Seramas

[Poultrybonkers]

Seramas for eggs..dont bother they never lay...they lay 5 eggs then go broody...hatch those and go broody...then lays an egg then goes broody lol

 

[Faiyumi]

Seramas for eggs..dont bother they never lay...they lay 5 eggs then go broody...hatch those and go broody...then lays an egg then goes broody lol

This is so true lol. They can go broody over nothing. A few of mine go broody for just 2 eggs! This is single handedly the most broody chicken in existence. Of course once they go broody, you lose one or two weeks of egg production every time. You have to collect eggs multiple times a day to avoid this.

I also feel this breed gets jealous of other brooders. Once you have one brooding, you will likely see others follow suit. Especially if there are freshly hatched chicks. One just hatched some chicks last night and another who I've never seen go broody, is sitting on just one egg now. She has the most determined face lol. It's contagious.

They also go broody over larger breed's eggs too and make much better mother's to those larger chicks (in small batches) They also have insanely good hatch rates.

When it comes to the size of their eggs, they can vary on brood size. Some can only manage 2-3 small eggs successfully, while others use tricks with deep bedding to sit on over 10 eggs successfully.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Seramas for eggs..dont bother they never lay...they lay 5 eggs then go broody...hatch those and go broody...then lays an egg then goes broody lol

Its funny, “Tiny but mighty” really applies with chickens. The tinier, the braver and sassier. Like my bantam chases off squrriels and whatnot, but my serama was the only one who ever bit me when going broody, so hard that i actually had to get gloves!

 

[Chicken poppy]

This is so true lol. They can go broody over nothing. A few of mine go broody for just 2 eggs! This is single handedly the most broody chicken in existence. Of course once they go broody, you lose one or two weeks of egg production every time. You have to collect eggs multiple times a day to avoid this.

I also feel this breed gets jealous of other brooders. Once you have one brooding, you will likely see others follow suit. Especially if there are freshly hatched chicks. One just hatched some chicks last night and another who I've never seen go broody, is sitting on just one egg now. She has the most determined face lol. It's contagious.

They also go broody over larger breed's eggs too and make much better mother's to those larger chicks (in small batches) They also have insanely good hatch rates.

When it comes to the size of their eggs, they can vary on brood size. Some can only manage 2-3 small eggs successfully, while others use tricks with deep bedding to sit on over 10 eggs successfully.

Yes! Darling went broody, and had 3 bantam cochin eggs in the nest (so roughly, like 6 of her eggs.) thats a lot! And shes extra tiny with thinner feathers, so thats a lot lot.

Anyway, one kept sticking out, so when she pushed it under her another one popped out the opposite side! It went on for a while, she pushes an egg in, another comes out. So i grabbed one and she admitted her defeat.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

My Serama hen lays just to brood. It's a never ending constant cycle Now if you're looking for pets, I recommend Seramas. I have and love the mixed Seramas because you never know what's going to hatch. I LOVE the surprise. It's like your very own LOL Surprise Chicken (like the very popular LOL Surprise Dolls). Seramas also have really fun personalities. My hen can be a bit aggressive but we absolutely adore her and she knows it. She can be the sweetest little bird ever. Thankfully with her small size, my biggest concern is her hurting herself. I have noticed some body checked (internally mended) eggs from my Serama hen. I switched her and her flockmates (a Silkie and 2 Dutch Bantam hens) to a layer crumble (my Serama is very picky and prefers to eat the teeniest of tiniest crumbles of feed, so pellets just won't do) and continue to offer oyster shell and crushed eggshells of all different sizes on the side. I haven't noticed any body checked eggs lately but she recently started laying again so time will tell. I admit that since Seramas are so adorable and usually sweet, it's hard to not spoil them. You really have to think about the treats you're giving because they're so small. Any treat you give takes the place of some complete and balanced feed. If you go with hatching eggs and need to have them shipped, I suggest finding someone within your state so the eggs won't have to travel so far and will be less likely to be damaged or damaged as much en route.
Seramas are some of the most adorable chickens, in my personal opinion. The tiny eggs are a bonus.

 

[Faiyumi]

My Serama hen lays just to brood. It's a never ending constant cycle Now if you're looking for pets, I recommend Seramas. I have and love the mixed Seramas because you never know what's going to hatch. I LOVE the surprise. It's like your very own LOL Surprise Chicken (like the very popular LOL Surprise Dolls). Seramas also have really fun personalities. My hen can be a bit aggressive but we absolutely adore her and she knows it. She can be the sweetest little bird ever. Thankfully with her small size, my biggest concern is her hurting herself. I have noticed some body checked (internally mended) eggs from my Serama hen. I switched her and her flockmates (a Silkie and 2 Dutch Bantam hens) to a layer crumble (my Serama is very picky and prefers to eat the teeniest of tiniest crumbles of feed, so pellets just won't do) and continue to offer oyster shell and crushed eggshells of all different sizes on the side. I haven't noticed any body checked eggs lately but she recently started laying again so time will tell. I admit that since Seramas are so adorable and usually sweet, it's hard to not spoil them. You really have to think about the treats you're giving because they're so small. Any treat you give takes the place of some complete and balanced feed. If you go with hatching eggs and need to have them shipped, I suggest finding someone within your state so the eggs won't have to travel so far and will be less likely to be damaged or damaged as much en route.
Seramas are some of the most adorable chickens, in my personal opinion. The tiny eggs are a bonus.

Serama are one of the best pet chickens. I put a towel down and we watch movies together. They will sit through the whole movie, contently watching the screen.

