OEGB or Serama? I think I did not get what I paid for...

[chicken_china_mom]

I bought a trio of Seramas last month, and I was so excited to get them because they were an early b-day present for my older DD who has been asking me for over a year some Seramas. They are beautiful birds, though very feral (not handled at all before we got them). The roo was suppose to be a year, one of the hens was suppose to be a year, and the other girl about 6 or 7 months old. My daughter was so happy to get them and she has put a lot of work into taming them, and then I posted some pics of the birds on Facebook, and a fellow chicken owner said she doesn't think Elizar, the roo is a Serama at all. Instead she thinks he's an OEGB.

So I took a ton of pictures of him to show her (she's out of state), and she said over and over that she doesn't think he's a Serama. So, here are some pictures of Elizar. She also says she isn't too sure about the one pullet either. Her comb is very small. I'll include a pic of her too. I need to know what he is. If he's an OEGB I need to contact the lady that sold them to me. My daughter is terribly upset over the possibility that he isn't the Serama she had dreamed of. Here are the pics:

This is a close up of him:

Here he is with some of his ladies (not all Seramas):

A full length of him:

This one I got in a little too close, so some of his comb is cut off:

One last pic of him:

Let me add that we found out he can fly pretty high, so I trimmed his wings last week. Before they were trimmed he was sort of holding them down.

Here is the pullet in question. She has a super teeny tiny straight comb:

And just in case, here is the adult hen:

Can anyone tell me what I have? Is the roo a Serama or an OEGB? My friend also thinks he's younger than a year since he doesn't have spurs yet, and she thinks he'll grow bigger. He's a little guy right now. He is crowing and mounting his ladies. And what about the pullet? Is she a Serama? Is the hen definitely a Serama? I'd really like to know.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

I raise both breeds, and on the first two I'm really leaning towards OEGBs. Fishy, fishy, they really don't look like seramas.

The adult hen looks like she might possibly be a serama, albeit not a good quality one.

I'd call that "breeder" and let her know you'd like a refund for at least two of the birds, if not all three. It sounds like she's doing fishy business. If those first two really are seramas (doubtful, they sure look an awful lot like OEGBs!), they're VERY poor quality. The last hen does not look like a good serama either even if she is pure. She's pretty and cute, but not a good example of a serama.

Edit: Here's a photo of my serama rooster and one of my OEGB roosters, for comparison:

Serama

OEGB

Don't mind the colors so much, it's more the body type. I have a BB red OEGB cockerel that looks a lot like your "serama," and I had a brown-red OEGB pullet that looked just like your pullet. Google brown-red OEGB and you'll see what I mean...

I'm so sorry you got ripped off!

 

[Nekhebet]

I'm not an expert, and I'm rather new to chickens in general, but I have some Seramas. I don't think my male bird ever stands like that? Your bird seems longer and his tail is not held right, it's kind of just out there, whereas my (probably not SQ) bird's tail is upright with an "A" shape to it. Maybe I'm misjudging the way he is standing, but there's SOMETHING about his back regions that isn't right somehow.

Not sure about the female birds, my only older female (still a pullet) is pretty crappy looking.

BTW, as for your daughter....if she liked the birds before your friend told you they might be OEGB, reassure her that they are the SAME BIRDS they were before she found that out, and still worth affection. Just my opinion. Which isn't to say don't talk to the seller...just try not to feel bad about the poor birds. xD

Edit: This is my bird, he's under a year old. I had just bought him when I took this picture, so he's probably worse looking than he should be, and has a scab on his comb where the other roosters were beating him up. In any case, he was just walking around and looked up at me/the camera, and isn't doing any sort of special Serama pose or anything. This is what I mean by there's something different about the back.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Sigh. This is such a depressing situation. Nekhebet, you are very right. My daughter does still love the birds, but she's still upset about it. Seramas are what I paid for, what I expected, and what I should have received. This was another BYC'er too, that's what bothers me even more. I don't want to raise a stink, and I don't know how the other person will react, but I have a little girl that is very disappointed, not to mention my own disappointment as we have searched long and hard for that breed. I can go just about anywhere and get OEGB's, but Seramas are harder to come by and I really thought I had locked on to a good trio. I'm going to go e-mail her now, though I'm not exactly sure of what I should say. I probably won't do business with her again in the future though.

 

[Nekhebet]

Quote:
That's probably pretty much all you can do.

