The Sapphire Gem chicken breed also known as the Blue Plymouth Rock or Sapphire Blue Plymout Rock is all the rage for novelty and speciality chicken fanciers.
The Sapphire Gem is a new sex-linked chicken type with blue colore and lavender plumage. Cocks will grow to be about 5lbs, while females will mature at about 4lbs. They are great layers, bred to lay about 290 brown eggs a year. The breed is very close to Old Andalusians and does well in hot climates.
You won’t get much information on this rare chicken breed because this breed is new.
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Also, there had been a slow spread of wrong information on this chicken variety, but one thing we all can agree on is that this bird is a new favorite.
The Sapphire Gem is not a real breed of chicken, and certainly is not recognized by the APA. A lot of hatcheries that sell this little gem are vague at its description.
In fact, this chick can only be acquired from a small number of hatcheries, and it even appears as though one hatchery has the trademarked.
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Sapphire Gem Chicken Breed
We did some digging and found out that this mysterious sapphire gen chicken breed is a cross between heritage and hybrid chickens and was created in the Czech Republic.
It is said to be a cross between a Barred Plymouth Rock and a Blue Plymouth rock – Amazing, right?
The rush and excitement over the Easter has begun to die down slowly, and a lot of chicken owners are happy at the thought of adding this new beauty to spice up the coloring of their flock.
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Sex-linked
The Sapphire Gem is a sex-linked chicken variety of chick. That means, you can tell their gender shortly after they hatch simply by observing the colors of their feathers.
This trait is caused by cross breeding chickens.
Another thing to note about this stunning beauties is that – they do not “breed true”. That means that if you breed 2 sapphire Gems, chances are, you will not always get another Sapphire Gem.
Appearance
If you’ve got a thing for exotic colored flocks, the Sapphire gem breed of chicken will win your heart with their blue and lavender feathering.
The roosters are generally blue with a white dot on their head while the hens are typically blue with a necklace-like grey or ring of gold adorning her neck.
There are some that go craiy-craiy for these colors, and some who seem to not like it. So, it’s safe to say that reactions and reviews on appearance seem to be mixed.
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The Sapphire Gem has an upright appearance, similar to that of a Plymouth Rock, due to its genetics and she sports a single comb atop her alert little head.
Size
The Sapphire Gem is a medium-sized breed of chicken. She won’t cower under the Brahma and won’t tower over your Easter Egger.
They are a middle-of-the-flock size and can hold their own amongst a mixed flock of birds.
Eggs
The Sapphire gem chicken lays large, brown eggs.
There has been a common misconception that this chicken lays blue eggs because she is often confused with the Sapphire chicken (a small white bird that lays bright blue eggs).
This little egg machine produces all year round and has been said to lay up to a mind-blowing 290 eggs each year! So, you can see her purpose is egg laying and is not generally used as a meat chicken.
- Cold Hardy
The Sapphire Gem Chicken handles all climates well.
Even better, the cold winters does not affect her production too. Being a single-combed breeds, it is wise to protect the Sapphire Gem from frostbite during the colder months to prevent their combs from falling off near the end of the season.
Free-Rangers
Sapphire Gems are good foragers and handle free-ranging well. They are wonderful free-range candidates if you love organic farming.
They sure don’t waste time locating the tastiest morsels in the yard and putting them to good use, haha. While they are a calm variety of chicken, they are also aware and are always alert for a predator, which makes them even better off if they have the run of the yard.
Temperament
This Sapphire Gem chicken variety is incredibly calm and docile. It loves to be handled, picked up and cuddled.
In fact, this is one of the sweetest varieties of chicken for the kids, families, and first time owners.
While the Sapphire Gem chicken breed is the new “shawty in town”, there is still little known about the origins and where to get her.
One thing is for sure, the popularity the Sapphire gem hen and rooster has gained will only continue to grow, maybe even as quick as that of the Easter Egger! Let’s hear your thoughts and views about this.