~MALAYSIAN SERAMA THREAD~ (PICS!!!)

[Sumatra503]

Wire bottomed cages generally only tear up leg feathers, which don't apply to most seramas. The wire floor should not effect the rest of the bird's feathers. It's the sides of the cage that tear up the feathers. Many birds simply learn to steer clear of the sides of a wire cage and the calm seramas generally don't tear up their feathers much.

My birds are free ranged most of the time and have nice good feathers on them. They just get a bit dirty, but that washes off.

 

[bradleyfarm]

I have a problem with my serama eggs. They won't hatch. I have all B seramas, and they are laying eggs reguraly. I have posted pictures of them here. one is Daisy, and the other is Onslow. Daisy is very short, but Onslow is normal. None, and I mean none of their chicks are making it out of their eggs. 1 piped at the wrong end, but the others have died a few days after I put them down for no turn time. I know it isn't my incubator because I am hatching other chicks with no problems what so ever. What am I doing wrong?? Are my birds maybe still too young? I really want some serama chicks....

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

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Hey Randall! Do we get updated pics? Did you end up with the three frizzled? What colors are you getting?

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

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Sadly, some of mine are longish in the shortish in the legs/longish in the wings and wire is no good on the floor of the show pens. They clear the ground in pose, but not when they are moving around.. and when they go backwards they really mess up the tips. Got new blood this year for the first time from Jerry, whose birds have a lot of leg, and working on longer thighs in my line as per Edgar. Deep shavings are the way that I go, with smooth bottomed cages. I have a lot of promising pullets whose wings always clear the ground so wish me luck this spring for the next breeding season.

We have too many predators and way too much open space to free range the seramas, but I love the tractors. They are my favorite pens and the birds really enjoy the grass and dirt. Birds on grass are happy birds.

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

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If it were me, I would let them hatch their own eggs. Nothing is broodier than a serama, and most people get good hatch rates using hens. At least that is what we have found with the hundreds of eggs we have sold. Incubators are just finicky sometimes.
Is that an option?

 

[racuda]

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Hey Randall! Do we get updated pics? Did you end up with the three frizzled? What colors are you getting?

When they were first hatched they were calm and easy to take pics of. Now they have turned into wild little birds and are very hard to photograph properly. When I get home from work they have already gone to bed, so that just leaves the weekends for quality time to tame them.

One chick is frizzled for sure, and two others look more "mildly" frizzled. Can "frizzled" be a matter of degree?

As for colors, there are 5 whites, 2 blacks and a couple of brown ones. Two others died in unfortunate accidents.

Right after I took this picture, my Lab (who has never harmed a feather on any bird) snatched it as it scampered across the ground and it died an hour later.

Another one died when my 2 Cochin roosters, who previously had never fought, started jumping around all over the place and trampled one. I sold a rooster and learned a lesson.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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Try putting them in an egg carton to hatch and make sure your humidity isn't too high. Are they pipping internally? It sounds like they might be drowning in the shell. Hatching them (any eggs for that matter) in egg cartons makes the fluids stay below the chick's beak. Sometimes the fluid can 'fill up' and get in the way when the chick pips.

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Randall.. sorry to hear about the two, and yes Frizzling can be in degrees. I found out that if you keep smooth feathered birds from frizzled breedings, and breed the smooth birds with frizzled lineage back to a frizzle, that you get exhibition (extra) frizzling. I have been working on that this summer.
Have fun on your weekends and thanks for the update!

ALSO
If anyone really loves Seramas, and wants to see some of the best but can't make it to Nationals..... Darin Vance is going to have DVD's available.

From the SCNA Forum:
There will be a DVD available of the ON this year, that I will be shipping out. How many would be interested? Mostly pics, there may be some video.
$10 a copy...that is with shipping..

http://www.scnaonline.org/scnaforums/index.php?showtopic=4733&hl=

 

[abbey2140]

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I totally agree with allowing them to hatch their own babies. I incubate our cochins, brahmas, and ducks and have about a 90% hatch but if I try the seramas I end in disappointment. Although when I have allowed them to do it I might end up with 1 or 2 not hatching from all 5 of my girls eggs in a year. I personally think they need something different from regular birds, don't quote me on that though. Good luck!

 

[abbey2140]

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The only prob I have had for the Seramas is the cages messing up the bottoms of the wings a little. I also have mine out on the ground and the feathers are fine. With Roos though, you want to make sure the cage is tall enough so when the perch their tails dont getting screwed up.