Broody, sneaky Serama

sounds like a good enough reason to have a covered run for her & maybe others - safer from predators, and she won't have the opportunities to hide her nests.
 
Like yours, my serama lay in the oddest places; often in places the other hens can't get to. That might be your answer. Provide a few nest sites that the others won't/can't use. The picture below is of a serama frizzle nesting in a cereal bowl who hatched two of three eggs this morning The third egg hatched today.. I've also noticed that the serama are more apt to go for high nest sites. So between high and small maybe that would help get your hen laying in the coop. I've also noticed that the serama change nest sites when all the eggs are collected, but leaving just one egg in the nest ends with the hen going broody. Good luck. The hens I don't want brooding I have put in a large cage without a nest box; so far I'm getting eggs and no broodiness.
 
I am sure you are right.  We are incubating the eggs, because once you pull her off the nest, she completely loses interest.  We tried to move her in the bucket last time, but she flew off and ignored the eggs Odd how that works. With some hens the slightest change and they abandon the nest. Earlier this month I brought in a serama hen that had been brooding in an outside nest in the run. For two days she walked around with the other chickens then on the third day she had taken over a nest to brood as her own. A chick hatched today with another egg pipped. Poor thing; she has been brooding since the beginning of August. Patience pays off I guess...  Plus, I am not convinced that my young rooster, who is much larger than she is, is successfully fertilizing her. The act looks very awkward.  Since we have this latest problem, I am thinking we should get a bantam rooster--especially if her eggs aren't fertile, and take your advice!
 
And the Serama saga continues. My bamtam Cochin, Miss Puffball, was happily laying an egg in her favorite box in the run (a cut down drywall bucket), & Rapunzel chases her out & nested there. I figured Miss Puffball had laid, but nope.So, in the process of looking, Rapunzel jumps out, the 2 of them gripe at each other until Miss Puffball gives up & leaves. Then Rapunzel leaves & Miss Puffball comes back & nests. I closed up the run, so she could lay in peace, but of course that defeats my entire purpose with Rapunzel. I did rig up a dog dish in a plastic bucket on its side up a little higher to entice Rapunzel. Inspired by the frizzle Serama in the cereal bowl. Thanks so much to everyone for you help. I'll keep you posted.
 
Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

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The second egg hatched. A japanese bantam very small, weak, and has the strangest down I've seen. I'll post a picture if my wife ever gets off the phone with Mom.
 
All the pictures turned out blurry. At first the chick's down was coarse; it looked as though something had been spilled on it-which I know did not happen. The chick is now two days old and the down is a bit more normal looking. When it first hatched it looked like a chick that had not finished developing; now the chick is running around, eating, and drinking. Half the size of the other chicks; even smaller than the serama chick that hatched at the same time.
 
All the pictures turned out blurry. At first the chick's down was coarse; it looked as though something had been spilled on it-which I know did not happen. The chick is now two days old and the down is a bit more normal looking. When it first hatched it looked like a chick that had not finished developing; now the chick is running around, eating, and drinking. Half the size of the other chicks; even smaller than the serama chick that hatched at the same time.


Glad he's ok!
 

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