American serama thread!

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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I did not mean to upset anyone with my question...but I was curious. I do thank you for your honest answer. I did ask and I did want to know. At this time I don't have any culls - so there is nothing to worry about...and to all...trust me I will be a responsible breeder when I do get into breeding seramas..I am not there yet.

Regarding the orps. I raise them as they are meant to be ... a dual purpose bird. I am starting to lean towards color and show breeding so obviously I will be more selective. But I have been hatching out some so that I can fill the freezer, use the eggs, and I sell pullets to a guy down the street who has free range birds he uses for layers and sells the eggs locally. He has been growing his flock (herd).

Again, I will be asking questions about the breed and how tos and what tos in the future .... AND some of my questions may upset some, I will try to ask as delicately as possible. I will apologize in advance and I do hope that BYC will be gentle on me if I offend them too. I have learned WAY too much from accessing BYC and I regularly point "newbies" in the direct of BYC.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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Thank you for your answer and this is the direction I am going to go....hatch responsibly. Fortunately for me (and Seramas) they are small...so I can have LOTS in my smaller area. My orpingtons are huge, so it is not quite as easy to keep multitudes of them. But I have expansion ideas, hmmmmm, my parents are my neighbors and have 3 acres that they basically don't use. How many seramas can I put on 3 acres? or Orpingtons?

I'm kidding....I'm kidding. Calm down..sheesh, the husband has no sense of humor at all...he just walked by and read my post.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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this is a great question...

i believe in culling hard and early... i actually breed OEGB... i just got into the serama... but everyone waits until their seramas are full grown to see if they are culls or not... i don't like that... when they are a lot older, they know that i give them water and care for them... but i hate how everyone sells/gives away their serama culls... so i'm not going to do the same thing...

See, one thing I've learned about Serama is that they are not like other chickens. You really do need to raise them until grown to know what you've got. Had I culled mine at 4-5 months old as most people would do with other chickens, this guy would have gotten the cut:
http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq337/shelleyd2008/chickens/seramas/DSC00723.jpg

At that age, his back looked way to long to ever 'make' anything of him. But had I culled then, I would not have this guy today:
http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq337/shelleyd2008/chickens/seramas/DSC01127.jpg

He is gorgeous. Love the coloring. What is going to be my problem is I am going to love them all. I think when I do get started....I will keep everyone until they are close to a year old and then from there cull....which will be contacting the local 4-H club and seeing who needs a nice fitting and showing bird. I just love the fact that Seramas don't take a lot of room. Someone told me that they actually housed multiple cockerels together with no problems. Have you found this to be true, or do they need to be separated as soon as they start acting like teenage boys?

Same bird, first picture is around 18-19 weeks old, second picture is at 11 months old. Some mature/develop quicker (like the Crele I have who looks great at 7 months), but some don't.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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LOL...love the photos. Are green legs a no-no? I am a member but not have had time to start the research process on SCNA.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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Nice birds. I love looking at all the photos.

 

[Yeagin1]

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Froggie they're too cute!! Isn't it amazing how they change from week to week as they grow. Can't wait to see how these two turn out. They're two weeks old this weekend and first time out for their pics.

Here's their parents.
Bruce

Layla

 

[Chicklette 1]

Quote:
Froggie they're too cute!! Isn't it amazing how they change from week to week as they grow. Can't wait to see how these two turn out. They're two weeks old this weekend and first time out for their pics.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_5hatch_13.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_5hatch_15.jpg

Here's their parents.
Bruce
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_bruce7.jpg

Layla
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_layla.jpg

The parents are gorgeous.....love their colors and the babies are so sweet. I agree about wanting to see what color they turn out to be. You must post photos as they get older.

 

[Yeagin1]

Quote:
I did not mean to upset anyone with my question...but I was curious. I do thank you for your honest answer. I did ask and I did want to know. At this time I don't have any culls - so there is nothing to worry about...and to all...trust me I will be a responsible breeder when I do get into breeding seramas..I am not there yet.

Regarding the orps. I raise them as they are meant to be ... a dual purpose bird. I am starting to lean towards color and show breeding so obviously I will be more selective. But I have been hatching out some so that I can fill the freezer, use the eggs, and I sell pullets to a guy down the street who has free range birds he uses for layers and sells the eggs locally. He has been growing his flock (herd).

Again, I will be asking questions about the breed and how tos and what tos in the future .... AND some of my questions may upset some, I will try to ask as delicately as possible. I will apologize in advance and I do hope that BYC will be gentle on me if I offend them too. I have learned WAY too much from accessing BYC and I regularly point "newbies" in the direct of BYC.

4312..those are the same questions we've all asked and you'll find as many answers as you find people to ask..lolo...I just enjoy my birds and try to breed the best birds I can.
They're all my pets regardless if I breed/show them or not. This is my best buddy Squeak. He somehow injured his leg in the brooder and hops around but it doesn't slow him down at all. He's also a very spoilt brat and injured his neck wanting out of his cage. I thought I was going to loose him but he recovered and now he's in a cage without a top..lolol...He stays in his cage until late afternoon and then he comes looking for me. He's very special to me and I really wish they had a longer lifespan.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
I did not mean to upset anyone with my question...but I was curious. I do thank you for your honest answer. I did ask and I did want to know. At this time I don't have any culls - so there is nothing to worry about...and to all...trust me I will be a responsible breeder when I do get into breeding seramas..I am not there yet.

Regarding the orps. I raise them as they are meant to be ... a dual purpose bird. I am starting to lean towards color and show breeding so obviously I will be more selective. But I have been hatching out some so that I can fill the freezer, use the eggs, and I sell pullets to a guy down the street who has free range birds he uses for layers and sells the eggs locally. He has been growing his flock (herd).

Again, I will be asking questions about the breed and how tos and what tos in the future .... AND some of my questions may upset some, I will try to ask as delicately as possible. I will apologize in advance and I do hope that BYC will be gentle on me if I offend them too. I have learned WAY too much from accessing BYC and I regularly point "newbies" in the direct of BYC.

4312..those are the same questions we've all asked and you'll find as many answers as you find people to ask..lolo...I just enjoy my birds and try to breed the best birds I can.
They're all my pets regardless if I breed/show them or not. This is my best buddy Squeak. He somehow injured his leg in the brooder and hops around but it doesn't slow him down at all. He's also a very spoilt brat and injured his neck wanting out of his cage. I thought I was going to loose him but he recovered and now he's in a cage without a top..lolol...He stays in his cage until late afternoon and then he comes looking for me. He's very special to me and I really wish they had a longer lifespan.

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb476/Yeagin1/Squeak/squeak2-2-08-11.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb476/Yeagin1/Squeak/Squeak1.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb476/Yeagin1/Squeak/Squeak.jpg

He is a beautiful bird. Mine too are all pets, in fact first thing I did this morning was to let everyone out to go and demolish the remains of my garden. And your comment brings up a good question I had not thought about.....what is their life span? No, any we decide to keep will be kept until their very end. Once here they stay.

I just will have to build more pens.

 

[Yeagin1]

Quote:
Froggie they're too cute!! Isn't it amazing how they change from week to week as they grow. Can't wait to see how these two turn out. They're two weeks old this weekend and first time out for their pics.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_5hatch_13.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_5hatch_15.jpg

Here's their parents.
Bruce
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_bruce7.jpg

Layla
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/54479_layla.jpg

The parents are gorgeous.....love their colors and the babies are so sweet. I agree about wanting to see what color they turn out to be. You must post photos as they get older.

Thank you, you have some very nice ones too!! I don't post much but love seeing all the pics. I need to get new pics of all my birds but they haven't feathered out yet from molting.