American serama thread!

[Faraday40]

This makes a great holiday story. Phoenix are beautiful; in a very different way than serama, but serama will always be my favorite.

Phoenix's story is true-life example of survival & determination. I read about newly hatched chicks being revived when warmed up in an incubator, so I grabbed a hairdryer. It was mostly the work of my DD. I thought the chicks were dead and stopped after 4-5 min with no signs of life. She wanted to try a little longer, so I went outside to continue cleaning the coop. When I came back inside, she was holding 2 peeping chicks - very much alive. As mentioned one chick must have had too much stress/shock to survive, but little Phoe was a fighter. Poor girl ended up with some frostbite on her toes but doesn't seem to realize she's handicapped. Her stumpy toes just make her one of a kind.

Here's a pic from when Phoe got to come back & visit us for a while. She's not the most photogenic hen, but she's super sweet. It's her lovable personality that makes her special.

Here were the 2 chicks a few hours BEFORE the broody hen left the nest. The orpington was big enough to hop out of the nest, but the silkie x seama chicks could not follow.

A few days later Phoe's toes looked different/swollen.


Later the toes fell off, but by then @homeschoolin momma 's son was already in love with her. I couldn't give just one chick, so I sent Jasper along as a packing peanut, so to speak. I figured he could be sold or re-homed once the girl was integrated. ..... and so another serama-lover was made and a new member of BYC's "American Serama thread" joined.



@homeschoolin momma
.... and I'm very glad you kept Jasper b/c now I'll get to see what Pippin's & Jasper's babies will look like.

​

 

[Faraday40]

I thought Phoe was about to go broody just before Christmas, but she now doesnt seem to care and has stopped laying for a mini molt.

Who knows what goes on in the mind of these silkies!?! Xansie was sitting on 5 eggs this afternoon. Although I'm impressed that the bantam coop made 5 eggs in one day, I don't want any more chicks in there.

Then there's my "special" silkie, Mai-Mai. She's gorgeous but never laid a fertile egg. She won't let Teddy mate her. At 1st I thought she was too big for Teddy, but if Jasper can mate a Spitz, then I know it's possible for Teddy to mate Mai-Mai.

Mai-Mai went broody a few times. She likes to share a nest with her buddy Xansie but rarely sits on eggs. What she loves to sit on is the food bowl. She loves the little pink dish so much that she wants to hatch more! So far it has never worked, but she keeps trying every time she goes broody. Let's just say she's not the brightest hen, so perhaps it's nature's way of not allowing her shallow gene pool to reproduce.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Ok, i brought her in for a cracker snack and a few pics.

And her BEAUTIFUL feet.....

Im glad i brought her in. She had a regular big poop and then a HUGE cecal poop. It was CRAWLING with worms. She then had a small cecal with more worms. Yucko!! So now I need to do a deworm on my serama coop. It makes sense, i thought she was feeling a little skinnier than normal. Shes being robbed of nutrition. I wonder if the stress is what has caused her mini molt.
So now @Faraday40 , what should i use to deworm them. I used to have ivermectin, but i guess I threw out the bottle when the sheep left as there was so little in it. If thats a good choice, I'll run to tractor supply tomorrow. Got a brand new one I wouldn't mind strolling through anyways. At least its not chick season so I wouldn't be coming home with anything else.....

At 1st I thought she was too big for Teddy, but if Jasper can mate a Spitz, then I know it's possible for Teddy to mate Mai-Mai.

I saw Jasper mate the spitzies plenty of times, but all that hatched out last were pure spitz, so I dont know if he actually successfully "reached". Although my dad thinks he did at least once.....

But we know Teddy can reach ok because Xansie is fertile or else we wouldnt have Phoenix at all. I think it's just poor Mai Mai....and it might be a blessing in disguise. You really did name her right......

 

[Faraday40]

I find it interesting that Phoe has some white on her face. I wonder if it will stay or get larger after her next molt.

what should i use to deworm them

I would research some threads on BYC to see dosage recommendations & other peoples' results. (The "chicken-chick" website also had some good info. about worms.) Most people use alternating meds to prevent worms from building up an immunity over the years. The top 3 are
fenbendazole (ie Safeguard)
ivermectin
valbazen

I remember that valbazen treated the most types of worms but it's not FDA approved for poultry, so it would be an "off label" use. The other two may be the same. However if you see worms in the poop & have noticed weight loss, then I'd recommend treating the bantam coop.

