I'm considering breeding bantams/ornamentals, but I hear that Sebrights are difficult to rear? Why is this, and how can you successfully rear them? Thanks for reading.
Why are Sebright Chicks Considered Difficult to Rear?
- Thread starter hiddenflock
- Start date
I believe its because they're so darn tiny! You should check out the Seabright thread in the Breeds, Genetics and Showing section. Good luck 
Nikki
Nikki
- Thread starter
- #3
Thank you!! I'll look.
I have raised several Sebrights up from hatchery chicks and didn't find them any more difficult than any other chick. They were a little skittery and harder to catch when it came time to clean the brooder. Just keep them warm and feed them, fresh water etc. Maybe they are harder to hatch?
We had no luck with bantams (Sebrights, Mille Fleur, Porcelains) here in TN in 2011. We tried so hard to keep them cool in the summer but you could tell they just struggled a LOT with the constant heat. They barely left the coop until sun down. We tried frozen water bottles, a fan, frozen treats, spraying their run down daily, everything. None of them made it through the summer. 
Maybe you should try Japanese Bantams - they breed like rabbits and are very broody and good mothers.
When I started out I raised their chicks in a brooder - they were the first chicks I ever raised, they were really easy and hardy, and all grew up and are doing great.
They are also really tame and some even like being carried about and petted.
When I started out I raised their chicks in a brooder - they were the first chicks I ever raised, they were really easy and hardy, and all grew up and are doing great.
They are also really tame and some even like being carried about and petted.
- Feb 15, 2013
- 11
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You guys are getting me a little freaked out right now as my order of 10 silkies, 5 mille fleur d'uccles and 5 silver seabrights is due April 1!!!! I have raised all these in the past, but have been birdless for about 8 years!
Stephanie in Hillsboro, MO
Stephanie in Hillsboro, MO
prepperchickens
Chirping
Ok, I'm now almost 3.5 weeks, maybe 4, into raising a straight run pair of silver sebrights and so far they have been the most stressful ever directly and almost entirely because of this rumor that they're super fragile and sickly! I have worried over them like you would to believe, in fact my entire sleep schedule is backwards from staying up all night so often afraid to go to sleep as though my slumber alone would kill them, as though all that was keeping them alive was my worried gaze.
Truth is, I've never come close to losing them thus far. They have a stubborn case of poop butt ever since I got them at 1 week old from Rural King but I'm starting to think it has more to do with their tiny stature and tendency to squat than any serious illness, they're totally Unphased by their dirty butts, their poop is normal and their vents are not clogged. They are more delicate than other chicks due to their size and the fact that they are a thin, svelte breed without much padding, but even still my tiny tiny rooster Atilla will gladly regulate if the younger guinea keet in with them tries him somehow. The keet is bigger than the sebrights (who are so at 2 wks older than he is) but Being a guinea, he doesn't fight back and generally seems oblivious to the pip squeak attack but the point is, sebrights are tough little runts. Well, let me qualify that by saying they are tough sometimes. They're also the biggest babies I've had so far. They have lost all the baby down on their body except their little heads, they're about a month old, but they still cry at the top of their lungs for me when frightened. They aren't like my other chicks who by this age are eager to try new things and explore and be big birdies, instead they still love love love to be snuggle against my chest so I have to tie a scarf around me like a baby carrier thingy so I can do my work and still hold them close, they freak me out everytime by going so totally limp right away.
They're more skittish than other chicks I've raised, but they also act more like they see me as mommy. I try to put them out with the older birds in a mesh chick play pen to familiarize them but also to give the activity vs keeping them locked in the bathroom brooder all day, but unless I stay within eyesight and earshot they cry like someone's stabbing them to death the moment they see I stepped away.if they can see me they will run around cheeping and fluttering excitedly, they'll check out the bigger birds, have a ball but are inconsolable if I leave. Id expect this of week olds but these are nearing a month old now.
In short, they are more needy. They're a strange mix of bold and timid. Atilla used to hide his head under his sister (with his lil butt in the air vulnerable to attack) whenever something "scary" happened like me putting the brooder lid back on lol. Cutest thing ever.
They have strong personalities, they're clearly intelligent and very sensitive. They both love their obnoxious clumsy keet, I catch hell from them whenever I take him out even for a few seconds and they can't see him. Atilla will be a great rooster, he's already very protective and both show special concern for their flockmates.
Atilla has slightly weak legs or feet, I can't tell what it is but he had trouble perching and balancing when he grooms himself, he trips a lot. No visible deformities but he's always been more frail overall than his sister. I have been giving them both vitamins the past few days and seen improvement in their energy levels and activity level. So far he still struggles to stay balanced when perched but seems otherwise ok. I have had zero health issues with my other chicks and keets so the sebrights do stand out as slightly less robust but have always held their own and behaved like normal chicks. My neurotic paranoia had resulted in them being very spoiled though lol. They seem to expect to be treated like little china dolls.
