Loads of questions about Serama Bantams from someone new to chickens!

[abraga]

Do you incubate your seramas? What are your thoughts on humidity and temperature in forced air bators?

 

[formerchickenlass]

Do you incubate your seramas? What are your thoughts on humidity and temperature in forced air bators?

I do incubate them.

I run my humidity at 50rh and temp at 99.8. At day 18 I raise to 65rh, same temp.

 

[abraga]

I have been trying to hatch shipped serama eggs...having terrible results. 1 baby from 6 eggs @99.5 w 45/50% humidity in brinsea. I raise humidity on day 17 to 60/70%. Next two sets chicks died during lockdown. I raised humidity at day 17..maybe to soon? I know shipped eggs r a crap shoot...but i cant find any seramas close by. I also have a genisis 1588 bator. Last couple batches i incubated them in the genisis and put them in my brinsea to hatch cuz i have different hatch dates. Its really frustrating to loose so many chicks. Last four that made it to lockdown died in the shell..fully formed..did not pip. I now havs 4 eggs in lockdown. I put them in the brinsea ln day 19 (includes day set them). Right now brinsea is @ 99.5 - 69% humidity

 

[formerchickenlass]

I have been trying to hatch shipped serama eggs...having terrible results. 1 baby from 6 eggs @99.5 w 45/50% humidity in brinsea. I raise humidity on day 17 to 60/70%. Next two sets chicks died during lockdown. I raised humidity at day 17..maybe to soon? I know shipped eggs r a crap shoot...but i cant find any seramas close by. I also have a genisis 1588 bator. Last couple batches i incubated them in the genisis and put them in my brinsea to hatch cuz i have different hatch dates. Its really frustrating to loose so many chicks. Last four that made it to lockdown died in the shell..fully formed..did not pip. I now havs 4 eggs in lockdown. I put them in the brinsea ln day 19 (includes day set them). Right now brinsea is @ 99.5 - 69% humidity

The ones that make it to lockdown but don't pip, are they pipping internally and not externally, or neither?

Were the eggs all from the same seller or different sellers?

FWIW, I also have a Brinsea, and acquired a Genesis 1588 this year. I'm using them the exact same way, I incubate in the Genesis and move to the Brinsea on day 18.

 

[abraga]

I think im off on my humidity.1st 6 ebay eggs i put in brinsea and followed manufacturer directions on humidity. Did lockdown on day 17 got 1 chick. Second 6 ebay eggs 1 chick. Lost the next batch. I think i raised humidity to soon. This last batch..i was so paranoid over humidity, i kept it around 30/40 % in the hovabator. 8 ebay eggs..4 made it to lockdown.Chicks pipped but could not hatch. After 12 hrs...and watching the pip the same hole..was obvious that i had kept humidity to low during incubation. So i helped them along..the internal membrane was to dry..ughhh..chicks all survived. So..now i have 12 more ebay serama eggs...i put them in the brinsea and got the humidity up to 60% they are about 5 days to lockdown. I know shipped eggs r always a risk due to various factors. The problem i am having is that the lining inside the egg is WHITE...i think the chicks can not turn to zip. Seems my best success is with the brinsea..humidity @45/50% temp 95.7 and i put them n lockdown day 17 and raise humidity. So many people have so many opinions on seramas.

 

[abraga]

I think im off on my humidity.1st 6 ebay eggs i put in brinsea and followed manufacturer directions on humidity. Did lockdown on day 17 got 1 chick. Second 6 ebay eggs 1 chick. Lost the next batch. I think i raised humidity to soon. This last batch..i was so paranoid over humidity, i kept it around 30/40 % in the hovabator. 8 ebay eggs..4 made it to lockdown.Chicks pipped but could not hatch. After 12 hrs...and watching the pip the same hole..was obvious that i had kept humidity to low during incubation. So i helped them along..the internal membrane was to dry..ughhh..chicks all survived. So..now i have 12 more ebay serama eggs...i put them in the brinsea and got the humidity up to 60% they are about 5 days to lockdown. I know shipped eggs r always a risk due to various factors. The problem i am having is that the lining inside the egg is WHITE...i think the chicks can not turn to zip. Seems my best success is with the brinsea..humidity @45/50% temp 95.7 and i put them n lockdown day 17 and raise humidity. So many people have so many opinions on seramas.

