My first serama egg!!

i have been dieing for my girls to start laying!!! i went to feed today and saw something funny in the rubber food dish, thought what the heck. pulled my hand back before i dumped the scoop of feed, low and behold one of my girls laid me a beautiful perfect serama egg!!!!! i took a pic of it but fogot my cam in the car so will add it tomarrow, it's the cutest little egg!

good thing i took a pic of it, later we went to pick blackberries and one of the kid's got in the car to get more jars to fill, ugg!!! it got cracked and a buff brahma egg, i was heart broken i was gonna set it,lol and it wasn't the mixed eggs broke it had to be the pure breed ones. so tomarrow i'm gonna eat it for breakfast along with the brahma one and look to see if it has a bulleye in the serama egg to see if my boys have started doing their job since they have started to practice,lol.

here is a pic of my oldest roo crow, u guys saw pics of him when he was little on other threads he was my first serama baby i hatched. boy have they all grown since u saw pics last. i so can't wait to get more eggs and hatch from these guys!!!!

crossing fingers i get more eggs from them soon!!!
silkie

Congratulations, silkiechick! How old are your pullets? When did the roos start doing their business? I am eager to see my first Nankin egg--but so far the two "boys" aren't doing much.

What is the Serama temperament like?

Let us know if you think you had a fertile egg. If there is one--more are sure to come.

thank you!! well i posted the first pic of crow at days old on march 4th i think it was. he was only one from his hatch. they were born 2-3 weeks later in a second hatch from another breeder so not sure how old that makes them. maneiac's were born real close to mine within days or a week or 2 apart. i saw he posted he got an egg a few weeks ago so i assume mine r younger than his not sure, can't remember now. they are 4.5 or 5mths old mabe. i may have hatch date written down somewhere, i'll have to look.

crow and this guy have been trying to mount for about 3 weeks now give or take. i have other roos though to but haven't seen them try yet. these 2 r the ones with more of their adult tail the others don't have that yet so they r not as mature as these guys. they r in moult and with how little this breed is i didn't expect them to lay for awhile,lol.

seramas r a hoot!! i love, love, love them!!! they r the wolds smallest and friendliest chickens. gosh they have a really funny crow to. they try so hard to compete with crowing with the big guys it sounds like a little kid trying to yodle, rotfl. when crow was a baby he used to snuggle with me to watch tv and always wanted momma. they love attention and people. i so hope it is fertile, that would be awesome!!

i hope u get eggs soon how old r yours? weren't they born around the same time too??

it's hard to see some of them cuz they like to hide,lol. but this is a partial flock pic w/ some of the girls and other roos. i have size a, b and i think a few c's from the looks of it but i haven't weighed them yet.

there is 5 pullets in this pic- 2 whites, a black, a golden laced and the little dun girl in back by the drop door. she is gonna lay some tiny eggs she is definately an a class, there is a few others tiny ones like her too. i'm excited to see their eggs i so hope it is soon!!!

This message was edited Aug 21, 2008 3:15 AM

My Nankins hatched the 28th of May--so they are almost 3 months old. Two that were darker as chicks with darker head spots are, I think, roos. They are still darker orange/chesnut than the other three which are a light buff. They are also much more independant and get out their pen and try to spend the night on the wisteria arbor. They are smaller than the other three--but I still think they are roos--though no sickle or hackle feathers yet.

I also have a Golden Sebright that hatched with them and it is considerably larger. It is hard to imagine a chicken smaller than my smallest Nankin. I've seen the weight classes for the Serama on Ebay--maybe I should weigh my Nankins!

I've heard that the Seramas have very quiet crows--which would be nice. I only hope the Nankins aren't too loud. The Nankins are also very sweet and cuddly. What color are the Seramas legs? The Nankins are blue. I didn't think I would particulary like bantams but now I am hooked. Nankins, Seramas, D'uccles--I am falling apart:0)

bantam fever, i got it too! super congrats on the eggs, SC, and many more to come! my bantam cochin blue laced, which has the big flooppy comb, and i thought was a roo, based on behavior, is laying now, just started this week...

Congrats on the serama egg, even if it did get accidentally broken. I am sure there will be more coming along now!

