American serama thread!

[Breshcandra]

[COLOR=800080]     So if I get them all together as chicks, they'll all get along?[/COLOR]


[COLOR=800080]    ~~McFuzz[/COLOR]

Yes if they all grow up together they will get along fine. And they don't all have to be bantams. I sold one of my Serama roosters to lady that I house clean for. She has all LF and he gets along with them just fine. In fact he likes the old girl the best. She I believe 5.

 

[kukupecpec]

i think it would be ok! though i think male seramas get angry when somone else mates with their female... you might have to get another hen and putit next to the one that doesnt have a hen so he claims her. then i would do the process i showed! but i think it might work. oh and somthimes the dominent serama will peck the smaller one if he does somthing like eatining a warm the dominant one had in his mouth. those are just reasuring pecks... Good luck!

I'm trying to get up to Whittman so I can buy some of Fuzzybird's serama. I would love to get some of her silkieds, and I'm hoping it would be just what poor Taco needs. But until then, he might need to go back outside if I can't give him enough run around time in the house.

Here are my two little cuties, Macchiato, and Mocha. They are about 10 months old. Mocha has been laying some eggs, but they are all very small and don't contain yolks. Is this normal for serama pullets that are just starting to lay? I really want some eggs for hatching soon!

I totally love that hen! Belle wasn't that round, and Elena is still growing - so I'm wondering, is that roundness mostly fluff feathers, or she is ACTUALLY that round bodied? It's so adorable! I love pseudo-fat animals ha.

I think dust bathing is good, clean (sort of) chicken fun. It's less about cleanliness for them, and more about fun. If it were me, and he wasn't making a big mess, I would let him enjoy his little dust baths.

He's really enjoying himself, I just thought it was funny that he totally made himself a nice hole in his food bin. He's a strange little cookie. He also just figured out that he CAN in fact run on the tile floor. Now he BOUNDS across the house with little clucks. It's freakin adorable!

One thing to consider when you have a rooster whose attitude is definitely sub-par is that this breed was developed not only to be small and gorgeous, but also incredibly well tempered and mannered. A rooster who will 'fight to the death' is NOT something I would ever breed into my lines--it's not typical of the breed and is totally contrary to what the Serama temperament should be.

I didn't know this! I thought some birds just had not so awesome friend skills. Taco seems to be like this, every time he gets outside, he picks fights with the big girls or roo and of course he always ends up with a torn up comb but I usually get him before there's any major damage. He's sweet with me and loves my husband, and has only gone after the dog once and I'm pretty sure that was because the dog was sticking his face in the food bucket to sniff but Taco thought "Holy crap food INVADER" and went wild. But still, maybe that's a really good reason not to breed him. I never did hatch any eggs from him am Belle but was planning to.

 

[froggiesheins]

Hi,
I'm by no means a Serama expert, however Serama are notorious to hatch because of their small size. They carry the lethal gene which causes them to die at day 19 in the hatching process. It came from the Japanese Bantam's lethal leg gene, if I'm not mistaken.

You are correct about this Banty.....they are very hard to hatch via incubator. MUCH easier to hatch by HEN-O-BATOR.
ON SHIPPED EGGS the percentage drops to about 10% of them hatching.
MORE INFO ON SERAMAS: go to the American Serama Association website
http://www.americanseramaassociation.org/ TONS of info about the breed. LOL

 

[froggiesheins]

...

Just came across this thread- I didn't realize how many people have seramas Have a few questions and observations... For those of you that have your seramas inside, we came up with a home for ours that blends in with our IKEA style furniture and they all live inside. We have gotten used to the noises! Here is a pic of the homes. The first one is the cages next to our IKEA cabinet, which we built and filled with their tubs-we even bought their table tops to use on top of the furniture

