Serama chicks dying

[Akane]

Seramas have a very diluted form of the same gene that causes short legs in japs and it is lethal but in japs it kills 1 out of 4 and in seramas even less. They should die in the shell and never hatch. It should have nothing to do with chicks dying after hatching.

 

[catwalk]

I have recently started breeding my own Seramas, and I have found them to be very fragile. To be fair, I sit and stare at them in disbelief that anything that small CAN live! I've had a few that die suddenly, or that fail to thrive and "give up the ghost" after about a week. So far, I've had to hatch two to get one, but I'm getting better. The only reccommendations I can make are:
make sure they are warm enough, but give them somewhere they can go if they get too hot.
give them chopped game chick starter so they can eat it (I've read warnings about choking on larger pieces, but Idunno)
protect them from clumsy bigger chicks, who don't mean any harm, but can kill otherwise

Good luck!