It's a good week for eggs. I got my first bantam egg this week too. I bought a trio (2 hens and a roo) of OEG bantams at the State Fair 2 weeks ago this Saturday. I also bought a black Wyandotte bantam pullet at the same time. They are all housed together. I have no clue if the egg came from the Wyandotte or the OEG girls. Does anyone know a way that I could tell their eggs apart? The egg was a pale creamy color, not white, but not really brown either. It was quite pointy on the top. I didn't measure it but it was likely 1.5 inches long. Maybe slightly more?

I am pretty excited but I don't have my 'bator till Monday so I just put it in the fridge. There will be more. Will the OEG banty roo try to mate with the banty Wyandotte? What would their chicks be like?!

Claire

i got my first bantam frizzle cochin egg while we were at show begining of aug. put it in the bator, haven't candled yet and not got one since,ugg!! i forgot to take a pic but at least i still got it,lol.


here is the pic of my serama eggy!!

this is a pic so u can see better how little it is. first egg is from my standard buff brahmas. second egg is from my mixed pen looks like my bantam salmon favorolles girl laid it and 3rd is the serama one. in holding them it's about 1/2 the size of the favorolles egg.

Oh, it's soooo cute! And tiny!

guess what i got today???!!

#2 bantam cochin egg AND......

#2 smaller yet serama egg!!!

doing happy dance!!!!

here is a pic of them.
1st is from a splash cochin pullet and 2nd is a serama pullet no clue what color laying it.

Yay!!! How fun is that!! They are so tiny. Do you have them in the incubator?

the first cochin egg is haven't candled yet, it's in with showgirl eggs. these 2 not yet waiting for a few more eggs of whatever to put in with them, usually i wait 5 days so i got a collection to put in. that way i don't have lonely peeps at hatch, they have enough to have brooder mates.

the 1st serama egg got cracked i will eat it in the am and check,lol i forgot i had it, we had picked blueberries so we had fresh blueberry pancakes so i didn't eat it yet.

this is sweety the one laying the cochin eggs.

So how soon after laying can you start candling to see anything? What do you see initially if it's fertile? I thought you had to wait a week or so before candling or else you wouldn't see anything. I'm so new to all this!

earliest i've candled and saw anything is 3 days after set in bator but that is rare. usually it's 5-7 days to see veins and 7-9 to see them really good. if u crack the egg to check u look for a white dot on the yolk with rings around it. the blastodisk looks like a bullseye of a target. the 1st cochin egg went in around the 8th i think it was she laid it while at show, i keep forgetting to candle it. i'll look and check it while i'm thinking about it or i'll forget again,lol.

just candled and her first egg is feritle and almost all the eggs from the fair!!! i'm gonna have babies!!!!

WaHooey! Congrats SC!!!

Yeah Silkie - Good work. Hope you hatch lots of second generations. My little seramas started going broody within days of the first eggs being laid. Lots of second gen peepers running around already. What colors do you mostly have?...Scott

awesome Scott, you have chicks ALREADY? been missing you here, let see pics of yours too!

Hello all,

I am also new to this. I just bought 4 Seramas (A-B) 2 tiny hens, a "B" cockeral and a 3 1/2 month old cock. They all share a pretty large cage, but we are building a coop tomorrow (or chicken tractor).
The gentleman I purchased these little doll-faces from had 3 hens lay while I was there! He threw those and 3 others in with the purchase of the Seramas.

We got home, set the birds all up in the cage w/ food and water, and LO & BEHOLD, one of the hens had layed an egg (it was so soft, they started eating it!). I was just shocked that she even layed! Must LOVE their new home, huh!

Long story short, it's been 6 days and one of them layed a little bundle of joy (EGG!) this afternoon. I have the 5 in the incubator (since 9/7), but I would like the hens to hatch them out..or set? I am learning! She (probably Myrtle) layed the 1 egg on bottom of cage and my son moved to the hay bottomed nesting box inside cage that he JUST made yesterday!

QUESTION IS (phew! finally!): Can I take the 6 others out of the little giant incubator and place them in the nesting box? How long do I leave the ONE egg in there before I know if it's fertile? Please keep in mind that this is my first FOWL EVER...never even had a chicken before. I was hooked on Seramas the first time I came across them (totally by accident) on google. Now I have the potato chip syndrome...no one can have just 1 (LOAD)!!!

Thank you in advance and have a great night,
~music
PS~Congrats on your Seramas! I've attached a picture of the 3 month old...he is my son's... he picked him out and named him Sushi and I SWEAR, he tweets "PRETTY BIRD!"