. The second one shows the two cages on the other side, with a brooder box we built on top for our babies. The third one shows you the inside with two of our Seramas inside- the white one is Lily and she is about 14 ounces. the copper colored one in the background is copper, and he's about 17 ounces. for those of you that are hatching them- do you notice issues that make the seramas harder to hatch? We have tried three times and have thus far not gotten any of them to get through the hatching process, though our silkies and bantam polish will survive the same incubation process. We had one actually pip, but it stalled for 30 hours and when we tried to help it, it's membrane was dry and still bloody so it didn't make it. The other 6 or 7 that we opened seemed to be fully developed, but they didn't pip or absorb their blood veins or placenta. We have about 12 more to move in to lock down tomorrow night and really need some pointers! I want these to hatch out, as we can see them moving in the eggs as of now and I want to finally have some baby seramas that we hatch out. If we don't have something to measure humidity, how do we know if it is too high or low? Any pointers are appreciated. We have a few girls and a few roos that will not get along with ANY of our flock, no matter how we introduce them or how much space they have together. Others get along fine when they are in their outside portable cage, but when we put them together in the inside home they fight immediately! I have read some pointers on here and I haven't had success with any of them. Should I consider selling/re-homing? They are currently in a large parrot cage that is separated into different areas out in the heated coop, because they raise so much commotion inside it is too loud to stand. Have any of you heard of Pixie Chicks? We "rescued" these birds and were told the original ones came from Pixie Chicks. I am wondering if anyone else has had experience with their chickens- we have two frizzles from them, and two babies that are both frizzled that came from one of the others, so 4 frizzled in total. Wanting any info on their quality and how true to type they are. I have read about the silkied seramas and a few other posts where someone asks if anyone is considering attempting to get a serama ______(can't remember the bird type)- my question is, if seramas are a breed, don't they lose their pure bred status if you mix another breed with seramas to get smaller versions of them? I hope that makes sense! Were the silkied seramas derived from a serama being bred with a silkie, then back into the serama line, or just luck of the draw? We went from having 6 silkies as of October 2012 to having over 100 chickens now, most of them rare or unusual. We are still new at the reproduction end of things and getting mixed info online, so hoping to get some help Our seramas and our Swedish Flower Hens are by far our most favorite of all the breeds, so we want to do what we can to keep them going. God froggiesheins sez: GET A HUMIDITY GAUGE! You need to control not only the temperature but the humidity too. Seramas are very hard to hatch via incubator, the temp & humidity have to be perfect. and even then if there can be problems. Hatching the natural way works the best. YES serama looses their PURE BREED status when you cross breed them with another breed. REMEMBER PEEPS: the smaller the breed or the more you downsize it, the more health and reproductive problems you will have, and the serama as is has enough problems without downsizing it even more...just food for thought.

 

[froggiesheins]

OMG! mabe wait 3 weeks and se which ones are hens and which ones are roosters! i hatched the same color as that black one! this is what she looked like and looks like! she is from charlie!

What adorable little stinkers! LOL

 

[fosterfun]

Froggiesheins- I wasn't in any way meaning I wanted to make them smaller

I was just trying to figure out the reason someone would mix them with something bigger- if it was to get a smaller version of something-and if so, wondered if that would take away the fact that it is a serama. We just ordered a digital humidity/temp probe, so will try that when we get it. It seems that everyone has different ideas on what temp and humidity should be for hatching- is there a standard guideline for seramas?

So far, I haven't had any luck with getting any of my hens to stay broody for too long, except a white silkie who is in "general population" with our standard chickens and sometimes gets scared out of her nesting box, or gets others piling on top of her lol Maybe when it is warmer I should put her in our brooder with a few eggs and see how she does. I have heard that people use silky broodies for all of their eggs... maybe I should give it a shot! Would definitely love to have nature take its course rather than getting frustrated with this incubator issue. Our 5 kids love chickens so we are mainly wanting to do it for fun, and they want to join 4H this summer. So far we have just been attempting to hatch whatever eggs we find so we can see what works best. For those of you that have multiple bird breeds/sizes, do you find that serama eggs can be hatched in the same bator and settings as standard eggs, or do you have a separate one for them?

Thanks for all the great info here!
God bless
Nannie

 

[froggiesheins]

Dear fellow serama peeps,

I am the California State Rep for the American Serama Association and also the President of the Pacific Coast Serama Club.
I would be more than happy to answer/or direct your questions/ concerns, to the appropriate place about the Serama breed.

The Serama breed is the most wonderful and unique of all the chicken breeds. They have only been in the US for about 15+ years now and a limited amount were imported [to my knowledge it was about 135] . There is a ban on importing anymore from Malaysia so what we have are very precious indeed.

Because of their diminuative size, they can have fertility issues, egg laying problems, general health problems and because they are so new to the US there is no book to go to for on Serama breed health information. We are writing the book in some instances.

They need a diet high in protiens, like 16% or more.

I will get off my soapbox now LOL More info on the Serama is available on the American Serama Association website.

 

[Scifisarah]

Mocha isn't always that fat looking, it is mostly her being fluffed out because she was still a little damp from it pouring earlier in the day, and it felt like 30 degrees with the windchill, yuck. So this is spring? Now my cochins, they ALWAYS look fat!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Hi everyone! I have been lurking for a while and love seeing all your adorable little birds. My son joined 4H this year and wants to focus on Seramas. We got 2 chicks from a tabletop show in March, just to make sure he really likes the breed. Turns out we all do!


Here are how Coffee (black) and Donut looked when we got them home.

And a week later.


They grow so fast.

These are the most recent pics.




I have a question about rooster temperament. Mostly Donut is fine and friendly, but occasionally gets a bit startled and will peck your hand. I have been picking him up and holding him when he does this, but am wondering if there are any tips for encouraging good behavior. Thanks!

 

[eweaber]

At what age can you tell sex of serama. I have 5 I hatched on Easter that I would like to know the sex of.