American serama thread!

[Fuzzybird]

I am so flippin' excited!!! I finally got a camera that has a usb cord that is compatible with my computer. You all are in for it now, I can post lots of pics!!!!!!!

Okay, Question # 1 What color do you think Cocoa is? He is changing quickly, but by far my favorite roo from the eggs I hatched of BHep's in Dec. Questions 2, 3,....will be after I do my massive chicken photo shoot with my new camera.

He is so PURTY! A Calico!?

 

[kukupecpec]

They are very wiggly little dudes!
Turtle was not happy in the end, I kept flashing him in the face while he was trying to take a nap ha!

These three are Turtle








This is the other one




And here's some pix of them both! They are getting so dang big! Turtle still holds his wings funny. The other one holds his wings better and keeps his little tail up.


I like the little bar looking things on the other guys wing tips

 

[onafixedincome]

Don't look at me! Every time I 'call sex' on a chick, she either starts crowing, or he lays a dang egg!

Sure wish I were better at it...at almost any age!

 

[cluck-cluck]

I gave up drinking soda years ago and the difference was like night and day. Several years ago I had read an article and watch a few videos on Youtube about artificial sweetners and I was amazed at what I found. The list of side effects of all artificial sweetners was a mile long. I can not believe the FDA still allows them to be used. It is almost like they have blinders on or very fat pockets from all the kickbacks they get from the food and drug industries. A few years ago I discovered the plant stevia and now use that instead of sugar or any type of sweetner. Just a pinch of stevia powder is equal to a tsp. of sugar. It must be pure, natural stevia not what you find in the sugar isles of your grocery store. When you look at the packages of store bought stevia you will almost always see an added ingredient to the stevia. Sometimes it is dextrose, sometimes another. Those brands you have to stay away from because the added ingredient is a known carcinogen or has other harmful side effects. I had to hunt to find pure stevia but eventually I did find a source and now grow my own stevia plants to use.

Well, unfortunately, I have lots of knee pain again today. Yesterday, I slept in in the morning, and I think the extra rest helped my legs, and I got all excited for nothing But I'm not giving up , I'm gonna go the whole month, no soda! See what happens

Thanks! That is a blue splash rooster in my avatar pic. He was my baby, but died suddenly at 9 months. He was GORGEOUS!!

Aww, sorry, he was so pretty!

Be careful and watch them closely. I've tried letting two Roos and their hens run around the yard together and it didn't work out. Even the hens from the separate groups were fighting.......

Ok, I'll watch 'em!

GOTTA LOOK INTO THIS SODA-STREAM!
I too am a diet coke junkie!

ON THE SUBJECT OF INTEGRATING ROOS & HENS: you need to devote the time to watch them and play referee. Teach your birdies the worNO! ! [followed by a thump on the back of the head] I have an old buggy whip that works great to tap them at a distance]. Believe me they can AND do learn to respect that word! Of course I always blab and say TIME OUT GUYS! etc..... but at one point I had 3 roos w/ hens in one enclosure. One hen is a LF AGF and one is a bantam Australorp, the rest seramas.

Okie Dokie!

You can make your own flavors by carbonating the water, then adding fruit juice, lemon, flavored vodka, etc.

Vodka? Hummm, this does sound good! LOL, I have a soda bottle, you put these compressed air thingies in it, and it pressurizes the water you put in the glass container and then you have bubbly water.

The nasty thing about carbonation is that it makes drinks quite acidic, which then does nasty stuff to your tooth enamel. ('s why I drink my sodas flat, and don't let them swish around my mouth much. Lousy teeth!)

It would be interesting to know what the actual biotic profile is of the 'average' kefir and kombucha, and how it compares to the normal gut flora of a well-fed chicken, actually--anybody know a microbiologist in search of a paper?

The other night, I went out to the barn and tried to get my Serama roos to stand up and be posers, and all I got was poseurs who backed away as fast as possible. *sigh* And these guys aren't mealworm-trained very well at all, so bribery is out. Aaaand...(this is the goodie)...when you pick them up, no matter how gently or how much they see you coming, etc....the sirens go off! Scream? Oh, my!

I need suggestions, folks...the new ones will be spoilt from birth, but I want to get some pictures of these idjits...

I wonder how dissolved carbon makes it acidic? But you are right, it does change the chemmestry and does make it acidic, I just don't understand it, LOL.

You all got me reading about kombucha now, as I've never heard of it, and wow, I'll have to get over the gross factor, LOL. screw my courage together and give it a try now!

I read in several comments on mean roosters, about how some people pick up their roos and carry them around for a long time, keeping them calm, then putting them down only if they stay calm and don't get excited or try to escape, etc... So I started doing that with my birds, carrying them around, and when it's time to set them down, if they fuss, they have to stay in my arms again for another minute or so before I give them another chance to let me put them softly on the floor, if they fuss, up they go again, LOL. Finally they got the message, let me put them down calmly and by doing this exercise, I've noticed they're not so skittish of me anymore. It's really great, and I suspect it would work on any skittish bird?

I am so flippin' excited!!! I finally got a camera that has a usb cord that is compatible with my computer. You all are in for it now, I can post lots of pics!!!!!!!