Hi Musicnotes! Welcome to chicken addiction. I have it bad!

My thoughts on this are as follows:

1. The eggs in the incubator are already being kept at the correct temp and humidity. If you take them out and stick them in the nest box, they will have a radical change in temp and humidity, and this will definitely affect hatching, unless the hen decides to sit on them immediately (unlikely).

2. If the hen is already sitting on her other egg and doesn't want to move off it, then she is broody and you can go ahead and stick the other eggs under her gently. Maybe a couple at a time so she isn't so disturbed.

3. If she is not presently broody, you really have no way of knowing if/when she will go broody, and all your eggs will sit there on the chance that she does go broody. Having already started in the incubator, that means they are already started on the development phase (if you had never put them in the incubator, they would not have started that phase yet).

In my opinion, I would keep them in the 'bator unless she is confirmed broody. Too risky to undertake leaving them at a cooler temp and lower humidity while she decides if she wants to set on them, which could be a couple of days or more....if at all....

Claire

Thank you. That is such a big help.

So, I will keep those eggs in the bator. Now, since she only appears to be turning it w/ her beak here and there and sitting on it for about 2 minutes a couple times a day, should I leave THAT egg in the nesting box, put it in the bator? Or eat it???! (I am on a diet, y'know!)

Thanks again...so glad I found you guys :)

Shannon

I guess it kind of depends how many eggs you are willing to "risk" waiting for her to go broody. Hens usually lay what is called a "magic number" of eggs before they decide to sit on them for hatching, and from what I have read, this is usually 8 to 12 eggs. Others may want to comment on that! So you would leave that egg in the box, since she does appear to be paying some attention to it, and just wait for her to lay more eggs. Once she has laid the number she thinks is right, she will begin to set, if she goes broody. There is always a chance she may not go broody at all, and then the eggs may no longer be fertile (or maybe only the later laid ones). It depends on the type of chicken. I am not experienced with seramas, but Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds says the following:

Serama hens don't lay many eggs and don't tend to go broody. Many poultry enthusiasts obtain seramas by buying hatching eggs....and brood them naturally by other breeds, such as silkies.

Therefore, I would say you are taking a bit of a risk there, because she won't lay that often and then she may not go broody anyway. Do you have any silkies? A lot of people use them because they go broody very easily. Otherwise, it sounds like you should keep using the incubator, and if you want natural hatching, get a silkie!

Like I said, I have no experience with seramas (I have 3 but only got them a week ago!) and I do all my hatching in an incubator. Others may have more information for you!

Claire

sorry i haven't posted for awhile.

scott, i sent u a pm.

shannon welcome!! i agree with what Claire posted. love the pic ur roo is a cutie!! one of my a sizes looks just like him. if u want them to set on eggs leave them in the nest boxes. when they get a cluch they will set or should go broody. usually serama clutches r about 2-4 eggs. once they think they have laid enough they will go broody and will constantly be sitting. seramas r supost to be good little mommas. i hatch mine in a cabinate bator cuz i have silkie and showgirl eggs in too. i don't want them girls broody if one starts they all will,lol.
silkie

mine have not been laying that long so i haven't let them try to set. hmm.. most of the breeders i know let the hens set their own but others incubate. i'm not for sure since i haven't let my own yet try but the breed has a leathal gene and eggs can be hard to hatch. usually they die before pipping the eggs for alot of them. i think the incubator is more of a risk than mother nature but yes it is risky if she is not broody yet.

what kind of bator r u useing? and what settings? we had to do our different some from regular eggs to hatch them right to get most to hatch.

This message was edited Sep 14, 2008 11:25 AM

Alrighty, then. Looks like I picked the right board to post.
That is what I will do...leave everything where it is. I'm still surprised she laid an egg after only 6 days of moving to our home.

Since we're on the subject (better than chocolate imho!) I have been putting oyster shell in a little ramiken, in the cage every day. But, EVERYONE'S eating it! I don't want any eggs to come out too hard or thick because of too much calcium. Does anyone have tips on how much oyster shell, and when to give it to them? I was told by the feed store guy (who knows nothing about Seramas) to put it in the cage and they will crave it like you and I crave s&p. BUT, the guy I bought my babies from, said, "Be sure to give them oyster shell to keep their eggs from being too soft, but don't give them too much." That wasn't too helpful, since I am so new at this, I don't know what too much is!

