serama

[rita2paul]

hello just ordered some eggs off ebay, i have been told these little serama chicks are hard to raise, can anyone give me some advice on hatching and raising these little chickens. they just look so sweet.

 

[rita2paul]

has no one had these little birds, would appreciate some advice on rearing them please.

 

[benjamin123]

Apologies, i've not had this particular breed but i have bred other breeds of bantams. The only difference i could see was they were more vulnerable to temperature changes etc. As long as their environment is kept constant and they have easy access to food and water you should have some happy little...little chicks. Other than this i'm not sure what i can help with.

 

[rita2paul]

there are a lot of conflicting theories. some say no water, some say high humidity. they seem to hatch on day 19 and not 21 as most chickens. still not sure what method i will use.

 

[chuckachucka]

In my experince they are only harder to raise as chicks because being so small they can fit through the tiniest gaps and holes in fences etc so you have to be extra careful about their living space especially when transitioning out of the brooder. At six weeks they are still very very small. Also from hatch they are so tiny that even some chick crumbs are too big.
Even as adults they are not as cold hardy.

As for incubating they are very hard. I have had no luck in an incubator and even a hard time hatching with a hen. They do seem to hatch on day 21 as normal though. The last time I set serama eggs one even died on day 20 under a hen for no reason that i could tell before even starting to hatch.

 

[chuckachucka]

Generally I have heard advice that smaller eggs need slightly higher humidity throughout incubation, so this should apply to seramas too.

 

[Mr_Matthew_L]

Have your eggs hatched? I just started my second attempt at incubating Serama eggs. I have been told that Serama chicks are too small to eat chick feed and it must be ground up more once you get some.
Other than that tidbit of info, I cannot help any more.

Oh, and I was told by the person I bought my A that all her eggs hatch on day 19.

 

[rita2paul]

well after many attempts at hatching these little beauties, i have manage to hatch 3 last night. these eggs were air saddled and i really thought they were not going to make it, as my last lot of air saddled eggs didn't. what i did different this time was, add a wet cloth and kept the eggs up in a egg carton so the biggest air saddle was facing up. humidity was set at 70% plus a wet cloth inside the incubator. it worked.

 

[rita2paul]

Have your eggs hatched? I just started my second attempt at incubating Serama eggs. I have been told that Serama chicks are too small to eat chick feed and it must be ground up more once you get some.
Other than that tidbit of info, I cannot help any more.

Oh, and I was told by the person I bought my A that all her eggs hatch on day 19.

mine hatched on day 21. how are yours coming along.

 

[Mr_Matthew_L]

My first set had 1 infertile, then 2 that had blood rings at day 7 or so and 2 that I was unsure about. Day 9 they were definite bloodrings.

Started a new set of 3 eggs, 4 days ago. I can see some veins in only 1 of the 3. Raising humidity from 38-40% to something a little closer to yours as we speak.