American serama thread!

[Scooter&Suzie]

Ruth my micro from june laid her first egg! get a load of this- hers next to a normal serma egg and a orpington egg...wow!

 

[smoothmule]

It is actually the lens on his eye. from this angle it sure looks like he has lighter eyes then he does. I had to go out and look at him to make sure of it for myself. I never noticed this in the pic (nice catch!!!). I do have some of him in another post were he is older to compare to if possible.

And smoothmule thank you for your input I guess its back to the drawing board to see just what he may be. The pic's you provided do help clear up just what I need to be looking for in a chocolate.

Hatch me if you can,
I'm not even saying he's not chocolate. Chocolate can look a bit different but not a whole lot. Computer screens and lighting with camera's can be different. Red isn't affected by chocolate so don't worry about what is red on him. A chocolate that is all red won't show the chocolate at all. Has he produced chicks? If he is chocolate or even a split, he will eventually produce chocolate pullets.

That seems to confuse some people, it's different than the chocolate splits which can be any color at all. Those splits have just one gene to pass to the chicks so half the time the chicks will get a chocolate gene. You can't tell a split by looking at them, there is no hint that they carry chocolate. Even knowing parentage won't always help because that split may come from a split that doesn't look chocolate either, lol How is that for confusing? When you get a pullet that is chocolate by a split rooster, then you know the rooster is a split. They can't produce a visually chocolate cockerel, only more split cockerels so if you get a chocolate looking cockerel out of a split rooster, that's your first clue that you're not dealing with chocolate. It doesn't work that way. The only thing that makes this even more difficult is that you might have a totally red rooster that is producing chocolate pullets and cockerels. That tells you that the red rooster has to be carrying 2 chocolate genes and is an actual chocolate although it can't show.

In the end, breeding is the best way to figure out the colors. I see so many people asking "what color is he or she". Breeding to a solid is a good way to pull out the colors and get a few that get just a single base color or at least something fairly simple to figure out. When you have a color gene that has such simple rules of how it works as chocolate, breeding is an easy way to get your answers pretty quick.

 

[smoothmule]

I have a cockerel hatched New Years Eve so he's still a 2010 cockerel. He's not banded other than with his sires band. He is by Tiger, my cockerel whose sire is T-Roo my confirmed chocolate split rooster. Tiger has been confirmed as a chocolate split as well now and Tiger is the sire to this young cockerel. The cockerel is mostly black with some red in the hackles. The mother is a black pullet. I can't guarantee what size class or quality at this point but since I know I won't be keeping him.

I am going to offer this cockerel at auction, with $10 for the shipping box and whatever the actual cost will be for shipping when I know where he's going. There's an online calculator for the USPS so I can figure it pretty close with a destination zip code and current weight. There is a 50% chance he is split for chocolate but I can't guarantee either way. That will have to be left to when he can be bred. I will put him for auction on the for sale section one day this week and I'll have some current photo's and weight as well as photo's of his parents.


Also up for auction may be Rocket. A cockerel by Blu-T. He's small, blue with a lot of red/gold in the hackles. He's young but I have not hatched any of his chicks yet. Some are fertile many have not been but he's "very" nice type. He may be just too immature. I am not using him at this time because I have "plenty" of roosters at this time. He still has mature feathering to come in so he should only get better this summer. I may offer him as well this week. I'll post here when I have ads up but anyone interested is welcome to PM with questions.

Cathy

 

[cline93]

Looking for some nice show quality seramas for my daughter to show. Anyone having something available please send me a pm. THANKS

 

[shanachie05]

So glad i found thks thread! I am thinking of looking into this breed, they seem like a good fit for us. But im not sure how to get started. Here North of Boston. I am not finding resources for aquiring some of these birds.
anyone have any ideas? Hatch eggs perhaps?

 

[smoothmule]

I have an auction for my hatching eggs that is ending tonight at midnight central standard time.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/632695/auction-12-serama-hatching-eggs


Sold

 

[Scooter&Suzie]

Can anyone answer this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...side-in-coldish-climates-such-as-pennsylvania

 

[shanachie05]

Oops, missed it...
But this really sounds like the way to go!
Thank you for this idea. I still have a LOT to learn. Hoping to get going on these soon.

 

[barbieszoo]

Awww.... what an adorable tiny egg!

Ruth my micro from june laid her first egg! get a load of this- hers next to a normal serma egg and a orpington egg...wow!

 

[Rainwolf]

Can anyone answer this:  https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...side-in-coldish-climates-such-as-pennsylvania

Hi sorry if I missed a previous post about this....

Seramas are a tropical bird and very small so have to have a warm area to sleep/get warm/nest....
That being said......
Some breeders have been trying to acclimatize them to colder weather.... so you will have to watch you birds and see how cold they can get.

I think a heat pad like a reptile pad or something inside a closed coop would work perfectly. They can snuggle down into the shavings with the heated "floor" and stay warm. you could also do something like a "Soil heat/warming cable" where it will maintain approx 70F(each cable is set to a pre set temp per foot of cable) in the "soil". I use this in my cold frame to grow plant flats..... In the bottom of the box I put the cable inside sand. then put the flats on top. The cable heats the sand to a set temp which then in turn heats my cold frame and plants. It is a thermostat so it only turns on when cold and turns off when it reaches set temp.

what ever you use for heat use something that is thermostat controlled... you will only use electricity when needed and not other time. You can also gradually turn it down while watching the birds and find out how cold they can go.... then set the "heat" to their limit. IE if they are comfortable at 50F but not 40F then set a thermostat for on at 45F off at 55F type thing.

Again I rarely get to keep any of the ones I hatch since the kids love them and take them home. so This is only my Opinion based on what I have read/heard/seen.......