As I learn more, I'll be able to help others instead of just being a LEECH!

Thanks,
Shannon

Silkie: Thanks for the compliments on Kev's Roo...please post a pic of the one you have that looks like him!!

Silkie,
I have a little giant incubator, still air, I turn the eggs manually twice a day (morning and night x on one side and O on the other). I add water to the bator when the little canals at the bottom get empty, but we have a lot of humidity in this Florida air right now, so not sure I'm doing the right thing
The temp is 100.5 on the dot.

I have a dozen or so showbird eggs on the way. Thought I was JUST going to stick w/ Seramas but MY GOODNESS, when I saw the pics of those adorable little Silkies and Phyllis Diller look-alikes, I just couldn't help myself!

My husband is going to kill me!
Shannon

wow, usually hens don't lay that quick in a new home so she must be happy and comfy!! mike said he doesn't think seramas lay over 6 eggs in a clutch(my hubby), but going by size of our eggs laid he don't know if they could sit on more than 4,lol. some of my hens r a size i doubt they could sit on more than 2.

i don't measure my oyster i give it free choice. every like 2 days i put in a small bowel of it for them and they eat what they want of it. sometimes my birds don't eat it at all and then they cut back on laying so i mix some in the feed for them so they have to eat it. i noticed my seramas don't lay if they don't have it. birds need calcium to a point to lay and to have good shells or they will lay soft rubber eggs or none at all. if mine have to much my silkie girls eggs will have calcium deposits on the egg shells so i cut back on the calcium. seramas only prob i had was no eggs if they didn't have enough. my roos eat it some too not sure if that is good or bad but it has never seemed to bother them usually they ignore it's there though.

i'm a liceansed poultry tech but i still learn new things everyday and ask questions if i don't know something so no worries and ask all the questions ya want. that's what is great about this forum, lots of loveing careing people here with many kinds of experiences to help one another.

this isn't the greatest pic and he has matured some since mike took this pic but i think this is the one that looks like him. mine is really tiny, he is one of my smallest guys. he hasn't gotten his long tail feathers yet but looks beautiful now so hopefully soon. how old r u birds roughly? mine r mabe 20 or so weeks i can't remember when i hatched them out now.

only fill ur inside trough with water and both inside and outside one the last 3 days, lg directions say both, trust me don't fill both except last 3 days for any eggs in. do u have a hygrometer to measure humidity? temp is great! i'll have to ask mike what humidity thing we did different. seramas hatch usually day 19-21. i found it better to hatch them at least a day early it helped them to hatch better.

lol, hatching is adictive, that's for sure. my seramas r due to move to the hatcher on the 20th so i'm excited to see what hatches from my girls. what breed of eggs do u have comeing and how many? lol glad to be an enabler, i think everyone should own chickens.

Interesting point on the water in the bator Silkiechick. I just got a little giant (used) as a backup 'bator to my Brinsea. I am about to have an excess of hatching eggs. I set it up today and it's at 99.5 on the button so I'm happy with that. But, the humidity is saying 89%!!! My humidity in the basement in the room where it is (temp of the room is about 72) is 67% humidity. I opened both the vent holes. You think I should take some water out? I will likely be getting eggs Tuesday or Wednesday.

i kept mine like i said then i used pieces of damp sponges to up it as needed till the hygrometor was within range. if it needed upped i kept adding sponges and if needed down i removed them also. even at hatch i don't go any higher than 75%. if pulling the plugs didn't bring it down i opened the lid a few times to bring it down also. pieces of sponges work great as long as eggs don't sit against them.

i have never checked room humidity but yes it can affect humidity in a still air and so can rainy days and a/c's on, it doesn't in my sportsmans though, mabe cause they r wooden, not sure.


this is one of my little serama girls at a ny show recently.

OMG, Silkie! When you said you were a licenced poultry tech, "MIKE", and I saw that you were in Reynoldsville, PA....I think you are the one I just bought the mixed showbirds from!!! That's a hoot! My jaw is on the floor. So, I guess that answers you on what breed I have coming! You tell me :)

And HOLY COW, your little one could be Sushi's TWIN!! Identical. Does it have a little "black pepper spots" here and there?

I will buy a hygrometer today when we go buy the supplies to build the coop/tractor.