I think sebrights should be handled carefully. They just aren't as rough and tumble as many chicks, they're small and thin by nature. But they're spunky, very sweet, and they aren't just gonna curl up and die at the first possible excuse like I feared because mine have had a couple little challenges so far and never once did they begin fading on me at all, they have just persevered and remained happy little things. Don't let their reputation turn you into an OCD nervous wreck like I am just learning to quit being about the sebrights, I bet part of the reason some people think they're difficult is that they require more than the bare bones that say, my barred rocks would have been fine with (I gave them plenty of attention but I could tell they'd do fine in the care of someone who only did bare minimum too). Crush their crumbles up finer to make them easier to eat, give them egg now and then to help them grow, make sure they're warm enough, mine seem to be colder than the temp guide would suggest by this age. Keep them somewhere without too much chaos, they get stressed more easily than some chicks
(Mine have just now accepted the feeder, until now I've had to let them waste food all day slinging it all over off the plastic lid I poured it on as anything else terrified them). Give them lots of patient reassurance and hand fed treats to help them learn to trust you because now that mine do it's awesome how they clearly look to me for safety and security,took a while to win them over.
They are special little birds, they're very sweet, you won't regret the little bit of extra vigilance. After all, they grow into the most beautiful chickens ever as your reward for a job well done
Truth is, I've never come close to losing them thus far. They have a stubborn case of poop butt ever since I got them at 1 week old from Rural King but I'm starting to think it has more to do with their tiny stature and tendency to squat than any serious illness, they're totally Unphased by their dirty butts, their poop is normal and their vents are not clogged. They are more delicate than other chicks due to their size and the fact that they are a thin, svelte breed without much padding, but even still my tiny tiny rooster Atilla will gladly regulate if the younger guinea keet in with them tries him somehow. The keet is bigger than the sebrights (who are so at 2 wks older than he is) but Being a guinea, he doesn't fight back and generally seems oblivious to the pip squeak attack but the point is, sebrights are tough little runts. Well, let me qualify that by saying they are tough sometimes. They're also the biggest babies I've had so far. They have lost all the baby down on their body except their little heads, they're about a month old, but they still cry at the top of their lungs for me when frightened. They aren't like my other chicks who by this age are eager to try new things and explore and be big birdies, instead they still love love love to be snuggle against my chest so I have to tie a scarf around me like a baby carrier thingy so I can do my work and still hold them close, they freak me out everytime by going so totally limp right away.
They're more skittish than other chicks I've raised, but they also act more like they see me as mommy. I try to put them out with the older birds in a mesh chick play pen to familiarize them but also to give the activity vs keeping them locked in the bathroom brooder all day, but unless I stay within eyesight and earshot they cry like someone's stabbing them to death the moment they see I stepped away.if they can see me they will run around cheeping and fluttering excitedly, they'll check out the bigger birds, have a ball but are inconsolable if I leave. Id expect this of week olds but these are nearing a month old now.
In short, they are more needy. They're a strange mix of bold and timid. Atilla used to hide his head under his sister (with his lil butt in the air vulnerable to attack) whenever something "scary" happened like me putting the brooder lid back on lol. Cutest thing ever.
They have strong personalities, they're clearly intelligent and very sensitive. They both love their obnoxious clumsy keet, I catch hell from them whenever I take him out even for a few seconds and they can't see him. Atilla will be a great rooster, he's already very protective and both show special concern for their flockmates.
Atilla has slightly weak legs or feet, I can't tell what it is but he had trouble perching and balancing when he grooms himself, he trips a lot. No visible deformities but he's always been more frail overall than his sister. I have been giving them both vitamins the past few days and seen improvement in their energy levels and activity level. So far he still struggles to stay balanced when perched but seems otherwise ok. I have had zero health issues with my other chicks and keets so the sebrights do stand out as slightly less robust but have always held their own and behaved like normal chicks. My neurotic paranoia had resulted in them being very spoiled though lol. They seem to expect to be treated like little china dolls.
I think sebrights should be handled carefully. They just aren't as rough and tumble as many chicks, they're small and thin by nature. But they're spunky, very sweet, and they aren't just gonna curl up and die at the first possible excuse like I feared because mine have had a couple little challenges so far and never once did they begin fading on me at all, they have just persevered and remained happy little things. Don't let their reputation turn you into an OCD nervous wreck like I am just learning to quit being about the sebrights, I bet part of the reason some people think they're difficult is that they require more than the bare bones that say, my barred rocks would have been fine with (I gave them plenty of attention but I could tell they'd do fine in the care of someone who only did bare minimum too). Crush their crumbles up finer to make them easier to eat, give them egg now and then to help them grow, make sure they're warm enough, mine seem to be colder than the temp guide would suggest by this age. Keep them somewhere without too much chaos, they get stressed more easily than some chicks
(Mine have just now accepted the feeder, until now I've had to let them waste food all day slinging it all over off the plastic lid I poured it on as anything else terrified them). Give them lots of patient reassurance and hand fed treats to help them learn to trust you because now that mine do it's awesome how they clearly look to me for safety and security,took a while to win them over.
They are special little birds, they're very sweet, you won't regret the little bit of extra vigilance. After all, they grow into the most beautiful chickens ever as your reward for a job well done
Sebrights have been inbred for countless years so ruthlessly the breed carries negative, recessive genes making egg fertility nearly non existent. So damaged are they, I owned a Sebright rooster I mated to an O.E. hen, who hatched < ten % of eggs laid. And of those hatched, 50% had fertility problems as well. Just because some ignorant folk wanted to create that "champion" fowl.
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