American serama thread!

[Brookhavens]

I think I missed why we are talking about artificial sweeteners, but I'm diverting on the soda thing hehe
DH bought me a Soda Stream machine so we can carbonate pretty much any drink we want. That's really the allure of soda for me, I love the bubbles! You can buy little soda flavoring to put in it, but I have been using crystal light instead and absolutely love it! I can use less so it's just a hint of flavor but you can do whatever you want. It's awesome!

What are the ingredients in the flavoring? That's what would concern me.

 

[Brookhavens]

What is Kombucha?

It is a culture of good yeasts/bacteria. Do a search on google and you will be amazed. At first I was kind of grossed out at the scoby but now that i have been doing it for awhile it's not so bad. I actually have so many scoby's that I will cut them up and feed them to the dogs, chickens and my plants.

 

[froggiesheins]

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.

 

[kukupecpec]

What are the ingredients in the flavoring? That's what would concern me.

I'm not sure... You can look at all the ingredients online. I don't have any of the soda favors anymore because we don't use them.

It is a culture of good yeasts/bacteria. Do a search on google and you will be amazed. At first I was kind of grossed out at the scoby but now that i have been doing it for awhile it's not so bad. I actually have so many scoby's that I will cut them up and feed them to the dogs, chickens and my plants.

I need to get a decent garden going! I've been attempting to compost but it's not doing much in the cold winter weather haha!

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

You definitely should! It's awesome! As far as I know there are three different ones ranging from$60-$150. We bought the onein the middle for $99 because it came with 2 bottles, but we soon bought a handful more bottles so theres really no reason not to buy the cheapest soda stream. They all work exactly the same, the more expensive ones just look cooler I guess.

 

[ChristineR]

What are the ingredients in the flavoring? That's what would concern me. 

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

 

[K9Flier]

What is Kombucha?

It is a culture of good yeasts/bacteria. Do a search on google and you will be amazed. At first I was kind of grossed out at the scoby but now that i have been doing it for awhile it's not so bad. I actually have so many scoby's that I will cut them up and feed them to the dogs, chickens and my plants.

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

 

[onafixedincome]

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...

 

[Gardeningmama]

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.

 

[kukupecpec]

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.

 

[Gardeningmama]

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.

Honestly, Seramas are really quick to mature. Well,...I had one late bloomer, LOL! I think by 4 weeks you should have a pretty darn good idea. Can you post a close up of their faces?