# Is the breed correct



## Tmmcfarland (8 mo ago)

I got my chickens end of March from TSC. 4 are RIR, the other 8 were bought as 4 sapphire gems & 4 blue Plymouth rocks. I’ve heard/learned that sapphire gems & blue Plymouth rocks are essentially the same. My question is, Midnight, the black chicken, is she either of those breeds? She doesn’t look ANYTHING like the other 7 sapphire gems/blue Plymouth rocks. All of them are colored like Paisley, The rooster in the pic. Does anyone knows if she’s the same & if not, what breed she is? Thanks!


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Paisley is looking good. I have no idea so I'll yell for @fuzzies, she's been around a bit this weekend.


----------



## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Ah, Blue Plymouth Rocks, possibly my least favorite of the hybrid names. There is literally a Blue Plymouth Rock, a true breed, that exists, yet we've chosen to call an Australorp x Barred Rock mix the same thing.  Gotta love hatcheries.

They are _kind of _the same thing as Sapphire Gems in that they're both a blue sexlink cross. I believe Sapphire Gems have Andalusians as the blue parent, while the Plymouth Blues have Australorps as the blue parent, but they both have Barred Rocks as the mother to produce a sexlinked cross. I would expect the Plymouth Blues to be a bit huskier than the Sapphire Gems just because of the parent breeds, but it's hard to see that difference until they're at full maturity.

As for your bird in question, can you get a closer, clearer picture of her? Does she have the same kind of comb as the others? She is blue from what I can see here, just a darker shade of it. Blue kind of exists on a spectrum, where you can have a pale individual and a dark individual out of the same breed, even out of the same parents sometimes, so her being darker doesn't necessarily mean she's something else.

At the same time, there are a few other things she could be, like a Blue Australorp or Blue Andalusian, themselves, instead of a hybrid of those breeds. And TSC is notorious for mix-ups with their chick bins! A clearer picture will help me to determine what the possibilities are, here.

Editing, huh, I had a feeling I recognized these names and looked back--Midnight definitely looked black back in May, but this picture makes her look blue. 🤔 Definitely need a better picture!


----------



## Tmmcfarland (8 mo ago)

@fuzzies Midnight is being a turd today. The top pics were best she would let me me get. I added a pic of one of the other hens also. All the others are the light color like the last photo.


----------



## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Okay, so she is actually blue! Wow, she was so dark when she was younger!!

Are her legs like the others', greenish-gray with yellow on the bottom? I'm starting to think that she's just a darker Plymouth Blue / Sapphire Gem. Blue Jersey Giant is another possibility, though, with yellow skin on the feet. Unfortunately, it would be almost impossible to be sure of which she is out of those possibilities, unless she ends up being much larger than the others (in which case that would be Jersey Giant territory). I don't see anything else from the hatcheries TSC typically order through that would match her appearance. She's an interesting one for sure!


----------



## Tmmcfarland (8 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> Okay, so she is actually blue! Wow, she was so dark when she was younger!!
> 
> Are her legs like the others', greenish-gray with yellow on the bottom? I'm starting to think that she's just a darker Plymouth Blue / Sapphire Gem. Blue Jersey Giant is another possibility, though, with yellow skin on the feet. Unfortunately, it would be almost impossible to be sure of which she is out of those possibilities, unless she ends up being much larger than the others (in which case that would be Jersey Giant territory). I don't see anything else from the hatcheries TSC typically order through that would match her appearance. She's an interesting one for sure!


Her feet are black with yellow in the bottom. She’s actually smaller than the rest. Leave it to me to get the odd balls. Lol!


----------



## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, it happens sometimes! I think we do have her narrowed down to the only possibilities now; either a Sapphire Gem / Plymouth Blue or a Blue Jersey Giant, since nothing else would have the yellow on the feet like that. You may not have a definitive answer for a few more months, though, as the way she grows and fills out will be the most telling between those possibilities.


----------



## Tmmcfarland (8 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> Haha, it happens sometimes! I think we do have her narrowed down to the only possibilities now; either a Sapphire Gem / Plymouth Blue or a Blue Jersey Giant, since nothing else would have the yellow on the feet like that. You may not have a definitive answer for a few more months, though, as the way she grows and fills out will be the most telling between those possibilities.


Thanks! I’ll be sure to update in a few months. She’s a beautiful girl I just would like to know what she is. Lol! Not gonna change anything, just curious as she is the only one who is this dark.


----------



## HSJ07 (Aug 25, 2020)

Tmmcfarland said:


> View attachment 44913
> 
> I got my chickens end of March from TSC. 4 are RIR, the other 8 were bought as 4 sapphire gems & 4 blue Plymouth rocks. I’ve heard/learned that sapphire gems & blue Plymouth rocks are essentially the same. My question is, Midnight, the black chicken, is she either of those breeds? She doesn’t look ANYTHING like the other 7 sapphire gems/blue Plymouth rocks. All of them are colored like Paisley, The rooster in the pic. Does anyone knows if she’s the same & if not, what breed she is? Thanks!


I have exactly the same situation. I bought 3 Sapphire Gems from Tractor supply. 2 look like Sapphire Gems and 1 is black judt like yours. I was wondering if she is something else. She is sweet and I love her but have wondered about her.


----------



## HSJ07 (Aug 25, 2020)

HSJ07 said:


> I have exactly the same situation. I bought 3 Sapphire Gems from Tractor supply. 2 look like Sapphire Gems and 1 is black judt like yours. I was wondering if she is something else. She is sweet and I love her but have wondered about her.


Today my Sapphire blue chicks are 12 weeks old. Starting yesterday my solid black one is rapidly turning blue on her underside. Her puffy black butt is now blue. Yours may get some blue too,


----------



## Tmmcfarland (8 mo ago)

HSJ07 said:


> Today my Sapphire blue chicks are 12 weeks old. Starting yesterday my solid black one is rapidly turning blue on her underside. Her puffy black butt is now blue. Yours may get some blue too,


Mine are just over 4 months. Midnight, the hen in question was and still is a little smaller than the rest. I’ll have to wait and see what happens with her I guess. Patience isn’t my best quality! Lol


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not sure there's many of us that could list patience at the top of our qualities list.


----------



## HSJ07 (Aug 25, 2020)

Tmmcfarland said:


> Mine are just over 4 months. Midnight, the hen in question was and still is a little smaller than the rest. I’ll have to wait and see what happens with her I guess. Patience isn’t my best quality! Lol


My black sapphire gem never did turn very blue, just her under side. She and one of the other Sapphire gems started laying at 17 weeks old and the other at 18 weeks. They have laid everyday but one since they started, The first one laid 10 days in a row,


----------

