Crossing Serama and Sebright Question

[mmmyyykkkeee]

Hi all. I am a big fan of laced feathers and just recently, I acquired some tiny Seramas. I am wondering if I can crossbreed serama to sebright to get laced seramas? Has anyone tried this yet? I understand that it may take few generations to perfect the lacing but i wonder if sebright is the right one to crossbreed with since it has a rosecomb?

here’s my 6 month old pullet serama.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

I think a Serama / Sebright crossing would be delightful! They're very similar in many ways so that would cut down your work if you were aiming for a return to Serama type.

From the Sebrights you will inherit:
Slate/Blue legs (featherless)
Henny Feathered tails
Rose combs
They are not as full in the breast as the Serama's but their posture is similar

The lacing in the Sebrights is built with the following genetic recipe:
Er/Er (Birchen Base)
Db/Db
Co/Co
Ml/Ml
Pg/Pg

I'm not sure what your Serama starts with but you can expect that your first round of babies will inherit only one half of each of the above trait pairs from the Sebright parent.
It will take several generations, and potentially MANY offspring, to recombine all the genes for the full and correct lacing.

I'm doing the same project myself - except I started with Sebright to Pekin. I'm several generations in now and getting some lovely little birds. I'm STILL working on correcting the lacing - next generation I'm breeding these girls back to fully laced sebrights again.

 

[nicalandia]

I think a Serama / Sebright crossing would be delightful! They're very similar in many ways so that would cut down your work if you were aiming for a return to Serama type.

From the Sebrights you will inherit:
Slate/Blue legs (featherless)
Henny Feathered tails
Rose combs
They are not as full in the breast as the Serama's but their posture is similar

The lacing in the Sebrights is built with the following genetic recipe:
Er/Er (Birchen Base)
Db/Db
Co/Co
Ml/Ml
Pg/Pg

I'm not sure what your Serama starts with but you can expect that your first round of babies will inherit only one half of each of the above trait pairs from the Sebright parent.
It will take several generations, and potentially MANY offspring, to recombine all the genes for the full and correct lacing.

The good news is that Db, Pg and Ml are linked to each other and will not segregate independently, so the job is not as hard as to paring so many genes

 

[mmmyyykkkeee]

The good news is that Db, Pg and Ml are linked to each other and will not segregate independently, so the job is not as hard as to paring so many genes

Wow! Thank you so much for the tips and info nicalandia and kooky kiwi.

 

[DarJones]

It will still take a lot of work to get the genetic combination desired. I estimate 6 generations to get the first decently laced birds and 8 to 10 generations to get it relatively stable. You will have to deal with rose comb on chromosome 7, Columbian, single comb on chromosome 1, DB/ML/PG as a package on a single chromosome(I think chromsome 10 but please verify), plus a bunch of type traits that will take a long time to stabilize. I don't think the partridge gene will impact your cross, but be aware that it is a pita to resolve if it shows up.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

It will still take a lot of work to get the genetic combination desired. I estimate 6 generations to get the first decently laced birds and 8 to 10 generations to get it relatively stable.

As an example - that project bird I pictured above is generation 5 for me. Their father was a pure sebright with full lacing - and therefore these girls have 'at least' half the lacing gene compliment. Next round they'll be bred to another pure sebright with full lacing - so I'm hoping to get a certain quantity of chicks with fuller lacing in the next round.

So I'd say you're pretty on the money @DarJones with your prediction above

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

I'm actually quite keen to see your progress if you go ahead with this project @mmmyyykkkeee so do keep us posted!!

 

[nicalandia]

It will still take a lot of work to get the genetic combination desired. I estimate 6 generations to get the first decently laced birds and 8 to 10 generations to get it relatively stable.

Why everything has to be so complicated for you? I understand the science behind it and it would not take more than 4 generation for me

 

[DarJones]

Not complicated at all. Just a matter of having made crosses with Silver Laced Wyandottes and got the t-shirt to say that the more traits involved, the more time it will take to stabilize a cross. Serama's carry certain traits such as wing type, upright posture, head shape, etc that vary from Sebright. Emphasis should be that just getting a laced offspring won't be that difficult. What will take time is getting rid of the other traits from Sebright like posture and head shape.

I could probably have shaved it back to 4 generations if I had raised more chicks. I've had to push hard to get 1000 chicks per year. This year, I had a hen show up with Leghorn tail and Silver Laced colors and shape. She is F7 which gives an idea how many traits are involved.

Which reminds me, at some point in the future I'd love to introgress the blue egg gene into Sebrights.

 

[mmmyyykkkeee]

Just an update, I will be using this pair. The male is a Serama and the female is a sebright. The male has incomplete lacing so I plan to use the female sebright to get better lacing. I understand it will take a lot of work, time, and effort but I hope it’s all worth it. Thank you all for your tips. I will keep those in mind and will update from time to time.