Serama Egg Hatching Day

[Ch1cken Tender]

Here’s an update photo of the family! I can’t wait to see how all the babies will look when they fully feather in.

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

Another update! This is one of my more recent pictures of the whole flock.

Sherlock and his oldest son, Clint.

 

[Brownblondey]

Thank you so much for the kind words, my Friend! I hope that anything I share may be helpful to others. Seramas are such a sweet tiny breed that’s extra special and a lot of fun to raise.

Those micro hatches took much longer than needed. The chicks were worn-out and giving up. 1 of them was able to turn toward the air cell, but she couldn’t successfully externally pip. She stopped trying. I thought I was too late, until I heard a tiny peep when I finished her pip for her. 1 had made a tiny pip under the air cell (he couldn’t turn), and 1 actually pipped at the small end. I discovered that she had her feet pinned on either side of her head. It’s incredible to me that a chick will sometimes bypass that internal pip and directly breathe outside air. Amazing.

Every time I assisted a chick, I kept the egg on a soft towel, and slowly chipped away a portion of the shell, starting at the area of the pip. Then I laid them on a damp paper towel, put them back, adjusted humidity, and waited for them to try and finish the hatch. Some did, depending on how much I chipped away for them. Others needed full help.

We are new to the Serama game and have had 2 incubator hatchs, but are 0/2 on survival rate past 3 days. How do you know which eggs to help hatch after pipping? Do you help all of them? I know to be very careful when we DO help, I know the umbilical cord is very fragile and needs to naturally detach from the membrane in the egg. We just had our 3rd egg pip naturally in the incubator, about an hour ago. My kiddos are so excited, I'd like to do everything I can to keep this chick alive!

 

[WoDia]

We are new to the Serama game and have had 2 incubator hatchs, but are 0/2 on survival rate past 3 days. How do you know which eggs to help hatch after pipping? Do you help all of them? I know to be very careful when we DO help, I know the umbilical cord is very fragile and needs to naturally detach from the membrane in the egg. We just had our 3rd egg pip naturally in the incubator, about an hour ago. My kiddos are so excited, I'd like to do everything I can to keep this chick alive!

Were the chicks you lost already hatched? What’s your humidity? How many are externally pipped? It hasn’t been much time at all since your latest one has pipped. It will rest a long time following that external pip. Many of my Serama hatchlings remain pretty silent and show little activity (they’re resting before the final push). During this time, I just monitor very closely and make sure the humidity doesn’t dip. Vents wide open. And I wait.

At this point for your chick, it sounds like it’s doing okay. It’ll rest a long time and will likely not make its final push to hatch until tomorrow sometime. How many days incubation is it? Many of my Seramas don’t hatch until days 20 or 21.

If you are losing them after hatch, let me know so I can give you the care tips I use after hatch.

Keep me posted. I’ll do what I can to help.

 

[SkyAJK]

So beautiful!
I would love to add Serama to my Japanese bantam. Is anyone here in Australia that can part with a couple for me?

 

[Brownblondey]

Were the chicks you lost already hatched? What’s your humidity? How many are externally pipped? It hasn’t been much time at all since your latest one has pipped. It will rest a long time following that external pip. Many of my Serama hatchlings remain pretty silent and show little activity (they’re resting before the final push). During this time, I just monitor very closely and make sure the humidity doesn’t dip. Vents wide open. And I wait.

At this point for your chick, it sounds like it’s doing okay. It’ll rest a long time and will likely not make its final push to hatch until tomorrow sometime. How many days incubation is it? Many of my Seramas don’t hatch until days 20 or 21.

If you are losing them after hatch, let me know so I can give you the care tips I use after hatch.

Keep me posted. I’ll do what I can to help.

This is our incubator. A Little Giant "still air incubator" with automatic rotation. We unfortunately do not have a way to control the humidity on it. Best guess on ambient humidity though is about 45%. We do keep adding water to the little reservoir under the eggs and have the temp set to 99.1. Both little vents are as open as we can make them.

