American serama thread!

[Granny Hatchet]

Yes Jesse, its your incubator !! my eggs. it is all yellow as far as i can tell. still a little wet. 2nd one half out and 3rd is pipped ! I put your eggs in on the 11th and added my 3 on the 15th. 23/24th day. LOL he is very strong with a big loud mouth !!!!

 

[Jessshan8]

Awesome I am so happy for you! I guess you figured a way around your humidity problem.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

we have had tons of rain and I wasnt thinking , after the turner came out there was tons of room for sponges. LOL

 

[froggiesheins]

This is so not fair.. i came home and went to go say hi to dove and capone (the birds from kate) and either my mom dogs or neighbors dogs ripped through the wire.. neither bird had a chance or made it.... they were such amazing birds.. im a terrible chicken owner go ahead and say it

SO SORRY to hear you lost your babies
BAD DOG/s
Time for some chain link fence to keep your babies safe..

 

[ReneePrice]

I'm picking up my first 4 Serama chicks in two days.
They will be inside pets so I want to build a good cage that I can use as a brooder that they can grow into.

A question to all the Serama owners...

I've been trying to research raising Serama but can find very little information on the subject.
Do you care for them as you would a chicken or do they have special needs?
Are the chick brooders and feed the same?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[artsyrobin]

Nikki! I am so sorry! Heavier fencing, maybe hotwire???


I keep mine in either guineapig cages or dog playpens, they are house birds here, and i treat them more as pets than chickens

 

[froggiesheins]

I'm picking up my first 4 Serama chicks in two days.
They will be inside pets so I want to build a good cage that I can use as a brooder that they can grow into.

A question to all the Serama owners...

I've been trying to research raising Serama but can find very little information on the subject.
Do you care for them as you would a chicken or do they have special needs?
Are the chick brooders and feed the same?

Any help would be appreciated.

Logically, yes, you would treat them like any other breed of chicken BUT emotionally>>>
They will suck you into a OMG!! THESE ARE THE COOLEST THINGS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, e I AM IN LOVE, and they will become pests, beggars and DEMAND all your time for loving on them

The ONLY thing I do differently is I am careful how many empty calories (ie: corn, breads etc) they get cuz they are so tiny they can get fat easy.

Just ask how many of these gremlins are sitting by their human peeps side while they type on here.. e

 

[clousert]

I'm picking up my first 4 Serama chicks in two days.
They will be inside pets so I want to build a good cage that I can use as a brooder that they can grow into.

A question to all the Serama owners...

I've been trying to research raising Serama but can find very little information on the subject.
Do you care for them as you would a chicken or do they have special needs?
Are the chick brooders and feed the same?

Any help would be appreciated.

As babies a little warmer temps then large fowl baby chickens and smaller feed. I crush regular medicated starter or mix it with a little water to make it soft. New hatches I brood at 102-105 degrees for the first couple weeks and drop about 5 degrees per week after that. I keep them inside in their brooder for the first 6-8 weeks and then move them outside. I'm in FL so don't have to worry about outside temps too much after that but if you're somewhere colder they may need a heat source of its chilly outside

 

[Skink]

Yeah, biggest difference is the food. I sift chick crumble with a strainer and feed them the very small granules that result for the first week, then throw their regular crumble in to a food processor to chop it a bit finer for the next month. You could switch them larger before a month is out, but I spoil the little brats and work them up to the full size slowly.. otherwise they tend to pick around the bigger crumbles to get at the powdery nonsense and you can end up with a "full bowl, empty crop" kind of situation and be none the wiser.

Have a roof covering of some kind on your brooder. They get flighted very fast in comparison to other chickens, and are very good at it! They're so light that the those primaries come in they can get a surprising amount of lift.

There are no further changes until they're laying age. If you are keeping roosters, please make sure they don't get layer feed! Serama are very small, and as a result, have tiny kidneys. The excess calcium in layer feed is a huge strain on them. It really isn't a mystery why it seems to always be serama roosters that suddenly up and die. I feed "pullet grower" which is adult chicken nutrition without added calcium for actively laying hens. Be very careful about dosing both males and females with anything as well. They are smaller than most bantams and you should really consult a poultry vet about dosages for your particular bird based on weight. Don't strain those teeny kidneys! This isn't to say serama are delicate flowers who will crumble, they just need a little thought to thrive where most chicken keepers don't pay any attention.

 

[artsyrobin]

i feed chicks a mix of half and half medicated starter and unmedicated as there are some breeders finding they are so sensitive to medicated feed- and i dampen the food- yes i have little gremlins while i am doing things during the day-hovering over my shoulder supervising everything like spaz