What is a sapphire gem?

[MountainMarans2012]

I think your right you have 2 cockerels included with your pullets. I have Self-Blue Bantam Cochins I bought straight-run from Ideal 3 weeks ago and almost half have a bigger red comb and no tail either. Thank you for posting pictures of the Sapphire Gems, I have been wondering how you can tell male from a female since I got an email from TSC introducing them to their new line of chicks you can order this year. I Googled the name and it came up Hoover's carry them, so I messaged Hoover's to ask will they breed blue every time. They replied that since they are a sex-link they said no telling what the offspring might look like. Now I wonder what they bred to get them, maybe Barred Rock and Blue Andalusian.

 

[renk777]

I think your right you have 2 cockerels included with your pullets. I have Self-Blue Bantam Cochins I bought straight-run from Ideal 3 weeks ago and almost half have a bigger red comb and no tail either. Thank you for posting pictures of the Sapphire Gems, I have been wondering how you can tell male from a female since I got an email from TSC introducing them to their new line of chicks you can order this year. I Googled the name and it came up Hoover's carry them, so I messaged Hoover's to ask will they breed blue every time. They replied that since they are a sex-link they said no telling what the offspring might look like. Now I wonder what they bred to get them, maybe Barred Rock and Blue Andalusian.

I read somewhere that 1st generation SG X SG would be a mix of white or black birds but I don't remember the source. But perhaps if those first gen crosses were bred to each other, it would result in a mix of black, white, or blue variety birds? Haven't delved into the world of chicken genetics yet. ..I suppose if we knew the breeds used, we could guess. I too, suspect Andalusian on one side but suppose it could be anything. The blue in andalusions was the result of breeding a black breed to a white bird of the same breed so I would think that perhaps that's how this breed came to be as well? The pic they show of a male and female chick on Hoover's site doesn't exactly look like what I received. The ones I suspect are males were much lighter with no grey on the beak or legs. The ones I'm certain are female have grey beaks and legs with varying (to no) degrees of light banding around eyes however, none have completely flesh colored beaks/legs. TSC finally got back to me regarding their call to Hoovers and said they were told that at this age, there's no telling which sex they are and that I have to wait until 5 weeks to see a pink comb. Well, that's just dumb...this is a sex-linked breed so exactly how do they sell all females if they can't sex them until 5 weeks? LOL Regardless of what Hoovers is saying, based on my limited history with chickens and even more limited experience with this breed, I'm going to say that the Hoover's pic of a male and female chick that's available right now is not correct...or that there is way more variation within the breed than I'm seeing in my batch. Based on my batch and the assumption that 9 are female and 2 are cockerels, I'll say that the really light grey with yellow undersides and flesh colored beaks and legs are cockerels...even at a day old, this coloration is apparent and in contrast to the rest. And I'm going to tentatively suggest that all darker birds with/without yellow banding around eyes but varying degrees of grey on beaks and legs are females. Again, the difference in coloring is apparent on day one. That would support the sex-linked description. However, if any of my medium grey 'girls' with some banding around eyes and more 'flesh' color in beaks and legs do end up as cockerels, I'll have to really scrutinize future batches. It seems that an entirely black head at a day old is a pullet...but some of my medium greys with facial markings are larger and have a characteristic here or there that could still suggest cockerel so I have to exercise patience and wait and see. I'll definitely keep you guys updated as I try to figure out what I have and how closely it adheres to the info on the web!

 

[renk777]

If I have time one day, I'll try getting a pic of each one and we can play a guessing game and see if we're right! Haha

 

[Geneticsnut]

Hoover hatchery appears to be doing diligence to preserve their little goldmine chicken hybrid. The Sapphire Gem is likely just a cross between homozygous Blue Andalusian roosters and barred rock hens. Such a cross would produce F1 offspring that lay brown eggs (because the brown egg color genetic trait of the barred rock is dominant over the white egg color genetic trait of the Blue Andalusian), be blue in color (because a homozygous blue (blue splash) Blue Andalusian would produce 100% heterozygous blue offspring due to the trait being dominant) and sex linked because all males would be barred and all females would be non barred (due to the sex linked dominant barred genetic trait being inherited by the young males only).

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hoover hatchery appears to be doing diligence to preserve their little goldmine chicken hybrid. The Sapphire Gem is likely just a cross between homozygous Blue Andalusian roosters and barred rock hens. Such a cross would produce F1 offspring that lay brown eggs (because the brown egg color genetic trait of the barred rock is dominant over the white egg color genetic trait of the Blue Andalusian), be blue in color (because a homozygous blue (blue splash) Blue Andalusian would produce 100% heterozygous blue offspring due to the trait being dominant) and sex linked because all males would be barred and all females would be non barred (due to the sex linked dominant barred genetic trait being inherited by the young males only).

Yeah, we know they are blue sex links

 

[The Moonshiner]

Hoover hatchery appears to be doing diligence to preserve their little goldmine chicken hybrid.

Diligence? I don't see it.
From the replies people have been receiving from Hoover's over these hybrids it seems they know next to nothing about them.
They are supposed to be a simple sex link hybrid. Pullets being blue and cockerels being blue barred.
How does Hoover's not know this or why are they unable to answer something as simple as how to tell the sex on one of their sex linked hybrids?

 

[Geneticsnut]

Yeah, we know they are blue sex links

Blue is not a sex linkable color trait though. The barred trait is, however.

 

[Geneticsnut]

Diligence? I don't see it.
From the replies people have been receiving from Hoover's over these hybrids it seems they know next to nothing about them.
They are supposed to be a simple sex link hybrid. Pullets being blue and cockerels being blue barred.
How does Hoover's not know this or why are they unable to answer something as simple as how to tell the sex on one of their sex linked hybrids?

They know very well what they have. Just acting as though they don't so others don't produce them. Preserving their "little goldmine". I'm guessing the staff at Hoover hasn't been told so the secret don't get out of the box.

 

[The Moonshiner]

They know very well what they have. Just acting as though they don't so others don't produce them. Preserving their "little goldmine". I'm guessing the staff at Hoover hasn't been told so the secret don't get out of the box.

I don't see them as a "gold mine" they're not asking outrageous prices for them iMO.
Hoover didn't invent this hybrid and they aren't the only place that offers them.
Seems odd to try and keep secrets that aren't even secret.
Other hatcheries already let the cat out of the bag.

 

[Geneticsnut]

I don't see them as a "gold mine" they're not asking outrageous prices for them iMO.
Hoover didn't invent this hybrid and they aren't the only place that offers them.
Seems odd to try and keep secrets that aren't even secret.

Other hatcheries already let the cat out of the bag.

I wasn't aware of that. I don't follow hatchery activity. Just saw folks questioning what they were and mentioning that Hoover claimed to not know, so gave a likely possibility. They could very well be a small goldmine considering how many folks want them.