American serama thread!

[artsyrobin]

from what i have been reading, overstimulation can set off seizures, among other things- so if you have a bird doing that, i massage them, talk to them, drop drops of sugarwater or electrolites, in seramas its still a new breed, but they seem to have heart issues, almost like fainting goats- i am new to seramas, so am still learning- i suspect it is an inbalance in minerals and vitamins, but it still is an unknown- pm me if you need too, i am home and check periodically, i lost ruth, angel and joe to this, and thought i was losing Boaz, he took the longest to come around, talking and massaging seemed to help- so i am watching my seramas to see if there are similarities in what happened- dark comb was a symptom in all of those i lost

 

[ChristineR]

The dark comb could be from being too cold, too.

 

[TimSchmelling]

She nearly froze to death. May or may not make it. Serama can be intolerant of the cold. Likely severe hypothermia, may have caused permanent damage. I doubt was Mareks (although serama are quite susceptible to it).

I recommend all "serama" breeders do Mareks vaccinations on their chicks. If you don't you WILL lose some of your favorite birds (but your culls will thrive, isn't that the way it seems to go).

 

[welasharon]

I don't heat mine. I live in North Florida and we get below freezing temps here. I have mine in a hardware cloth pen and I pull plastic around it when it is near freezing. If it drops below I usually pull hay up around the roost so they are nestled in it. Last year's low was 19. Grady lives near me and he has his in wire cages. If it get to freezing he puts them in an unheated garage in their pens. It still could be too cold but it doesn't seem like it would be that with heat and in the 20's. Is it possible they were in a draft?

 

[serama hen]

I know, I was thinking about you the other day in the midst of the Ayam Kapan controversy. I thought I remembered you saying yours was Ayam Kapan? You've missed quite a bit. Good to have you back!

Thanks I was thinking about you guys too and sure missed everyone. Ill be getting seramas hopefully in spring.

 

[Gardeningmama]

Thanks I was thinking about you guys too and sure missed everyone. Ill be getting seramas hopefully in spring.

 

[cluck-cluck]

OMG, I started this reply this morning! Ugh!

i am sick of dealing with sick birds!!!! It seems they are all coming down with different illnesses...I managed to hatch out four chicks...two roos and two pullets from two different hens and my rooster. I have kept the chicks at a different location and they all seem to be growing and quiet healthy. My question is...can i breed the new rooster chicks to the new hen chicks when they are old enough...or will that cause problems?

if you breed full sibs over several generations, you may get undesirable traits coming to the surface, however it is also a way to improve and zone in on desirable traits. So the thing is, are you breeding for show, breeding to have a few more cute birds for pets, etc... If for show, I'd say stick with only the best quality birds you have and see what hatches, then zone in on the best of the next generation, removing those that don't make the grade from the breeding pen. Ultimately (within the first generation of the sibs, you can hopefully choose some cockerels and pullets from that first batch and start breeding them to their mother/father (which is safer as they share only half the genes theoretically) and eventually get them to breed with more distant relations. Only breed your healthiest and most robust chickens, then the best personalities and type. So in short, no it won't matter, but in a long term breeding program, you're going to want to "cull" from your project a lot (doesn't mean kill, but could?) and only breed sibs if you want to enhance their combined desirable traits but be prepared for chicks who got a double dose of undesirable traits.

You can't really tell anything about her typiness (is that a word

) from this picture. The main things determining type are the length of back, which should be very short, length and carriage of wings, which should be long but not dragging the ground and vertical, and size of chest, which should be full, high, and rounded. When standing in pose their head and body should look like an "S". Their tail from the rear should look like an "A" and when in pose should almost touch the back of the head.

Yah, I know, I wanted to show how the body is shaped from above because as we're learning at CSU (the Chicken State University thread, LOL) the shape of the tail follows the body and the reproductive health of the hen. Luna has the best tail spread of my girls with Harriet next and Hermione has a pinched tail, but I love her anyway

Thought I would post some updated pics here since I haven't posted in a while!
My main guy is the light red rooster named O'Malley. He is the only one I am keeping. Psst I have his full brothers for sale!
I am selling the majority of the stock since I am trying to bring in new lines. I have 3 pairs and a trio for sale.

All of the pics are in natural stance






^The hen next to him is for sale as well!

He is seriously gorgeous!

These are the judging factors for Serama Table-Top competition: Condition--maximum points-10
Feather Quality--maximum points-10
Wing Carriage--maximum points-10
Tail Carriage--maximum points-15
Type--maximum points-30
Character--maximum points-25

A perfect score is 100. There are no color or weight requirements for Table-Top competition. For in-cage competition maximum weights are: cock--16 oz, hen--14 oz, cockerel--14 oz, pullet--12 oz all with a 20% variance allowed.

That seems nice and simple! Is Character basically it's personality?

 

[kukupecpec]

So totally unrelated from illness and show birds - do I need to give grit to my serama chicks? And if so, what is small enough for them?
I noticed they both have one side of their chest that looks hue and bulging (that is the crop yes?) and I want to make sure they have what they need so they don't explode or something horrible =)

 

[cluck-cluck]

LOL, kukupecpec, I remember first noticing the crop, definitely one only the right side, and huge, thinking my bird was deformed or had a tumor or something! So I looked it up and found out the crop was off to the side like that, and breathed a big sigh of relief! LOL So far my Seramas have only had sand and they've eaten grass for quite some time now, and haven't had a problem, so I'm going to guess sand size is enough. They've also eaten huge earthworms that frankly I'm shocked they got down! LOL But I was worried about my bigger birds and bought crushed rock at home depot and though most of those rocks are too big, there are plenty of good sized ones for them in that bag. My yard is almost pure clay, so I don't think they can get what they need in it, hence the purchase of sand and crushed rocks

 

[chicklittlel]

That seems nice and simple! Is Character basically it's personality?

Yes--it's better to act proud and "strut their stuff" than be shy and subdued.