Sapphire Gems

[Creteloc]

Judging by their saddle feathers, they all look rounded to me. Pullets.

 

[DucksAndGardens]

I got a few more pics of them when I put then to bed tonight, the two I'm holding together seem to have larger combs. They are around 5 weeks old now. I couldn't find any juvenile pics online so I've started taking pictures of them more for future record keeping.

I wish I'd read up on this breed before buying them. I just thought "sweet, a sex link so I know I'm getting pullets".

 

[Mama_in_the_Dell]

Yes, those are pullets. I had 3 sapphires last year and followed the new sapphire thread. I was concerned about one of mine that developed quicker than the others but she turned out to be a very beautiful pullet. I got several more this year. Some of which are quite developed already at 2 months. Males have a baring gene that will give them yellow feet and barring in their adult feathers. I’ve also noticed males will have a yellowish skin ring (not down color) around their eyes like barred chucked have. All of your have the dark pullet ring and nice dark feet. I think your safe. Mine also started laying around 16 weeks.

 

[member 158781]

So I impulsively purchased 4 Sapphire Gem chicks from TSC. I generally don't go to TSC for chicks but these were $.50 each and I couldn't resist. They were supposed to all be pullets and had puller markings. But now that I'm 4 weeks in, I see 2 have larger combs than the other two. But I'm hoping this might just be a characteristic of the sapphire gems. I've seen pictures online of the SGs and some hens have a smaller single comb while others have a larger single comb. Has anyone experienced the different combs for themselves? The two single chick pics I believe are females for sure but the pic of the two together make me wonder if those are roos. If they are I have THE worst luck buying chicks when even the sex links end up being males.

I had the same questions you did. I called Hoover and they told me to look closely at the picture of the male and female chick they posted. The male has a distinct white ring around the eyes. The female may have white around the eyes but it’s not a distinct all around the eye white ring. They say that is pretty reliable. I still have to see if that’s really going to turn out to be reliable, (looking at my own chicks) but I’m hopeful. Apparently body type cannot be used to determine sex. Some hens are slim and upright, some are rounder and more compact.