American serama thread!

[yoopergirl1211]

Hi! I have an opportunity to get some seramas tomorrow. Can they live with a mixed flock or do they have to be separated? They are in a mixed flock right now.

 

[nchls school]

Hi! I have an opportunity to get some seramas tomorrow. Can they live with a mixed flock or do they have to be separated? They are in a mixed flock right now.

Mine are in a mixed flock of similar size, nonaggressive stock. I would be leery of putting serama with larger breeds; especially aggressive ones. The size difference could well lead to accidents. Our larger birds have their own quarters. Mixed flocks also means possible crosses; something I do not want and am careful to avoid.

 

[meltel]

Hi! I have an opportunity to get some seramas tomorrow. Can they live with a mixed flock or do they have to be separated? They are in a mixed flock right now.

I would not put seramas with a mixed flock. If you are in a colder climate they require heat and are pretty delicate. If you are going to quarantine them for 30 days you have time to figure it out. Depending on how may you get they can be housed in small animal cages or dog crates.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Okay thank you. Going to go check them out when i get some other hens and see how he's keeping them. They are cute bug might not be for us. Thanks for the info.

 

[vasher]

Ok, test batch two! 11 days of collection, 10 serama eggs from the same girl. Here is a comparison of air cell sizes for the first and the last:



The oldest egg lost 2 g of weight (from 26g down to 24g) over an 11 day period. All eggs were stored from 60-68F at 85% humidity in a shoebox, pointy end down.

 

[yellowherb]

Ok, test batch two! 11 days of collection, 10 serama eggs from the same girl. Here is a comparison of air cell sizes for the first and the last:



The oldest egg lost 2 g of weight (from 26g down to 24g) over an 11 day period. All eggs were stored from 60-68F at 85% humidity in a shoebox, pointy end down.

That's not excessive on weight loss but higher than I would expect from your humidity level. Is your shoe box plastic or cardboard? and are you sitting them in a cardboard tray for aging? I think the papers could be drawing some of your liquid weight out of the eggs or the air which is making your eggs go lighter.

 

[vasher]

That's not excessive on weight loss but higher than I would expect from your humidity level.  Is your shoe box plastic or cardboard? and are you sitting them in a cardboard tray for aging?  I think the papers could be drawing some of your liquid weight out of the eggs or the air which is making your eggs go lighter.

Nah, they were in a plastic box with a dish of water and my incubator tray to keep them upright and easily turned. Transferred eggs to the paper carton when measuring them for easy handling.

 

[yellowherb]

Nah, they were in a plastic box with a dish of water and my incubator tray to keep them upright and easily turned. Transferred eggs to the paper carton when measuring them for easy handling.

The experiments I was running on eggs have found that sealing the egg in a sandwich bags helps it to retain the small air cells. I didn't even think of using a scale to measure weight doh!

Read experiment #2 of my egg journey and try that. I think you may get better results... I'd be interested to find out anyway haha.

 

[Justjered]

Serama and cold temps.

So we hatched one serama back in January and it brooded with 4 silkie chicks.

We moved them outside 3 or 4 weeks ago when the temps jumped into the 50s for a couple weeks (3 hrs southwest of Chicago).

Anyways. It's cold again. Frozen temps. And so far the serama is taking it like a champ. 2 months old and outside running around everyday with the silkie chicks and adults.

I do kee their coop heated with a heat lamp 24/7 if below 40 however he's not interested in hanging out inside and spends all day outside running around.

This chick came from eggs in the Indianapolis area.

Now I have a second serama chick, it's eggs came from California. So I'm a little more concerned how it will do when the move outside happens (probably won't be till late April).

I also have some more eggs coming from cali this week. So interested to hear ideas on cold hardiness of chickens from a warmer area possibly having more issues adapting to the cold.

 

[walkerman78]

Wanted to share a couple pics of our seramas. They will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday. Doing really well so far, they all seem very healthy and happy.