If you've signed up for the SCNA website, there's a few nice people you can buy live birds from, or the occasional egg. A lot of time they sell pet quality birds for just the cost of shipping, which might be something worth thinking about.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Yes, seramas are more expensive birds, so this is not the first time I've heard of someone selling "seramas" that were actually OEGBs.

I really hope she refunds your money and does not get angry at you for wanting what you really paid for. Is it possible she was sold these birds as seramas herself and didn't know? The body types are really not what a serama is supposed to look like, I have trouble believing any actual serama breeder (and I'm just a casual serama breeder!) would call those seramas.

So it's either a rip-off or a genuine (albeit rather questionable) mistake.

I hope your daughter still keeps the birds, though--OEGBs are a wonderful breed as well!

Not as unusual as seramas, but very sweet, funny, and energetic.

Do you have an incubator? If so, you may want to explain the situation to the good folks in the serama thread and see if someone might send you some eggs cheap or free.

I would gladly send you some real serama eggs, but I only have two adult hens at the moment and one is raising a chick, the other is on eggs, so I have no eggs at the moment. Good luck, I hope you're able to get some real seramas sometime in the near future.

Oh, and I agree with Nekhebet--SCNA is great and you may find some great birds, definitely real seramas, for cheap or free (pay shipping) there. There are some gooorgeous birds on there!

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

oooh, I just hate when people do that to me. I would send the seller an email asking to be refunded for the 3 birds.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Quote:
I am fairly certain that she knew exactly what she was doing. She breeds Seramas as well as a dozen or more other breeds, and she hatched these birds out herself. She told me as much. She admitted to having over 700 birds on her farm. So to do this to my little girl, because I clearly told her it was a B-Day present to her, is just mean and there is no call for it. Out of curiosity, what is the average price for a trio of OEGB's? I figured when I made the deal with her that I wasn't getting the best of her stock, I didn't pay enough to get the best of her stock, but I expected at least pet quality SERAMAS. My daughter is very upset. This is the first breed that she has ever asked for. She's already extremely emotional sensitive, and doesn't handle stress very well, so to take these birds away from her would be cause for a complete meltdown. Vomiting, crying, anxiety attack, you name it. It just angers me to be scammed like that. I was hoping, since these little birds are so wild to breed them in the spring so that my daughter could slip their eggs under one of my Silkies, and then she'd have some tamer little chicks to play with and spoil. Seramas are her favorite breed. I'm going to e-mail the breeder now. I hope she responds, and in a positive way. I'd like to resolve this quickly and with as little drama as possible.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Oooh, that just makes me so angry!

Even if you didn't pay a whole lot, you'd think she'd sell you what you were paying for--seramas! 700 birds on her farm, yeesh, that also sounds a bit suspicious. That's a lot of birds to take proper care of and keep track of breeding...

OEGBs, it really varies. You can get hatchery chicks pretty cheaply ($3 each or so), but breeder birds usually go for, say $15-35 each maybe? Or more if it's a proven showbird. Pet quality seramas should be cheap or free from a good serama breeder, or $25-50 for a decent quality bird, or more for a show-type bird. I think you should still be able to get her some seramas cheaply if you keep hunting around. If you tell about what happened on SCNA, someone might help you out getting you some seramas if you still want some.

Also, hatching out some OEGBs from these ones sounds good! When raised with regular handling, OEGBs are VERY tame and VERY good pets! Mine often fly up and sit on my shoulders, run up when I go in the coop, jump in my lap, etc. My seramas are very tame/sweet/easy to handle, but I think my OEGBs are more outgoing and friendly and just as easy to handle. That ought to make her happy.

Hoping for the best reaction from the seller--a refund right away! It is really unfair what she did.

 

[Nekhebet]

Quote:
With respect to the Seramas, they run from free (Pet quality) to downright freakishly priced. The thing that will kill you if you're buying live birds is the shipping. Yeesh. Then again, I'm a starving student/parent, so that might be why I feel that way lol.

Jerry provides birds for 4H kids for just the shipping. Is your daughter involved in that? Jerry's birds are very nice, and you can't beat that deal. Either way, some of the SCNA people seem decent, hopefully someone will help you out.

And lastly, I agree about the seller. The thing is, if that person was aware of what they were selling, I can't imagine they'll want to give back the money. I hope no one else gets disappointed like that