I hope that is not why my eggs have not hatched. I have had a total of 18 that I have bought on the internets, and NO luck whatsoever. I really have done my research, but everyone says so many different things, it is hard to know what is right. I have always kept water in the little canals under the eggs. I don't have anywhere to put the water "outside" I have had them in the bator since 9/7. Do you think it's too late? Should I take the water out? Open the hole, like Claire asked?

Thanks,
Shannon

are u the one i sold an assortment to on byc?

YES!

This message was edited Mar 24, 2009 10:00 AM

my byc user name is therealsilkiechick. if so i sent mostly seramas eggs but there is a few others in too i can't remember what i sent but initials r on the eggs so i can tell what pen by that.

my little guy i haven't named yet not sure what to call him. yep he does if i remember right.

let me think on the inside and outside part..... forgive me it's been about 6mths or so since i sold my foam bators. i asked mike to double check. he said there is 3 troughs in the center. the 2 on the sides that r like long slots u fill first 18 days or during incubation. the last 3 days u also fill the center square or rectangular one. sorry i forgot there was 3 so last 3 days all should be filled.

our prob with filling all of them was that the peeps would drowned in the shell from to high humidity. if u don't crack them open to tell me what u see i can't tell u what i think caused it. usually by how u see the egg inside or peep inside can tell u what most likely happened.

if u want a cheap accurate hygrometer go to walmart in the hardware section and look for a holmes humidity monitor. they shouldn't cost more that $5. look at a bunch of them and find ones that alot read the same. put back the ones reading high and low and pick one that reads steady in the middle. it never hurts to have a spare or 2 just incase u think it's reading off later. reptile digital ones r good to use also but they r about $20-30 ea.

there is many things that can cause eggs not to hatch do u know how to candle them yet? to check there progress?

omg, lol yep it was u i sent eggs to. i'd of never know it if u hadn't of figured it out. that's to funny.

Man, I tried candling them with a cup (with a hole in one end) and a maglite and I am so stumped at what everyone says I SHOULD see! I got 12 the last shipment. Candled them right away and saw NOTHING...candled them about 6 days later and half of them were clear...like pure egg white?

The other 1/2 had dark ends and a clear spot on the more narrow tip of the egg, and ONE looked like it had a dark side with some darker veins coming out of one side and "felt" denser than the rest. I really thought that was going to be the ONE, but after 25 days, I gave up. And, like a surgeon in emergency room, I called it.

BUT, I never saw "bubbles" when I candled, or the "sac" (sp?) or "bullseye", etc.

Thanks,
Shannon

u should only see a bullseye on a cracked egg. like if u make one for breakfast if it is fertile the blastodisk will be on the yolk and look like a small white spot with rings inside it, it looks like a bullseye on a hunting target.

ok give me a sec to find u a link to show u candle pics. then i'll write more...

here's a link for some candle pics. check it out while i finish replying,lol.

http://www.shilala.com/candling.html

i used to candle mine about 4 times ea set but now i only candle on day 9 and day 18. i've had eggs not show veining till day 9 and still hatch good so i wait to be sure. if they r iffy i check again on day 14 and anything clear, cracked weping or blood rings i take out the rest i leave in.

we found the best candleing lights to be led lights even on keychains. just candle in a dark room at night with lights off.

when u candle the round larger end of the egg should look white and clear it is the air cell. if ur seeing a darker mass at the smaller narrower end that is the embryo. usually developeing eggs feel a little heavier. the longer they incubate the darker more veins u will see till the baby part starts to darken then u can't see them after that it's a dark blob. if mine don't hatch 5 days past the 21st day i take a knife and poke a whole in the top and chip shell away carefully to see if baby is still alive after i candle again. if not i look to see what i can see to tell what might have caused it not to hatch so i know how to adjust to better the next hatches.

Hey y'all,
Just got home...too late to start building, but excited to start in the morning (except for the heat and humidity hear...UGH!)
NO hygrometers at Lowes OR Wal-mart, except for really big round ones that go on an outside wall. So got an ACU-RITE Indoor Humidity Monitor (digital) for $7. Stays at 64% humidity (relative) with center and 1 side well filled w/ water.
That's good right? The eggs are right above the center well.

Also got the stuff to candle, so will do that later and letcha know :) The dark "blobs" are a good sign!!

Thanks,
Shannon