This egg was laid on 5/26 and today is 6/14. (Day 20). We do still have 2 eggs from 5/21 and 5/23, but nothing on them yet. We candled them and I dont think there's any movement in the one from the 21st. But we can't tell on the one from the 23rd. How can you tell if they've pipped internally but not externally?

So far both chicks we've lost have been after hatch. The first one lasted about 4 days and got pasty butt I think its called? A clogged vent and I didnt catch it in time. The kids had already named her and everything The last one though didn't even make it 5 hours, but I helped it break some egg starting at the external pip because they hadn't made any progress within 24hrs. I honestly have no idea why that one didnt make it. So any advice would be GREATLY welcomed!

 

[WoDia]

This is our incubator. A Little Giant "still air incubator" with automatic rotation. We unfortunately do not have a way to control the humidity on it. Best guess on ambient humidity though is about 45%. We do keep adding water to the little reservoir under the eggs and have the temp set to 99.1. Both little vents are as open as we can make them.

This egg was laid on 5/26 and today is 6/14. (Day 20). We do still have 2 eggs from 5/21 and 5/23, but nothing on them yet. We candled them and I dont think there's any movement in the one from the 21st. But we can't tell on the one from the 23rd. How can you tell if they've pipped internally but not externally?

So far both chicks we've lost have been after hatch. The first one lasted about 4 days and got pasty butt I think its called? A clogged vent and I didnt catch it in time. The kids had already named her and everything The last one though didn't even make it 5 hours, but I helped it break some egg starting at the external pip because they hadn't made any progress within 24hrs. I honestly have no idea why that one didnt make it. So any advice would be GREATLY welcomed!

I don’t use “still air” incubators, so I’m really hoping another member who does will advise you on that part. Is this a current photo? You didn’t remove the egg turners on lockdown day? You dont have a digital readout, so I suggest placing digital thermometer/hygrometers on the incubator floor next time. The interior may actually be reading differently. Only a suggestion, but it’s very helpful for me.

If the temperature is actually a little lower than what you have it set at, it can delay the hatch a little. There’s no way to tell whether a chick’s internally pipped without candling. If you have any external pips, I wouldn’t open the incubator to check that egg.

I’m sorry to hear about the chicks you lost. It’s always heartbreaking .

Since the hatchlings are so tiny, I do minimal handling that first week, except to give quick health checks daily. If your little one had pasty butt, I believe it was likely a brooder temperature issue.

 

[Brownblondey]

I don’t use “still air” incubators, so I’m really hoping another member who does will advise you on that part. Is this a current photo? You didn’t remove the egg turners on lockdown day? You dont have a digital readout, so I suggest placing digital thermometer/hygrometers on the incubator floor next time. The interior may actually be reading differently. Only a suggestion, but it’s very helpful for me.

If the temperature is actually a little lower than what you have it set at, it can delay the hatch a little. There’s no way to tell whether a chick’s internally pipped without candling. If you have any external pips, I wouldn’t open the incubator to check that egg.

I’m sorry to hear about the chicks you lost. It’s always heartbreaking .

Since the hatchlings are so tiny, I do minimal handling that first week, except to give quick health checks daily. If your little one had pasty butt, I believe it was likely a brooder temperature issue.

Well... dang. Apparently we're really bad at this Serama game! This is all such a frustrating learning curve. With really high stakes! There is such minimal Serama specific information online and we dont know anyone that hatches these birds so its a SUPER learning curve. (And yes thats a current photo, I took it while I was replying to you lol)

So this is my "to-do" list....
1. Get a better incubator or thermometer/hydrometer.
2. Remove the turners.
3. LOOK WITH YOUR EYES, NOT YOUR HANDS!! From incubation day 18 through 7 days old.
4. Help pick egg apart if no progress within 24hrs. Right?
5. Figure out brooder temp. (We had some issues setting it up, but finally got it consisten around 96°!)

Also, THANK YOU for explaining what causes pasty butt!! Google absolutely failed me on that front. Those other commenters are absolutely right! You are truly amazing! THANK YOU!!!