'Bout ready to give up - HELP!!!!! W/ Serama chicks

[19hhbelgian]

I have hatched out 5 serama chicks so far. All seem to be healthy and doing well, then I just don't know what to do. Is there a trick to getting these guys to grow up or what!? I love my Seramas, and want to keep them, but I can't stand this! I crush up their chick food, they get fresh water daily, and I keep track of the temp. Other than that I don't know what I can do. The little guy that just hatched out was absolutely fine - didn't have pasty butt, and he was eating/drinking. Is there a lethal gene in Seramas that one of my birds could be carrying? ANYTHING you can think of would be great... I'm desperate at this point.

 

[Bock_Bock]

so did all 5 and the newly hatche done, move on or just 1 of the bunch?

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

How warm are they? If the are too cold or too warm, that could affect them.

 

[Bock_Bock]

im sure someone else will chicme in here but there is a substance you can add into the water for chicks that helps add nutrients for the chicks, i for got what it is called but it helps out alot, also do you have a temp gauge in your brooder where the chicks are staying, if not i suggest you get one, and if it isnt already try to see if there is ways to block any type of drafts that can blow the air around in the brooder as this can chill the chicks down real quick, and cold is very deadly for them as they have no feathers to protect them at all

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Quote:
Water-soluable vitamins are what you are thinking of. Different companies make them, so they are called different things. Sugar will give them a quick boost when added to their water, but it's already in your kitchen.

 

[canada-goose]

I'm so sorry to hear that.

My Seramas have been amazingly fertile and healthy so I don't know what could be wrong with yours. That must be hard.

 

[chicknjane]

I know nothing about Seramas, but a lot about research.

It appears as though there is a lethal gene in Seramas, but it causes death within the 1st 24 hours.

"The Serama carry a ‘diluted’ lethal gene (Japanese Bantam Ancestry), which means 1 to 2 percent of embryos will develop fully but fail to hatch or the chick will die within 24 hours of hatching." See https://www.backyardchickens.com/breed_focus/chickens/serama/

I wish I could be more help. Its so sad when we lose a little chicky.

 

[Bock_Bock]

i was thinking of that stuff that some hatcheries send you when they send you chicks i forgot what it was called

 

[19hhbelgian]

I do have a temp gauge in with them. I've even tried keeping them inside rather than out in the shed in the brooder with a heat lamp. They always seem strong, and then, as with the poor little guy I just lost tonight, I'll go out and there he is, only a few hours after I checked on him before. This particular chick wasn't even in with other chicks - he had a nice fluffy stuffed animal for company, which he loved. He was very mobile, and had no deformities that I could see, and he hatched in record time - so I know he was at least healthy coming out of the egg.

Yes, I have lost all of them. First hatching was late august, through now.

 

[Bock_Bock]

if it is all of them it has to be a universal thing, where do you get your eggs from have the flock been checked for merricks disease