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Serama

The Serama breed originated in Malaysia, apparently through the crossing of Japanese and Malaysian bantams.

General Information

Breed Purpose
Ornamental
Comb
Single
Broodiness
Frequent
Climate Tolerance
Heat
Egg Productivity
Low
Egg Size
Small
Egg Color
Light Brown
Breed Temperament
Friendly, Easily handled, Calm, Bears confinement well, Quiet, Docile
Breed Colors/Varieties
This breed is not standardized yet. The Serama Council of North America is working towards ABA and APA acceptance of the white serama first. The currently recognized colors of the SCNA are White, Blue, Wheaton, Black-Breasted Red, Black, and Black-Tail Buff. These should be recognized by the ABA and APA after the white serama. A popular variety of the serama is the silkied serama. They are accepted at SCNA sanctioned shows.
Breed Size
Bantam
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The Serama breed originated in Malaysia, apparently through the crossing of Japanese and Malaysian bantams. The modern breed is attributed to the efforts of Wee Yean Een from Kelantan, who named the breed "Serama" after Rama, the title of the Kings of Thailand. There are no written standards for the breed in its native country, though they do have an overall guide on scoring and judging for competitions in Malaysia. Many breeders have a style or type that they breed to, but breeders often keep several "styles". Hence there is quite a lot of diversity in Malaysia.

In the USA, the Serama breed is promoted by a couple organisations, the The American serama association (ASA) and the Serama Council of North America (SCNA). This council helped to introduce the Serama to North America in various National Poultry shows. In the spring of 2004 a Serama only-show, known as the Cajun Classic, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was held. The "American Serama" as put forth by the Serama Council of North America has gained acceptance by the APA and the American Bantam Association, as of April 2011. In early 2012, another group known as the American Serama Association was formed to help gain APA and ABA acceptance of more varieties of Serama.

In the UK, Seramas were initially imported in 2004. Birds were imported from both the US and directly from Malaysia. In 2005, a small group of Serama owners and enthusiast decided to form the "Serama Club of Great Britain", the first Serama club in the UK. They went on to established the standard for the Serama breed for the UK. Seramas are still relatively rare and expensive in much of mainland Europe, with the Netherlands probably having the largest number of Seramas outside the UK. Most of the stock in the Netherlands are descendent from birds/eggs imported from America and from the UK.

In France and other European countries they are increasing in popularity with 4 classes of serums.

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Serama eggs

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Serama chick

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Serama hen

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Serama rooster

To learn more about this breed and their owners' and breeders' experiences with them, see our breed discussion here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-serama.1110870/

Latest reviews

Great Ornamental Breed
Pros: Pretty nice
Very good looking
Bantams
Cons: Small eggs
Low egg production
Not very weather resistant
I love Seramas, they're very good for ornamental purposes!
Not great for eggs, but let's be honest, who's getting Seramas for eggs anyways?
Lots of pretty colors as well, and can be sweet when trained.
Great review of Seramas, good job!
Pros: Go broody often
Make great mothers
Lay rather frequently
Very beautiful
Don’t take up as much space as an LF
Tend to hatch early
Quieter crows
Cons: More fragile to cold
More fragile to heat
Expensive
More frequent crows
They can’t be AMAZING birds, and don’t get me wrong, they are my favorite. They aren’t very what or cold tolerant and they are rather expensive (for a reason, of course). Thing is, they are great birds, and I have never had a problem in all my time raising them. They grow up with LF chicks sometimes, and they do extremely well!
Purchase Price
$14 each
Purchase Date
Like 7 months ago
Pros: Lovely, tame, valuable, handsome birds.
One of mine lays daily with large eggs compared to her body size.
Cons: Get very cold, snacks for hawks, can be delicate.
I really love them!

People say they are rubbish layers, and they aren't the VERY best, but some can be really good.
I love true bantams but these are especially endearing.

For those who want to keep them indoors, well they can't be toilet trained, but the roos aren't that loud and many, including mine, just sound like squeaky toys.

Most can be very happy in trios or even pairs.
Don't try to keep them indoors totally though, because they do love outdoors.
Mogul Moonshine
Mogul Moonshine
100 percent agree
MageofMist
MageofMist
One of my gals lays massive eggs for her size, and I find them to be decent layers. The eggs do have a shorter shelf life though, compared to other eggs.

The roosters do sound like little squeaky toys and are quieter, though higher pitched. The birds are also smaller so you can keep more in a smaller space, though they still greatly enjoy bigger spaces.

Also if unable to provide them outside access due to an epidemic sweeping the area, provide vitamin D supplements as well as giving them things to do to prevent boredom and the hens plucking the shiny tails off your poor roosters, such as dustbaths, romain lettuce leaves, stuffed bellpeppers, paper balls full of treats and scatter feeding.

Comments

I didnt deworm them, but most of them died with never having been loose on the ground, I had them inside and what would happen is their combs would go a purple color and they basically couldnt breath. I talked Felix the breeder and he said that they carry a lethal gene. I bred the small pair I got from him and there was 5 boys and 2 girls, they all were oversize, 1 sold one boy and I still have 2 boys that will be 2 years old in August, the rest all died. I sold the parents, too heartbreaking for me. The ones I have left are now outside like regular chickens but with heat for the cold weather.
 
Hey! I am very interested in any chicks you hatch. I'm in the Tallahassee, Florida area. Thanks & God bless, Renee
 
didn't get any pure preed in this hatch they were crossed with a silkie. I have to seperate them from the other's so I am building a seperate place for them right now.
 
I love seramas too! Just got 100% hatch (#10) from my 2 pair, and now need to find them a home, sadly, just not enough room...
 
I personally do not. [I'm lazy] In the car I have towels + paper napkins for pick-ups. I do have a small "travel" cage that I put LULU in if I need to leave her in the car. Seramas poops are not as messy as LF ones [thank goodness] so are eze to clean up.
You would need x-small diapers and there are a few BYCers that make them.
 
Do you put her in a diaper when you take her places? A lot of people talk about bringing chickens in the house or car, but I always wonder what to do about droppings.
 
It would be lots of fun, but I can't handle poop everywhere. And I guess I need to let my cats get old and move on to cat heaven before bringing in what they'd surely see as the best toys ever!
 
looks like you got really nice birds for your start. My friend Arline has two hens and I just cannot get over how tiny they are.
 

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Chicken Breeds
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