American serama thread!

[bullets]

For anyone who wants a different topic, This is Helena! I got her from Pixie Chickens last year and she has the most amazing grey eyes. Has anyone else here ever had a serama with grey eyes? I haven't bred her yet but might set some of her eggs soon. Have her with a splash boy at the moment. I want to hatch from her before she's too old to lay (I think she's already around 3 yr old) but already have a lot of birds. Anyway, I wonder what chances are that any of her offspring will have grey eyes. Pics of her parents looked like they had not red eyes but hard to tell exactly what color they were. I could ask the breeder but it's fun to speculate and I think I'm looking forward to the surprise of it when I finally hatch from her.

Wow! Beautiful! The same shade as my mother's eyes. I would not be able to resist the urge to set every single one of her eggs!

 

[formerchickenlass]

Interesting! I have never looked to see what colors my blues eyes were! Now I want to go check!!! Very pretty in contrast to her bright red comb!

I think all my other blues (none of which are related to her) have orange/red or brown eyes. I'm not 100% sure but her eye color may be what's called "pearl eye." I know that there's not a lot known about pearl eye, genetically.

 

[formerchickenlass]

Wow! Beautiful! The same shade as my mother's eyes. I would not be able to resist the urge to set every single one of her eggs!

Thank you, she's one of my favorites for sure.

I'm trying to hold out and get a really good black silkied mate for her as she carries 1 copy of silkied gene.

The boy I have her with now is looking ok but is young, maybe 5 months? So I'm still not sure how he's going to finish out or whether he's fertile yet. But I might set those eggs soon & see. He's splash split to choc so they'd make blue, splash and chocolate babies together, which would also be nice.

 

[meltel]

I think all my other blues (none of which are related to her) have orange/red or brown eyes. I'm not 100% sure but her eye color may be what's called "pearl eye." I know that there's not a lot known about pearl eye, genetically.

I just looked at my blues before their bedtime. None have that gorgeous color eyes! Let me know what you get from her!!!

What roo are you going to breed her to?

 

[yellowherb]

For anyone who wants a different topic, This is Helena! I got her from Pixie Chickens last year and she has the most amazing grey eyes. Has anyone else here ever had a serama with grey eyes?

I haven't bred her yet but might set some of her eggs soon. Have her with a splash boy at the moment. I want to hatch from her before she's too old to lay (I think she's already around 3 yr old) but already have a lot of birds. Anyway, I wonder what chances are that any of her offspring will have grey eyes. Pics of her parents looked like they had not red eyes but hard to tell exactly what color they were.

I could ask the breeder but it's fun to speculate and I think I'm looking forward to the surprise of it when I finally hatch from her.

Gorgeous. Her eye color caught my eye before I even read the post!

Just as a curiosity for everyone who is experienced with Seramas, why are there issues with fertility and/or hatching? Since it seems to happen with micros a lot or the smaller seramas I assume this is due to size? Are the reproductive organs unusally small which is one reason these chickens never reach a larger size, sort of like Turner's syndrome in humans?

 

[meltel]

Gorgeous. Her eye color caught my eye before I even read the post!

Just as a curiosity for everyone who is experienced with Seramas, why are there issues with fertility and/or hatching? Since it seems to happen with micros a lot or the smaller seramas I assume this is due to size? Are the reproductive organs unusally small which is one reason these chickens never reach a larger size, sort of like Turner's syndrome in humans?

In my experience, seramas are just harder overall to hatch. They usually don't "pip and zip" like a normal chick. I will often get an external pip and then no zipping for 24-36 hours later even under near perfect and humidity. some say it has to do with the limited breeding pool, some say it is size. I think it is a combination along with hatching inexperience on the breeders part-myself included. I have had some hatch perfectly on day 16 and others on day 22, still looking for the "perfect" temp, humidity, turning and bator. Recently invested in an older model Goshen incubator to see if that will make a difference since some of the most successful breeder I know use them.

 

[vasher]

In my experience, seramas are just harder overall to hatch. They usually don't "pip and zip" like a normal chick. I will often get an external pip and then no zipping for 24-36 hours later even under near perfect and humidity. some say it has to do with the limited breeding pool, some say it is size. I think it is a combination along with hatching inexperience on the breeders part-myself included. I have had some hatch perfectly on day 16 and others on day 22, still looking for the "perfect" temp, humidity, turning and bator. Recently invested in an older model Goshen incubator to see if that will make a difference since some of the most successful breeder I know use them.

What humidity has worked for you for the incubation part? We had our first hatch recently, pips on Day 19, and the ones that pipped all hatched on Day 20, but lots didn't pip.

 

[yellowherb]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/976303/building-a-incubator-from-a-wine-cooler

That is the thread from my husband on our wine cooler incubator. It's probably a little more high tech than most home builds. Works beautifully until I overload the turner with jumbo eggs and kill the motor haha! We have been dry incubating, the incubator runs around 30% humidity +/-. I normally pull the eggs and put into a separate hatcher but I've read I probably should not do that with Serama eggs (and I'm still hopeful about getting some of my eggs to hatch). I have accidently forgot to pull eggs before and they hatched in the incubator just fine, in fact the ones I pulled late did terrible, but this could have been that in my rush the bator humidity got too high. My normal hatching humidity is 60-70% with us going a little higher if we are hatching button quail. I've read that Seramas may benefit from slightly less humidity.

I would love to hear the thoughts from those of you with experience on hatching serama eggs, especially shipped ones.

*My bator and hatcher is so stable eggs never go over 21 days and can be almost perfectly timed to hatch on day 21 for normal chickens, 16 days on buttons, 17 coturnix etc.

 

[meltel]

What humidity has worked for you for the incubation part? We had our first hatch recently, pips on Day 19, and the ones that pipped all hatched on Day 20, but lots didn't pip.

I wish i had a great answer for you on that.

Being newer I have had several variables to my hatches including shipped eggs and different bators and learning to use one in general lol. so far, my hovabator Genesis with Incuturn (sideways placement) with no added humidity and both hydrometers reading 25-30% until lockdown on day 18 and then 65% from then out has been best for me. Nothing has beat a good broody though

I just wish they could "hold" more

 

[meltel]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/976303/building-a-incubator-from-a-wine-cooler

That is the thread from my husband on our wine cooler incubator. It's probably a little more high tech than most home builds. Works beautifully until I overload the turner with jumbo eggs and kill the motor haha! We have been dry incubating, the incubator runs around 30% humidity +/-. I normally pull the eggs and put into a separate hatcher but I've read I probably should not do that with Serama eggs (and I'm still hopeful about getting some of my eggs to hatch). I have accidently forgot to pull eggs before and they hatched in the incubator just fine, in fact the ones I pulled late did terrible, but this could have been that in my rush the bator humidity got too high. My normal hatching humidity is 60-70% with us going a little higher if we are hatching button quail. I've read that Seramas may benefit from slightly less humidity.

I would love to hear the thoughts from those of you with experience on hatching serama eggs, especially shipped ones.

*My bator and hatcher is so stable eggs never go over 21 days and can be almost perfectly timed to hatch on day 21 for normal chickens, 16 days on buttons, 17 coturnix etc.

My best hatch on serama shipped eggs has been checing the air cells and paying close attention to them. Incubating them upright in egg cartons and hand turning them 3 times a day with no turning for the first two days to stabilize them has been best for me to let the air cells settle.