Serama Hatch-A-Long!!

I bought them on eBay and it's day 6. Not a single vein on those yet. ;(

Most of mine, I can see veining earlier, but there are some with dense shells that take longer. Do they look more reddish-orange or really yellow? (inside when candling) Give em a few more days for sure. :fl
 
I could not find seramas..so I got several shipments off of ebay of serama eggs. Some..only resulted in a single chick or none at all..those where The eggs where I bought only 6..each batch resulted in one chick! The best i got was hatches of 5 chicks per hatch from out of 2 shipments of 12/16eggs.i also opened unhatched eggs. Most chicks were full term but failed to hatch. Not even an internal pip! 1 chick I assisted was terribly deformed w/crooked beak/one eye, another chick had a terrible nueroligal issue and had a head that bobbed non-stop but could not eat. Those I had to cull:hit. Seramas have something referred to as a "fatal gene". Many chicks die in the shell during incubation. There is a genetic marker that causes it. Shipping is particularly hard on these eggs. It really mrsses up air cells!There are a couple of shippers on eBay I've had the best hatches with. I do incubate these eggs differently now. I carefully unwrap without spinning/flipping eggs, rest them for 24 hours small end down, incubate in a egg carton small end down, by hand, gently rotate from side to side a few times a day(like an egg turner), i literally do not handle/check eggs for fertility until after a week. Temp I set at 99.7 w/35/45 humidity ( I am n Virginia/high altitude in a very humid area). I note air cells and may adjust humidity accordingly. Saddle air cells are not uncommon, if i have those i set them upright in a carton for hatch. I think if u incubate to hot/humid..chicks get to big in those tiny eggs(I made that mistake)and will die.on day 17, I set eggs w/lowest point in air cell up( thats generally where they will pip). I've had them pip on day 18. I put humidity @ 75/80%. Once they pip..most seem to take awhile to hatch, if the membrane starts to look to dry I will raise humidity a bit. I've had some take 24hrs to hatch once pipped, but I've also done a lot of assisted hatches for these chicks. I do not hesitate to assist. Once they external pip..after a good 10hrs..if I see them pipping the same spot...i summarise they can not rotate..so I will chip away the shell and put a bit of oil on the membrane to keep it soft. I do that in increments and put them back in the bator to rest. I keep a smaller brinsea running for that..so I won't be affecting other eggs that are hatching opening the bator to much. Hatching shipped serama eggs is extremely frustrating! The odds are not favorable due to shipping/fatal gene/egg sizes...smaller eggs are the most likely to die..and the ones that make it to lockdown rarely hatch. I honestly think these chicks also just get to big n those tiny shells! The biggest challenge is watching humidity verses air cell development as well. I think u need to take n2 account ur location to.for example..if u r n a very dry region verses humid region u may need to run a slightly higher humidity during incubation. Don't expect a good hatch rate from shipped serama eggs. I think even the most expirenced hatches will find these eggs a challenge!
 

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