Okay, Question # 1 What color do you think Cocoa is? He is changing quickly, but by far my favorite roo from the eggs I hatched of BHep's in Dec. Questions 2, 3,....will be after I do my massive chicken photo shoot with my new camera.

Can we call that tolbund like they do the East German Polish birds? It translates to "cool color" LOL

Congrats on the camera! That's always fun. I've been lucky enough to have good phone cameras.

So I've got a question about my two little guys. At what age can you start to tell the gender? Turtle is starting to grow a comb a although it is still very short to his head, it is long from beak back across his head. The other little one barely has a blip of ripple of a comb beginning just at the base of his beak and his little head fuzz isn't parting making much room for a comb at all. So I'm wondering if this means Turtle is a boy and the other one (poor guys still has no name! but knowing gender might be a huge help haha) is a girl? It would certainly be better than two boys that's for sure, but of course we are always hoping for all girls.

Almost to the day, I could tell on mine at 3 weeks. Actually this time around, I was able to see they were roos 3 days early

Don't look at me! Every time I 'call sex' on a chick, she either starts crowing, or he lays a dang egg!

Sure wish I were better at it...at almost any age!

 

[kukupecpec]

I read in several comments on mean roosters, about how some people pick up their roos and carry them around for a long time, keeping them calm, then putting them down only if they stay calm and don't get excited or try to escape, etc... So I started doing that with my birds, carrying them around, and when it's time to set them down, if they fuss, they have to stay in my arms again for another minute or so before I give them another chance to let me put them softly on the floor, if they fuss, up they go again, LOL. Finally they got the message, let me put them down calmly and by doing this exercise, I've noticed they're not so skittish of me anymore. It's really great, and I suspect it would work on any skittish bird?


Almost to the day, I could tell on mine at 3 weeks. Actually this time around, I was able to see they were roos 3 days early

I might have to try that!!! My grown birds that I got as adults are pretty skittish. The little babies are pretty skittish too, I wonder if it would work on them or if I would have to wait til they are older? Mine have to be at least 3 weeks. I haven't been keeping track very well. they might even be 4... I have 7 regular chicken eggs in the bator that I started in lockdown today that I set just under a week after these little guys hatched... I think... wow time flies eh?

 

[cluck-cluck]

Take pictures, I bet we can tell you what they are! Are there only the two? If so I'd bet Turtle is a boy and the "other one" looks like a girl. The girls really don't get any color in their combs until WAY later, and the boys get a blush, and that's how you can tell. Not so much by size because Seramas tend to have a large variance in comb size. My current boys have totally different sized combs but they both had blushing just before 3 weeks of age. Even now, one has pretty large wattles coming in and the other's are small still, but both are red

I try to handle my seramas daily. I get my old baby blanket out and sit down with them in my lap, and cuddle cuddle cuddle! As long as I can take it. They often don't want to jump off my hand when I put them back. However, one of my older Seramas, Hermione, has always been more skittish, she really hates being caught and runs, so I'm going to give her the treatment tomorrow, LOL.

 

[froggiesheins]

Take pictures, I bet we can tell you what they are!  Are there only the two?  If so I'd bet Turtle is a boy and the "other one" looks like a girl.  The girls really don't get any color in their combs until WAY later, and the boys get a blush, and that's how you can tell.  Not so much by size because Seramas tend to have a large variance in comb size.  My current boys have totally different sized combs but they both had blushing just before 3 weeks of age.  Even now, one has pretty large wattles coming in and the other's are small still, but both are red

I try to handle my seramas daily.  I get my old baby blanket out and sit down with them in my lap, and cuddle cuddle cuddle!  As long as I can take it.  They often don't want to jump off my hand when I put them back.  However, one of my older Seramas, Hermione, has always been more skittish, she really hates being caught and runs, so I'm going to give her the treatment tomorrow, LOL. 

cluck-cluck, add a TV set to your serama " torture spot" [hee hee] and you will never want to leave them! Thats what I do, we all watch Seinfeld from 6-7pm

 

[froggiesheins]

...

I am so flippin' excited!!! I finally got a camera that has a usb cord that is compatible with my computer. You all are in for it now, I can post lots of pics!!!!!!!e Okay, Question # 1 What color do you think Cocoa is? He is changing quickly, but by far my favorite roo from the eggs I hatched of BHep's in Dec. Questions 2, 3,....will be after I do my massive chicken photo shoot with my new camera. [/LORDY-LORDY IS HE AN JAW DROPPING COLOR....SPLASH-O-RAMA!!!!!!RAMA!!!!!! Hope he stays that way....how old is he?

 

[Brookhavens]

I ferment kefir for my dogs. Excess grains go the the chickens and dogs. What does kombucha taste like?

It almost has an apple cider vinegar taste but not as tart. The thing is after you do the first ferment you can add fruit, fruit juice or herbs to it and do a second ferment to get flavored Kombucha Tea. My favorites so far are a grape or strawberry chia.

 

[Brookhavens]

If anyone is looking at trying Kombucha I have a ton of scobies and would gladly share. That's all I ask is you pay shipping.