American serama thread!

[froggiesheins]

Hello everyone, I am new to chickens and new to the Serama breed.  I have really researched where to post this...and I ended up here.  Don't hate me if I am in the wrong forum! We started getting chickens about 2 months ago and building a chicken coop.  Anyways, the coop is going well.  Right now I think I bought 1 of a lot of different breeds.  I kinda got carried away.  On the first trip we drove 4 hours to get 2 silkies, a frizzle/silkie cross and a Marans. 3 weeks later I decide to order chicks from Ideal (because I saw a polish chicken and had to have one), and got way to many more 2 cochins, 1 polish, a wyandotte and a d'uccle.  I know, you are wondering where this is going.  Anyways, my little polish chick died and I was devastated.  So I found a local breeder and went to get more polish babies.  They were a day old. After picking the first 3 polish babies that hatched. I was happy.  But then, I saw some other chicks and asked "what in the world is that chicken?"  The lady tells me it is a Serama, then takes me outside to see the adults.  They were so cool, little tiny chickens that were strutting their stuff!  I fell in love...again.  

So I came home with a 8 week old Serama chick.  It is 9 weeks old now.  After searching and searching these forums, I understand that there many sizes/classes.  But this little chick is TINY.  It also seems that everyone else's' Serama chicks have way more feathering...and less fuzz (sorry don't know the appropriate term). This chick just has feathers on its wings.  Its the sweetest little chick and jumps up and lands on my knee every time I open the crate.  I decided that maybe I just can't tell how small everyone else's chicks are since there is nothing to compare it to in the photos.  So I took some pics tonight, while the little chick was on my finger.  I hope this is an American Serama since I posted here, but honestly I am not sure of American vs. Malaysian.  I know the lady paid dearly for the parents/pair.  So what do you think about the size & lack of feathers on this little chick?? Is it normal?  Or do I just not know what to expect?  Thanks so much for any help or info!  And it is nice to meet everyone.

First off... from Froggies Roost in southern CA!

That is a simply ADORABLE serama but he/she is more like 3-4 weeks old not 8. By 2 months they should have almost all their feathers. At about 6 weeks you will be able to tell if it is a boy or girl. A boy's comb will start to redden and the wattles will start to come in and redden. A girl will just have a fleshy colored comb. It has yellow legs and a yellow beak...thats great!
Seramas are the BOMB! They love love love attention and are so friendly, as you know already.
You ARE on the right thread for seramas. Ask away with questions, we all are more than happy to answer all!

 

[thebutress]

I know that is what I thought, but I called the lady back to ask her again if she was sure about the hatch date, and she said yes. She reassured me that the little chick was almost 2 months right now! She was a very knowledgable lady and I got to look at all her chickens. She didn't have that many. You know, so many she could get confused. She was only breeding polish and seramas. Only had 2 serama chicks and just the one breeding pair. I don't know what to think, I don't want the little bird to be failure to thrive, but the sibling was exactly the same color, size, markings etc! She eats real well and even flutters/flys in the crate we have for her. She poops fine too, really little poops

When I first realized that all the other seramas had more feathers, is when I was looking in this forum,! Everyone's looked so much more mature.

Thank you for the nice welcome. I was glad I got to see the parents because they were very nice and resembled the seramas in this forum.

I really hope it's a pullet because I think my little d'uccle is going to be a roo from what I learned on here. This is a very informative website. Although I hope I'm wrong about my d'uccle. My husband will kill me if I keep getting more chickens! I was supposed to only have 4.

 

[WildWorks]

I know that is what I thought, but I called the lady back to ask her again if she was sure about the hatch date, and she said yes. She reassured me that the little chick was almost 2 months right now! She was a very knowledgable lady and I got to look at all her chickens. She didn't have that many. You know, so many she could get confused. She was only breeding polish and seramas. Only had 2 serama chicks and just the one breeding pair. I don't know what to think, I don't want the little bird to be failure to thrive, but the sibling was exactly the same color, size, markings etc! She eats real well and even flutters/flys in the crate we have for her. She poops fine too, really little poops

When I first realized that all the other seramas had more feathers, is when I was looking in this forum,! Everyone's looked so much more mature.
Thank you for the nice welcome. I was glad I got to see the parents because they were very nice and resembled the seramas in this forum.
I really hope it's a pullet

because I think my little d'uccle is going to be a roo from what I learned on here. This is a very informative website. Although I hope I'm wrong about my d'uccle. My husband will kill me if I keep getting more chickens! I was supposed to only have 4.

