Serama Hatch-A-Long!!

[WVduckchick]

I acquired a second incubator this spring and have been doing a rolling incubation the past month. It's been so nice not having to worry about eggs getting too old while I collect enough to set, nor to worry much about getting enough eggs from pairs that lay less frequently.

Will be hatching through the rest of June. Here are a few of the babies I've already hatched:

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Here's one that just hatched this afternoon:
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Wow! Beautiful birds and fabulous pics!!

A couple recent hatchers of mine.

Hi all!

I was wondering if you all can give me Serama Advice.
One:What feed can a give them?Regular chicken food or other?
Two:Is it true they take only 19 days to hatch?If so, what's Lockdown day?
Three:I was thinking of buying eggs of Ebay, But I am only going to be getting a 10 egg incubator, and I only want Smooth feathered birds, and I could only find them in quantitys of 15 and up.So, do any of you sell JUST SMOOTH feathered Seramas?

I feed mine either regular chick starter or flock raiser. I've not heard of any special feed requirements, although folks who show them may be a little more particular on what they eat.
Mine usually hatch on day 20, but 19-21 wouldn't be out of the ordinary. I usually go by air cells as when to crank up humidity. And watch for early internal pips.
A 10-egg incubator? 10 regular chicken eggs? If so, I'm sure 15+ serama eggs would fit.
I'm sure there are folks that only have smooth feathered birds. I have a pen of all smooth feathered, but i do have some carrying the silkied gene, so there is always a small chance of a silkied offspring (like the one above, hatched with one other)

 

[formerchickenlass]

Gorgeous babies!! You always take amazing photos too!

Aww, thanks! I'm having a lot of fun with it this year! And finally cranking out a fair number of silkieds.

 

[formerchickenlass]

Wow! Beautiful birds and fabulous pics!!

A couple recent hatchers of mine.

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Thanks! Yours are adorable! Very pretty color/pattern on that pullet.

 

[formerchickenlass]

Hi all!

I was wondering if you all can give me Serama Advice.
One:What feed can a give them?Regular chicken food or other?
Two:Is it true they take only 19 days to hatch?If so, what's Lockdown day?
Three:I was thinking of buying eggs of Ebay, But I am only going to be getting a 10 egg incubator, and I only want Smooth feathered birds, and I could only find them in quantitys of 15 and up.So, do any of you sell JUST SMOOTH feathered Seramas?

1) I give mine unmedicated chick crumble. Unless it's really dusty already (some bags are) I grind it up in the blender for around 5-6 pulses so the pieces are small enough for them. I do that for around 1 month, and as I approach that date I pulse less and less to get them used to eating a bit larger pieces.

2) It seems to depend on temperature/humidity and maybe even certain lines. Some people's seem to hatch reliably on days 18-19. Others take longer. Mine hatch on days 19-21, with most hatching day 20. I run my humidity around 50-55rh for the incubation and bump to 65rh on day 17-18. It doesn't seem to bother mine if the humidity goes up early. I'll commonly start eggs on one day and then add fresh eggs for another day or two, and then I'll raise the humidity at the same time for all. You can candle the eggs when they're close, say on day 17. I'll usually see an internal pip on day 18 on some eggs, but if you see it on day 17 then go ahead and raise the humidity cause those might pip externally on day 18.

3) What make/model incubator? Where are you located? I have enough birds that I could probably send a 10-12 egg quantity of mostly or all smooths. Many folks, myself included, have smooth feathered silkied carriers in their flock, often we don't even know which ones, and cannot guarantee for sure that a stray silkied won't hatch. But I can definitely not include eggs from known silkied/silkied & frizzle pairings. It'd depend on weather here and in your area. If it's too warm, might be best to wait until fall or double box and include some sort of cold pack. If it's looking rather warm on one/both ends, I'd probably recommend Express shipping over Priority so they don't transit around in hot weather for 3 days. Feel free to PM if you're interested, I can direct you to some photos of my breeder pairs.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Thanks for the Advice Dot!
The make is a Yosoo a think....Im in Maine, near Bangor.
That would be awesome,maybe, a slight chance.If so it would be next year.

 

[SilksterTN]

I just posted an auction for 8 eggs but they are mostly silkied. I can understand wanting the feathering that you want........but for me it's been all about silkied. LOL I'm getting a fair amount of smooths from these, but the smooth pens that I have aren't laying as consistently right now. Isn't that always the case tho!

 

[darkbluespace]

So I am trying the heating pad brooder for the first time. I figure this is gentler on the tiny chicks and I have trouble with losing my tiniest chicks under a light... so sad. I have 15 or so chicks in here but I guess they are all asleep. Every so often one will come wandering out crying and I just send it back in.

 

[SilksterTN]

So I am trying the heating pad brooder for the first time. I figure this is gentler on the tiny chicks and I have trouble with losing my tiniest chicks under a light... so sad. I have 15 or so chicks in here but I guess they are all asleep. Every so often one will come wandering out crying and I just send it back in.

What are you using to prop up the heating pad? I use the brinsea eco glow but may set up a second one at some point and totally forgot about this.

 

[formerchickenlass]

What are you using to prop up the heating pad? I use the brinsea eco glow but may set up a second one at some point and totally forgot about this.

This is another alternative to the eco-glow: https://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=135875

I have 2 small ones.

I don't know anything about using heating pads, looks interesting.

 

[SilksterTN]

I have one of each. The premiere is easier to adjust but feels a lot hotter. The brinsea is a pain to adjust. The chicks love them