Serama Hatch-A-Long!!

[formerchickenlass]

New broody-hatched chicks on the 9th through 11th. 8 this time. There's another brown chick hiding under mom.

 

[darkbluespace]

Wow, did she hatch all of them? I don't think I have had a Serama hatch more than four or five,but I guess I don't give them more eggs that that. Cute little chicks! Mama is so pretty!

 

[formerchickenlass]

Wow, did she hatch all of them? I don't think I have had a Serama hatch more than four or five,but I guess I don't give them more eggs that that. Cute little chicks! Mama is so pretty!

Thank you!

This was a total experiment. I originally planned to pull the initial eggs & break the broody because I've got so many chickens at this point. But I flip-flopped on it during the first week and one by one all 5 of my girls went broody and took turns sitting on the eggs together (after adding a few). And I'm so tired of breaking broodies, seriously at least one of these girls is feeling broody pretty much any given time.

During the group brood one or two hens would usually spend some or all of the day with the cock and then all 5 of them on the eggs at night.

During the brood I kept a close eye on them to make sure everyone stayed safe in the box and then over the course of 2 days these 8 hatched.

Initially I tried splitting chicks amongst several of the hens, but instead of teaching their chicks to eat/drink they were hoarding them from each other.

So I just gave them all to one hen and that's that.

They sat a total of 16 eggs. I checked the last 8 yesterday and removed, none looked alive. I imagine at least some of those may have been incompletely covered by the girl pile at some point toward the end.

I'm so excited though, 4 are silkied and I only have 1 silkied hen. Usually only get 1-2 of those chicks per hatch.

 

[mdrake1984]

Join the SCNA (Serama Council of North America) or thier forum/facebook group... Serama are hard to hatch in an incubabtor, and better under a broody he

 

[darkbluespace]

I just hatched 15 in the incubator. Sometimes I actually do a better job hatching than some of my hens, so I put most of those babies under my girls and let them raise them. They are wonderful mothers.

 

[formerchickenlass]

I sold most of the ones in the above post early on but the ones I kept & let her raise turned out pretty wild. They were in an outside building so I didn't see them as much. It was harder enticing them to come to me when I wasn't "mom" and they were so fast that I gave up catching them a lot of times and thus didn't pick them up enough.

From now on I'll be hatching and raising chicks myself. Though I must admit the pics I got of her with chicks heads poking out of her wings were just adorable.

Here are two... *ahem* chicks a few days before she decided they were no longer chicks, lol.

 

[Skink]

Haven't posted here in forever but man have I ever still been hatching serama. It is nice to see everyone's babies!

 

[Bryam]

I am getting low hatch rates. Is that normal with Serma eggs? I have a Hovabtor 1588 with fan and an automatic turner. Temp is at 99.5 humidty a 45-55% DAYS 1-18. They are in an autoamtic turner, 90 percent die on day 17 / 18. I just hatched 4 chcicks out of 20 eggs. Fertlity is very high, just high death rate before hatching. Temp is consistant, humidty is 60-65 during hatching.

Would i have better luck hand turning the eggs?

 

[darkbluespace]

I am getting low hatch rates. Is that normal with Serma eggs? I have a Hovabtor 1588 with fan and an automatic turner. Temp is at 99.5 humidty a 45-55% DAYS 1-18. They are in an autoamtic turner, 90 percent die on day 17 / 18. I just hatched 4 chcicks out of 20 eggs. Fertlity is very high, just high death rate before hatching. Temp is consistant, humidty is 60-65 during hatching.

Would i have better luck hand turning the eggs?

You could try a lower humidity. I incubate mine at about 35% and find that is just about perfect. I still have to help a few out, but they can mostly pip the shell at that humidity. It depends on the humidity where you live, so you could try weighing your eggs. If I did 45 to 55 here, I wouldn't hatch any!

I don't think lack of hand turning turning is causing your problem.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[formerchickenlass]

I am getting low hatch rates. Is that normal with Serma eggs? I have a Hovabtor 1588 with fan and an automatic turner. Temp is at 99.5 humidty a 45-55% DAYS 1-18. They are in an autoamtic turner, 90 percent die on day 17 / 18. I just hatched 4 chcicks out of 20 eggs. Fertlity is very high, just high death rate before hatching. Temp is consistant, humidty is 60-65 during hatching.

Would i have better luck hand turning the eggs?

Hi Bryam, there are so many factors that can cause low hatch rates. Hand turning is definitely worth a try. I've no experience with that model incubator but I know a lot of people feel auto turners are too rough on serama eggs. I run my heat a touch higher, 99.7. I don't know whether that would make a difference for you. Have you tested the temp and humidity with separate devices to confirm your incubator is registering correctly?

Are you hatching your own eggs or shipped eggs?

If they're your own eggs, are the breeder birds on vitamin supplements?

How old are the breeders?

Are the shells nice and solid? Good size eggs, not too small, not misshapen?

Disinfecting incubator thoroughly between each use? Eggs appear clean?