I'm sorry she is having body checked eggs. One of my Faiyumi has that issue. She just gets too excited by others sometimes. She'll run into things if she's being too spooked. It can also be a sign of a startled or stressed chicken. Also lowering your roosts may help if you have them very high. Hopefully the body checked eggs stay gone.

Another thing about getting shipped eggs. It's really not the breeders fault if they are not hatching. The breed itself has moderate hatch rates and shipping only makes it worse. They say to use an upright egg brooder for shipped eggs. You want to sit them up pointy side down for 24 hours before brooding. Just remember that you may be throwing money away before you make the purchase.

For anyone wondering why people get hatching eggs if there's so much risk? For one, it can be a lot of fun but most importantly, it's pretty much the safest way of adding new chicks to your flock. Chicks hatched from eggs do not have Avian influenza or Marek's. They can still have a lot of other things, here's a list https://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/eggs.html
However they are more likely to die before hatching and if any do make it, they are likely not going to do well before being integrated with your flock.

You can check the fertility if you suspect you may be going through a shady seller. A lot of people don't realize they might need to trim the butt feathers. Crack the egg and look for the white bull's-eye. If it's not fertile, then I'd probably switch sellers.

 

[WonkierZulu]

Seramas for eggs..dont bother they never lay...they lay 5 eggs then go broody...hatch those and go broody...then lays an egg then goes broody lol

Haha I get eggs but it's about every other month then they go broody

 

[Georgieworgy]

Serama breeder here. I'm assuming since you're asking about show quality, that you would like to get into breeding them? I enjoy helping other get into raising this breed, so I'll put a bit of info out there for those interested in their general egg laying habits and capabilities.

To follow up on answers from the others in this post, Serama are almost all mixed genetics. There's true Malaysia Serama, but few people have those compared to mixes. Mixes are beautiful and can get microscopic. Being of mutt genetics it's hard to guess how many one hen will lay. I've got some who lay daily without fail and I've got some who lay 3 times a week.

They can become egg bound under artificial lighting. This will most likely affect them the first year of life. I've only personally had one hen that had issues with that. She went off the lighting and is fine now. She has her own coop with natural lighting year round. You absolutely must set the light to turn on earlier in the morning. This reduces stress. A stressed hen is not a good layer.

It is still highly advised to give them a winter break to molt. I let them molt and they go back on their artificial lighting if needed. When they molt they will change patterns a bit. This lets you see what you're working with genetics wise. Plus it's just healthy for them.

The eggs are small, but once you have a few Serama you will have tons of eggs. It's not like you will be selling all your eggs, or hatching them all. I personally cook with them. They are pretty tasty actually.

Now for the real shortfalls of the Serama eggs. Fertility. The smaller the Serama, the less fertile. I personally like to keep them above a certain weight to avoid this and other problems, but my show girls definitely lack fertility.

One quick trick for fertility issues is trimming their butt feathers. Some Serama have overly feathered butts. This won't fix everyone. It's also hard for some roosters to do the do. Some people actually do artificial insemination, not just for this breed.

Some smaller Serama have fairy eggs (eggs too small to sustain life) as well. They will not make good breeders and should just be considered wonderful pets.

14 hours of light is great for egg production, but a couple of mine need 16 hours to be in full production.

Did I mention most have heavily mixed genetics? Your smallest Serama can have higher weight class chicks than you expect and your bigger Seramas can have the smallest chicks you've ever seen. It's all luck. Now the issue here, is the smallest of the small chicks almost never make it. Between die off before hatch and after hatch, it's brutal. That's why super small Serama sell for so much.

The hens are wonderful brooders, but abysmal mother's. They love their chicks but can't comprehend their delicate size.

I cannot stress enough to anyone getting into this breed that the die offs from the chicks are not your fault. This is a very advanced breed to rear. The chicks are insanely fragile too, but once you understand their unique care, they are very successful.

There's myths out there that mixing bantams with larger breeds will cause them to become egg bound. I've never had that problem myself and I breed with my Faiyumi for fun bantams. The hen is solely responsible for her egg size I believe. I've never had a problem the other way around either. My Serama roos love the larger breed hens. To no one's surprise the larger hens do not magically lay small eggs. You will get a chick that grows to a size in-between usually, but they can still be pretty small.

The smallest chicks are weak, very weak. They cannot all make it out of their eggs at normal humidity. You'll need to get it up to at least 70% I go 75%. You may need to rescue the occasional micro chick from their shell. With experience you will know when it's right and when to wait.

My Serama, at least, don't ever seem to need much calcium. They get all their calcium from their feed. It's not even layer feed. Their shells are excellent. Just in case, I still offer crushed egg shell and oyster shell once a month. This breed hasn't needed more calcium than that yet. Their egg shells are slightly stronger than a larger breed I feel.

I have ton of general Serama tips on my blog/website if you want a look. I'm always adding more. You can PM me for it. Also if you'd like to know more specific questions, never hesitate to reach out. I really enjoy this breed and think they should be in every coop. They mix well with other, larger breeds too and bring such a joy to any home.

Oh and one last cool egg fact. A lot of Serama love brooding together. They are sweethearts who are social egg layers.

Hi, I'd love a link to your website/page as I have recently adopted two seramas who are currently living indoors in a large purpose built run with two Peking bantams. They will all eventually go outside but it's -3° here in the UK at the moment. I have a lot of questions and am not sure where to find the right information. It's a bit all over the shop online. My birds are about 24 weeks old and I'm wondering about food types, what kind of temperatures they can go out in, what health checks I need to do etc. would love to ask you some more questions if that's possible? Many thanks, Georgie