American serama thread!

[kukupecpec]

I dunno how I missed your post, sorry, but what a cutie! They make the most awesome pets, no? He's adorable!

Well, I don't know about being a Serama, but if she is really small, she could be at least part Serama. She has a little bit of the Serama type in the chest Poor sweetie, what happened to her bum? I'm curious too because I was at a local farm recently and a lot of the chickens were missing feathers on their bums and their bums were so red! I was wondering what that might be? I'm sure she's looking forward to joining the others

I got a couple of hens like that when I was first starting out with chickens and the lady I ought them from said it was from breeding! They are my two BLRW and they just looked horrible!!! One was more red than the other and my VA teacher said it was just a sunburn. But the feather loss was from being kept in a cage and being overbred. After their molt they are absolutely gorgeous though! I've noticed the same area starting to go bald on my EE hen, and I know my rooster likes her best... guess we will see?

 

[cluck-cluck]

I took my boy Trojan to a fundraiser raiser for a 4-H club to share with customers what 4-H is. He was AMAZING. I sat him on a table to show people the difference between Seramas and other breeds, and as soon as I set him down he started crowing, wing flapping, and hackle raising, just like a good table top Serama should do. Every time he crowed I gave him a mealworm, and he must've figured out that every time he crows he gets a treat, because if I didn't give him a treat once he wouldn't crow again until I did. Also, he sat there while young kids (and even some adults!) petted him. I think he liked the extra attention. On the way back he sat on my lap, and he was great. I think he wanted some coffee when we stopped at McDonald's, but he didn't get any.

The bottles are there for size comparison.

And in the car

What an adorable little show off!

my guess is a couple things, overmating from a roo can start the problem and then the others will pic the back feathers, or one of my other chickens started molting and then the higher order girls cleared her back of feathers- either way i couldn't leave her there to have that continue- if a bird is in a flock environment i would spray with bluekote, which would hide the pink skin they want to pick on, or get a hen apron, to cover it up until it heals

Yes, I've now read up on it. Poor things, which I could do something but they're not my chickens

I got a couple of hens like that when I was first starting out with chickens and the lady I ought them from said it was from breeding! They are my two BLRW and they just looked horrible!!! One was more red than the other and my VA teacher said it was just a sunburn. But the feather loss was from being kept in a cage and being overbred. After their molt they are absolutely gorgeous though! I've noticed the same area starting to go bald on my EE hen, and I know my rooster likes her best... guess we will see?

Hummm, I'll have to keep my eyes open for this kind of thing too. Seems like it can happen to anyone!

 

[hokankai]

That weird chick down could be due to a vitamin deficiency of some sort.

 

[larps1234]

It hatched out like that though

 

[larps1234]

It hatched out like that though

 

[onafixedincome]

I farmed out a small Cocopop (hopefully) chick to a friend for brooding--his adoptive momma was not doing a suitable job--and just went and 'stole' him back. He's almost out of the brooder for good, but OMG....Karen swears she didn't handle him or spoil him, but...

How do you get a chick to GO AWAY and SHUT UP?? He's figured out that I am the Giver of Mealworms, the Snuggler of Chicks, and all those other things that come when the little buggers read the invisible 'sucker sign' that most of us wear. He's temporarily been 'abandoned' in the chicken coop, alone (oh DEAR! peep peep, sheesh)!, but I'll go bring him in tonight.

Soon as he sees or hears me, there he goes...top of his lungs, dashing to me at a wobbling dead run (he lost toes in the brooder, darnit!), and not letting up until he's in my hand.

Sheeze, Louise!

 

[cluck-cluck]

Awww, LOL, that's sad and funny at the same time! I guess he has no buddy? If you could get him a buddy, he'd be in a lot better shape. They don't do well alone. Also, as a temporary fix, a mirror is helpful. Also, something to snuggle up against, so a set up like a mirror against a corner (secured) then a fuzzy, that can curl around him, and the chick in between so he sees another chick and they're both surrounded by "mama" fuzzyness, makes them feel better.

I used an old wig off a doll, ROFL, but it worked!

 

[hokankai]

It hatched out like that though

Yes, chicks can have vitamin deficiencies in utero...it's usually caused by the parents not being fed a diet conducive to breeding. That or inborn errors in metabolism.

 

[cluck-cluck]

Do you think it will affect the way the feathers grow in?

 

[kukupecpec]

Alright cluck cluck's aviary idea gave my creative building side a jump start! And I need your guys' opinions on what I should do -

I was able to find a guy with a HUGE heavy duty outdoor rabbit hutch looking to trade for a bunch of chicks, a few juvies and some bales of old alfalfa!
So now that my rabbits are going outside, I can turn their tower into a big serama home!
And I need your help!

So they are just big wire shelves, but they have fleece on them for the bunnies. Should I build some sort of tub to put shavings in on each floor (like is did for the current serama floor)? Or should I leave it wire and just take it outside and hose it off periodically?
Cluck cluck What are you doing for floors for yours? Or anyone else who has an idea!!!

Also, I can't decide if I should make it a big multi-level thing for everyone, or if I should make it two cages with two levels each, or if I should just close it all off and make it 4 different cages... What do you think?
one big multi level will have 19.5 sq feet of floor space (all designs will have 18 inches of head space per floor)
two 2-level cages would have 10.5 sq ft each
OR four cages would have 6 sq ft each.
How many do think would live comfortably in each idea?

As for birds, I've got Taco who I don't think I'll ever be getting rid of, and then either one nice submissive silkie roo, OR one territorial smooth roo who is gorgeous but a one roo per flock man, and I can have any combination of girls, they all get along.
One last tid bit - It would be quite easy to turn one level from any design into a small brooder level for chicks or chicks with momma so that's not an issue.
DH is useless with ideas, help!

Here's the bunny tower as it was originally (nice and empty so you can really see it) and now with 4 seramas in the bottom level
The whole thing is 6 ft tall, 4 feet wide, and 18 inches deep. The shorter shelves are 3ft each but I can use all 4ft shelves to split it up nicely. Each "cube" panel is 1 sq ft. It has always been spit into a top and bottom, at first for the two rabbits and now that rabbits get along, the rabbits are on top and serama on bottom. I won't use the cube panels to close off levels except for temporary stuff, I would just use a 4 ft wide shelf and not have the "jump up" hole.





I took the bottom level out for the serama, the two bottom levels were too squished, and I will shift all the levels around so each level will have the same amount of head space, but there will only be 4 levels total.
The "bin" the seramas are using now is foam board covered in duct tape to repel water and duct taped together.