Sexing/Breed Questions (Sapphire Gems? / Baby chick crew! Bonus, DUCKS!)

[paintedChix]

How old are they now? They have REALLY tiny combs. Bee a while since I've had chicks & no pics of barred rocks, but thought combs would be bigger...

 

[WhiskeyTheRedd]

About 8 weeks for the older girls

 

[NatJ]

What hatchery has true Blue Plymouth Rocks? They appear to be pretty hard to get w/ breeders of Plymouth Rocks, didn't know any hatchery had them...

Several hatcheries are selling sexlinks that they call "Blue Plymouth Rocks" or similar names. Descriptions sometimes state that they are a cross of Blue Andalusian with Barred Rock.

So no, they are not the Blue variety of the breed Plymouth Rock, but they are being sold with that name anyway.

Examples:
https://www.myerspoultry.com/product-plymouth-blue-rock
https://townlinehatchery.com/product/plymouth-blue/
https://www.thechickhatchery.com/product/sapphire-blue-plymouth-rock/

Shaphire Gems are a cross between Barred Plymouth Rocks & Blue Andalusions (in first generation). Not sure, if you continued to breed sister to brother, how that will work...

If you breed sister to brother for any of the sexlink hybrids, you get chicks that cannot be sexed by color. You will get some males and some females with the "male" coloration (in this case, with white barring), and some of each with the "female" coloration (in this case, with no white barring), and sometimes chicks that are colored differently than any of their parents or grandparents.

You are correct about the black/blue/splash part of the inheritance.