I dont know very much, but that chick does not look 2 months old!?!

 

[thebutress]

I dont know very much, but that chick does not look 2 months old!?!

I totally agree! I just don't know what to think. I have another silkie that wasn't growing and is 3 times smaller than its sibling. (it's doing better now.) So I thought maybe this happens in these little guys too??? It's so much easier with horses. You get registration papers with the date foaled. AGHH

 

[WildWorks]

I totally agree! I just don't know what to think. I have another silkie that wasn't growing and is 3 times smaller than its sibling. (it's doing better now.) So I thought maybe this happens in these little guys too??? It's so much easier with horses. You get registration papers with the date foaled. AGHH

Go tell her to just switch chicks with you and see if she balks, then you will know, lol

 

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

Hello everyone, I am new to chickens and new to the Serama breed. I have really researched where to post this...and I ended up here. Don't hate me if I am in the wrong forum! We started getting chickens about 2 months ago and building a chicken coop. Anyways, the coop is going well. Right now I think I bought 1 of a lot of different breeds. I kinda got carried away. On the first trip we drove 4 hours to get 2 silkies, a frizzle/silkie cross and a Marans. 3 weeks later I decide to order chicks from Ideal (because I saw a polish chicken and had to have one), and got way to many more 2 cochins, 1 polish, a wyandotte and a d'uccle. I know, you are wondering where this is going. Anyways, my little polish chick died and I was devastated. So I found a local breeder and went to get more polish babies. They were a day old. After picking the first 3 polish babies that hatched. I was happy. But then, I saw some other chicks and asked "what in the world is that chicken?" The lady tells me it is a Serama, then takes me outside to see the adults. They were so cool, little tiny chickens that were strutting their stuff! I fell in love...again.

So I came home with a 8 week old Serama chick. It is 9 weeks old now. After searching and searching these forums, I understand that there many sizes/classes. But this little chick is TINY. It also seems that everyone else's' Serama chicks have way more feathering...and less fuzz (sorry don't know the appropriate term). This chick just has feathers on its wings. Its the sweetest little chick and jumps up and lands on my knee every time I open the crate. I decided that maybe I just can't tell how small everyone else's chicks are since there is nothing to compare it to in the photos. So I took some pics tonight, while the little chick was on my finger. I hope this is an American Serama since I posted here, but honestly I am not sure of American vs. Malaysian. I know the lady paid dearly for the parents/pair. So what do you think about the size & lack of feathers on this little chick?? Is it normal? Or do I just not know what to expect? Thanks so much for any help or info! And it is nice to meet everyone.




That indeed is a serama, but it is not 9 weeks old. I will guess and say maybe 3 weeks old. I raise seramas and have them hatching each week and some are larger than others but no way it is 9 weeks.

 

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

If it is 9 weeks old then it will be failure to thrive for sure. I have had many serama chicks with that and they eat and eat and just do not grow in size, their feathers and wings grow but body weight no. I day they will just die, if it starts sleeping on it's side or back you will know it is dying. I have a micro that lived for 5 months and one morning I found her dead, she was half the size as her siblings. This happens a lot with seramas, they have the same lethal gene that Japs do.

 

[thebutress]

Hey, now you have me worried. I have 2 other little chicks that sleep on their sides. Its not the little serama. What does that mean? I thought they just wanted to lay like that, they just kinda lean over on their side and sometimes lift their wing up a little.

 

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

I was speaking only about the issues I have had with seramas and failure to thrive. I have noticed with the ones that fail to thrive and die, they will start laying on their sides and back when they sleep, I will turn them back over but they always sleep only on their sides and backs. If you have other breeds besides seramas that scretch out and sleep on their sides with their wings up they are too hot and trying to cool off. I do not have this failure to thrive with any other breeds but seramas.

 

[Coopacabana]

So, when do I pick them up? I can come tomorrow. Or can I come right now?