 

[abraga]

Typo> i meant temperature of 99.7

 

[formerchickenlass]

This last batch..i was so paranoid over humidity, i kept it around 30/40 % in the hovabator. 8 ebay eggs..4 made it to lockdown.Chicks pipped but could not hatch. After 12 hrs...and watching the pip the same hole..was obvious that i had kept humidity to low during incubation. So i helped them along..the internal membrane was to dry..ughhh..chicks all survived.

With my own eggs, clean eggs, even very fresh eggs, I expect to hatch 50% of what I put in the incubator on day 1. Sometimes I get a little better, sometimes worse. Shipping must lower that percentage further. Even Jerry, the man who originally imported seramas to America, gets a comparable hatch rate by his own reports.

For seramas, 4 hatched out of 8 eggs isn't bad at all, especially for shipped eggs.

And you don't even know what's going on with the eggs/birds in the first place. Are the breeders given extra vitamins and/or range time, are they older or younger birds, are they generally healthy, are they good/bad genetic pairings, are the eggs a day old or 7 days old, etc. These are all uncontrollable factors in your hatch rate. And an egg with a thick shell and one with a thin shell may need different humidity levels to lose the optimal amount of weight.

FWIW, unless it's a weird pip (a malposition) I don't help mine out until it's been around 24 hours since the external pip. Some chicks just take longer.

Malpositions are what I mostly see as a symptom of humidity being a little off. I did see slight improvements in hatch rates when I purchased the humidity controller for the Brinsea (could be real, could be anecdotal/coincidence), though now I'm using the Genesis to incubate so I'm no longer reaping any benefits of consistent humidity.

--- --- ---

One example of variation by breeder: This week I put two eggs on lockdown, from two different hens. They were incubated together, & so received all the same temperature and humidity settings.

Egg A was a little smaller, and was 2 days old when it was set. Egg B was larger and was set the same day it was laid.

On day 20, Egg A had a tiny air cell, the smallest I've ever seen on a day 20 egg. The chick was malpositioned and pipped low on the shell. After 24 hours it hadn't made progress so I helped it out.

Egg B was deceased at this point. It had a HUGE air cell that took up half the egg. The chick looked developed but was a touch small and had not fully absorbed the yolk. There was still movement in the egg at day 18, though even then I could see how weird it looked and was not surprised it didn't make it (I was also not surprised I had to help out the other one).

Other eggs set at the same time as these were normal and hatched themselves just fine, with nicely sized air cells.

The hen who set Egg B probably needs calcium supplements. The hen who set Egg A is just starting to lay again from a long break, so she's probably got amazing calcium reserves and is putting on thick shells. I should probably let her eggs sit a bit longer before putting them in the incubator, though it's a gamble IMO, especially in these warmer summer temps as hatchability decreases with age of egg.

Anyway, just some thoughts. I've never hatched shipped eggs, but I just shipped out my first serama eggs this week and I'm super excited to see how it goes. I spent a lot of time researching packaging, picked my freshest eggs and we shipped express. She said the air cells looked good so... *fingers crossed*

 

[abraga]

Humm...maybe I'm not doin so bad on the dhipped eggs then. I have 10 more serama eggs n the brinsea now. Thier 18th day will be on the 30th. I want to keep a closer eye on humidity and air cells dince the last four were showing not enough humidity. I hit these from a breeder on ebay> unfinished furniture is his company i think. He has some awesome pics of his birds..got my fingers crossed

 

[formerchickenlass]

Humm...maybe I'm not doin so bad on the dhipped eggs then. I have 10 more serama eggs n the brinsea now. Thier 18th day will be on the 30th. I want to keep a closer eye on humidity and air cells dince the last four were showing not enough humidity. I hit these from a breeder on ebay> unfinished furniture is his company i think. He has some awesome pics of his birds..got my fingers crossed

You have 10 still going from a dozen that were shipped? That sounds really good to me! Good luck and let me know how the hatch goes!