American serama thread!

[Faraday40]

Tragedy struck today!

The little chick I just posted died just a few hours later. I introduced it to the broody hen. Checked back a few min later and saw her happily "talking" to it. About 30 min later, all was still going well. I planned to move her inside & give her the other 2 chicks at that point. I had a nice clean brooder ready & went out to retrieve them, but found another hen in the broody's nest. The little chick must have gotten squished when the big hen kicked her out. So sad.

I moved the hen, gave her chick#2 and a few hours later chick #3. They're doing fine, but I'm still sad about losing chick#1. No signs of any more hatching, but not much I can do about it but wait.

 

[LilJoe]

Genetics/color question...
I have a mottled hen and an exchequer rooster. Bred them together this and last year, all chicks are exchequer.
Their parents are blue (hen) and exchequer (rooster).
Is it possible to get any other color/pattern from the mottled and exchequer pairing?

 

[homeschoolin momma]

The little chick must have gotten squished when the big hen kicked her out. So sad.

Aww, so sad. Its hard to lose those little ones! Sounds like you have more broody hens and not enough chicks to go around!! And I have the opposite problem! Tell them to hang on, only two more weeks!!

(Btw i removed Mai Mai's egg last night. It was infertile as was one of Phee's)

 

[homeschoolin momma]

@Faraday40 Also, how is micro chicken doing?

 

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40 Also, how is micro chicken doing?

It's still about 1/2 the size of the other seramas...... but not as small as the one that hatched yesterday. (That's how I know it grew.) It's in with Cookie and she's a good mama. With a few turkeys & orps as siblings, it looks especially small. They are 3.5 weeks old now.

Because it's such a large group, I keep them confined for safety and to help Cookie keep track of them.

Here are the other seramas. Looks like 1 male & 3 females to me. The tiny one has ratty wing feathers, so I'm sure she's silkied.

 

[Faraday40]

Meanwhile PR went broody & 6 weeks later, I finally hatched a few chicks for her. Sadly the hatch was not a good one. (Shipped eggs & ZERO HATCHED) 5 out of 10 developed & made it to lockdown, but only a few "just for fun" seramas eggs hatched. PR was sitting on 3 eggs which started to develop, but the other hens kept pushing her around. I'd find her in the wrong box or a smashed egg all over the place. The goal was for her to stay broody long enough for these precious shipped eggs to hatch. I gave her the 1st chick yesterday. She started bonding right away, but it ended in tragedy. I moved her inside anyway & added the 2nd chick..... then a while later the 3rd chick.

All is well now. At least she's finally a mama and thinks these littles are hers. The incubator is still going, but I highly doubt any more will hatch this late.

These 2 chicks have a 50% chance of being silkied.

 

[CatWhisperer]

I am new to seramas and it’s been 6 years since I’ve had baby chicks. I have a 5 week old cockerel that bites me, for 2 weeks now. He doesn’t aggressively go after me just bites sometimes when I pick him up. I’ve named him after our parrot with a similar issue. Will this behavior go with him into adulthood? Is he going to be a bad boy?

 

[LilJoe]

I am new to seramas and it’s been 6 years since I’ve had baby chicks. I have a 5 week old cockerel that bites me, for 2 weeks now. He doesn’t aggressively go after me just bites sometimes when I pick him up. I’ve named him after our parrot with a similar issue. Will this behavior go with him into adulthood? Is he going to be a bad boy?

Most of my serama cockerels do this and grow out of it.

 

[Faraday40]

A lot's been going on, so I thought I'd share some updated pics.

PR went back to the BIG coop with her chicks. Here she was the 1st time she took her babies for a walk outside the run/coop. The serama chicks are 3 weeks & still look female. The crested cream legbar chick is female but slightly younger. (Poor hen was broody, sat on rocks for 6 weeks, & only got 2 chicks (due to an incubator problem). So, I bought her a 3rd chick to mother.)

Our beloved Teddy will have A LOT to celebrate this Father's Day. Here he is meeting his babies for the 1st time.

He's the daddy of a few silkie x serama mixes,

a bunch of little Teddy-look-alikes,

and these 3 are silkied seramas!!!!

 

[Faraday40]

Here's a photo collage I made of a recent serama hatching.
View attachment 1810840