There are also some organic remedies but most of the time these are more like preventatives than treatments for a worm overload.

Are you up for a trip to Tractor Supply? (pneumonia's better?) You have to take care of yourself 1st. If you're not 100%, Amazon sells pretty much everything. It's worth an extra $1-2 not to go out when you're sick. But if you're you're feeling better, then of course check out your new TSC store!

I think it's just poor Mai Mai....and it might be a blessing in disguise. You really did name her right......

She was orig. called "Macy." What a beautiful, model-like silkie she is! But she developed many quirks. Example: In the evenings when running out of the chicken tractor back to the coop, she does her special happy dance. She has so much excited energy, POPs straight up, & turns mid-air. When she lands she continues running in a straight line, but her trajectory has changed - now heading for the fence or a tree or even back to the tractor. "Mai-Mai's happy dance" is very funny to watch because of the great heights she can achieve when jumping. However, the poor gal can't see well due to her extremely large, poofy head crest, cheeks, & beard. She also randomly pecks at treats or fingers or other hens (& misses). When we finally saw the movie Moana & the character Hei Hei, Mai-Mai's name change became obvious.

 

[Faraday40]

I’m getting a pair of Seramas this Saturday! I’m very excited and I’m going to show them too. I will definitely post some pictures.

Can't wait to see them!

 

[homeschoolin momma]

@Faraday40
I'll take a peek at the chicken chicks site.

My pneumonia is gone, but I have the bronchitis still from having to get all the junk out. Fatigue has been a pain, but the past two days have been better. Been getting more nightly rest much to the chagrin of my poor chickens. They aren't liking being locked up til 10am!

I'll go off in the late morning and grab something. I don't want to put it off. There were A LOT of worms and these guys are already so small and more fragile than bigger chickens. It will be my trip for the day.

 

[nchls school]

I started with serama several years ago. My beautiful wife gave me 20 serama hatching eggs off Ebay for my birthday. One look at the eggs and I feared she had been cheated; most of the eggs were bigger than those my silkies laid at the time. 11 chicks hatched and time proved my fears correct; only two were serama-a roo and a frizzle hen. Those two proved prolific and the basis of my small flock of today. Over the years I've added a few birds to reduce inbreeding and to keep the flock healthy. Also, the serama I started with were larger than I liked, so one of my first goals was to selectively breed for smaller size. Some of the chicks from my beginning stock were very small, but were infertile. I found that if I kept slightly smaller birds from each generation fertility remained high. Now my breeding stock are serama 10 ounces or less.

In the beginning I tried using incubators to hatch serama with no luck at all. My silkie hens proved to be more reliable hatching a high percentage of the eggs they brooded. It didn't take long for me to realize the serama hens were even better parents than the silkies. In the time I have been raising serama only one hen proved to be worthless as a broody hen ( I now have stock that are 8th and 9th generation that are brooding and will soon hatch chicks-so I have had many serama hens over the years).

I have never had a serama brood an empty nest. Getting them to brood has been easy; leave their eggs in the nests or, if the weather conditions are bad, replace the eggs with dummy eggs as fresh eggs are laid. With one exception, every hen has gone broody after laying 5 to 12 eggs; the most common clutch size being 8. Now that my hens are smaller than when I started I find that if I leave just 6 eggs to be brooded I get better hatches.

Breaking my serama of broodiness has also proven easy; remove the eggs from the nest and the hens abandon it and soon start laying again. My long tail chickens are the same way. Unlike many other breeds they won't brood an empty nest.

I am looking forward to this weekend. A young pullet will have her first chicks before she turns 6 months old. Quick candling this morning showed her 6 eggs to be just starting to pip.

 

[nchls school]

A surprise-6 new babies. A day early!

 

[cleoandtheflock]

Pictures would be nice!!!

 

[nchls school]

Pictures as soon as Kimmi gets home from her Mom's; probably tomorrow. She has the camera/cellphone.

Rainy and wet here. Going to bring the new mom and chicks into the house. Everything is wet and sodden; even the coop. Already brought half the flock in until I get things dried out.