What is a sapphire gem?

[member 158781]

Also known as the Sapphire Blue Plymouth Rock or Blue Plymouth Rock, the Sapphire Gem is all the rage for novelty and specialty chicken fanciers. Scouring the internet for information on this rare variety will most likely lead you down a dead-end road or to the local jewelers’ websites. There is conflicting information on this variety of chicken, but one thing everyone seems to agree on is that this bird is a new favorite.

And I just found this, thanks to one of the posters who told us about the Blue D107

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_CZ

 

[DoeAndGander]

Has anyone noticed feathers of their gem looking ragged or lacking protein? Any suggestions? A higher protein feed such as multi flock maybe? Which would make sense being the high egg production. I have ISA brown pullets which will need more protein as well.

 

[cstephens1987]

Love this information. Thank you so much.

Yes the SG is a hybrid sex linked chicken as others have said and will as such not breed true. As with any other hybrid or sex link chicken they will only retain these properties in F1.

The SG is made by crossing a splash blue Plymouth Rock (not 'Plymouth blue rock' which is just another name for SG) rooster over a barred Plymouth Rock hen. Some have indicated that the roo may be a splash Andalusian instead and there seems to be some debate on that one.

 

[Mama_in_the_Dell]

I love my Gems! One of my older girls started annoyingly pecking me really hard when she wants treats. She was my favorite until that but since I’ve had to pen them up do to persistent hawks she hasn’t done it in awhile. It did occur to me that she may feel under appreciated since she lays me the biggest prettiest eggs. No one else compares so I guess I’ll keep her. Lol. That also might explain her moodiness. I couldn’t imagine laying those big eggs every day.

In the picture below I boxed off all the Sapphire Gem eggs. The 3 together are my newer layers and the two off to the side are my year olds. Hers is the biggest of those two. She lays them like that everyday.

Then my other question is what color are the ears on your sapphire gems? Are the suppose to be white or red? I have all varying degrees from red, to some white over the red, to really white.

 

[member 158781]

I Love your Sapphire Gems.

 

[DoeAndGander]

I love my Gems! One of my older girls started annoyingly pecking me really hard when she wants treats. She was my favorite until that but since I’ve had to pen them up do to persistent hawks she hasn’t done it in awhile. It did occur to me that she may feel under appreciated since she lays me the biggest prettiest eggs. No one else compares so I guess I’ll keep her. Lol. That also might explain her moodiness. I couldn’t imagine laying those big eggs every day.

In the picture below I boxed off all the Sapphire Gem eggs. The 3 together are my newer layers and the two off to the side are my year olds. Hers is the biggest of those two. She lays them like that everyday.

Then my other question is what color are the ears on your sapphire gems? Are the suppose to be white or red? I have all varying degrees from red, to some white over the red, to really white.

Your girls are gorgeous! I only have one Gem and her ears are red. Like you, she lays big, beautiful brown eggs each time. It’s amazing, really! I recently got 3 ISA Browns. Upon reading about them, I’m thinking this breed will be along the same health “hazards”due to egg count.

 

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

Your girls are gorgeous! I only have one Gem and her ears are red. Like you, she lays big, beautiful brown eggs each time. It’s amazing, really! I recently got 3 ISA Browns. Upon reading about them, I’m thinking this breed will be along the same health “hazards”due to egg count.

Dominant Blue D 107 hybrids are bigger than the ISA browns and handle much better their hard working ability by overlaying eggs. Don't make the protein higher. Just don't take their eggs for three to five days so to stop laying for a bit and take a rest. Just this.

 

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

SGs should be sex able at hatch from the barring gene or lack of.
They are a hybrid sex link. Once you breed two SGs together they're no longer SGs or sex linked.
Some of this confusion is because Thomas is from Greece and is dealing with the true original stock.
Over here in the states we are dealing with what Hoover's started selling and labeling SGs.
Hoover's said they imported original parental stock eggs for their breeding program.
Something is amiss with what they have or were doing because they were producing non barred males last year and this year they're showing birds with red leakage which also shouldn't be there.

The gold leakage is from the cross between rhodebar females and splash rock males, a cross created from dominant CZ breeders. The mother company is from Cz Republic.
Here is the link:
https://dominant-cz.cz/programy/hneda-skorapka/dominant-modry-d187/

 

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

Has anyone noticed feathers of their gem looking ragged or lacking protein? Any suggestions? A higher protein feed such as multi flock maybe? Which would make sense being the high egg production. I have ISA brown pullets which will need more protein as well.

17% layer feed is OK.

Extra protein will cause egg binding problems.

 

[The Moonshiner]

The gold leakage is from the cross between rhodebar females and splash rock males, a cross created from dominant CZ breeders. The mother company is from Cz Republic.
Here is the link:
https://dominant-cz.cz/programy/hneda-skorapka/dominant-modry-d187/

Our SGs in the US are not coming from dominant CZ.
At this time our hatcheries are maintaining their own flocks so what applies there doesn't necessarily apply here.
They aren't using rhodebars but maybe a similar type hybrid.