphire gem.
20200719_201346.jpg

20200722_181324.jpg

All these chicks are so people friendly, im starting to think they'd rather be human!
 

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