Chocolate Serama Breeders - dun and blue can be included here as well

[MountainSeramas]

Thanks MountainSerama's.

I had bought 2 chocolate Serama cockerels, both frizzled, from a breeder in Texas last winter. They were both without red leakage and had minimal silver in the neck hackles and shoulders but as they matured, they died. It was the cardiac issues that is in this breed. The breeder had contacted me and told me they were dying on her too, just the males and just about breeding age. They would be fine then turn weak, the combs would turn purple and they just died. Nothing to do with being cold, mine and hers were both kept inside in the winter with heat. So, I just had finally gotten down to just the 2 chocolate cockerels and the blue mottled above for males and I have 4 nice chocolate hens and 8 black hens. I had lost the 2 older cocks that were around 5 yrs old late last summer to just old age I think and had hatched several chicks last summer, almost all pullets!

So I've been down to just the above cock and mostly keeping him with the black hens. The black and chocolate hens are not from solid to solid breeding so I still get some mixed colors but have hatched 3 blues that the chick down is more like a solid than mottled pattern. I have a breeder that is going to be saving a black cockerel for me this year. Neither of the chocolate cockerels produced a single chick, infertile. I hope breeders understand how truly difficult the solid colors are to perfect and to breed true. They are not cheap for a reason. At least the blue mottled cock I have now has no red leakage and no pattern to him. "If" all he has is solid color with mottling, mottling isn't too hard to breed out as long as you are careful and don't cross back with others that will carry only 1 gene for it. I need some small breeding pens so I can separate the hens but that isn't done yet

I had no idea about the cardiac conditions in the chocolate males. I had three that died the same way and I could never figure out why. They were routinely wormed, treated for cocci, and 100% free of mites. I took the best care of them that I could. They lived indoors. For no reason their combs turned purple and they spent the rest of their lives on scrambled eggs and vitamins. I knew that I should have put them down but I couldn't because I badly wanted them to live and I hoped that they'd pull through. They have always haunted me. Thank you for the peace of mind - there is nothing that could have been done for them. I have always felt so badly about them.
Let me know if you need another black cock. I have some decent ones, they are small and fertile. My biggest issue with them is their white earlobes but they have a good clean start on yellow legs.

 

[smoothmule]

I had no idea about the cardiac conditions in the chocolate males. I had three that died the same way and I could never figure out why. They were routinely wormed, treated for cocci, and 100% free of mites. I took the best care of them that I could. They lived indoors. For no reason their combs turned purple and they spent the rest of their lives on scrambled eggs and vitamins. I knew that I should have put them down but I couldn't because I badly wanted them to live and I hoped that they'd pull through. They have always haunted me. Thank you for the peace of mind - there is nothing that could have been done for them. I have always felt so badly about them.
Let me know if you need another black cock. I have some decent ones, they are small and fertile. My biggest issue with them is their white earlobes but they have a good clean start on yellow legs.

It's not in the chocolate males, it's in the Serama breed. Not so uncommon and it does seem to run in certain lines.

 

[MountainSeramas]

It's not in the chocolate males, it's in the Serama breed. Not so uncommon and it does seem to run in certain lines.

Ah, in your experience is there a certain age that they reach when the symptoms begin to show? Mine seemed healthy for the first 8 months of their lives and then went downhill. It's a difficult thing to go through.

 

[smoothmule]

Ah, in your experience is there a certain age that they reach when the symptoms begin to show? Mine seemed healthy for the first 8 months of their lives and then went downhill. It's a difficult thing to go through.

That's about the right age, sometime after they reach sexual maturity seems to be the time

 

[emrldgrn1]

Hi again! These are pictures of my little hen that I am guessing is chocolate (?), and a few pictures of my two roos that I have been told are Cocoa pops (the bigger roo has a much deeper brown chest than the younger although I was not able to get a pic of it). First, is this correct and second, i have been hatching her eggs and have not been able to get any chocolates. I did have a chick hatch that I thought was a chocolate but now that he has juvenile feathers on, Im sure he is not as he has black feathers on him. Is she chocolate? And, do I need a black roo to get any chocolates off her?

THANKS!

 

[DRGLENNON]

Can anyone tell me what color this pullet is?

 

[CrownJewelDanes]

I checked out this thread because I have a serama/silkie roo that is part of a chocolate silkie project. Anyway, he and the 4 hens I have with him have all reached maturity and the hens are laying and sitting on fertile eggs now. But I was reading about the cardiac issues occurring in Seramas. Is it only males ? It sounds very much like it could be and X linked issue if it's only males for the most part. An X linked cardiac problem can occur in females but much less commonly. I bought my silkie hens and roo from someone working on a chocolate project and have had silkies in the past but never Seramas so I had no idea of the heart issues and would just like to know for the future if there are things I should look out for. If this is in fact an X linked issue my roo seems fine and has been breeding my hens for several months now so I assume he's ok which if so would mean he doesn't carry the problem. But like I said that's only if it's an X linked issue.

 

[DRGLENNON]

I have very limited experience but I lost all males last year with only one making it to 8 months. I found some old information about medicated chick feed causing kidney damage in seramas that is more prevalent in males. I switched to unmedicated starter and have only lost one chick this year. I don't have any info on cardiac issues. Good luck with ypur breeding program.

 

[shahtir101]

I have a mottled Serama rooster that when so far when bred to any color his chicks are mainly chocolate with some white. Can anyone explain this...

 

[DRGLENNON]

I have a mottled Serama rooster that when so far when bred to any color his chicks are mainly chocolate with some white. Can anyone explain this..

one copy of the gene will not show if you have a hen with a single copy not showing you will get some mottled chicks. Chicks need a copy from both parents or they will be carriers. you can breed a carrier pullet back to your mottled roo and get mottled chicks.