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The good, the bad, and the ugly about different chicken breeds

Callista15

Sprinting down the street
Joined
3/21/13
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350
Location
Washington State
Real Name
Callista(Cally)
I figure I might as well start one of these threads. I'll start with the Seramas first, as they are the breed I have the most experience with.
 

Callista15

Sprinting down the street
Joined
3/21/13
Messages
350
Location
Washington State
Real Name
Callista(Cally)
Malaysian Seramas
The good:
I find Seramas to be great house chickens. They're small enough not to be messy, friendly, tend to be smart enough to learn not to set off other pet's prey drive, and don't eat much. They're hilarious to watch, especially with a larger flock. Seramas are relatively healthy, and are longer lived than most larger breeds(think 15+ compared to 5-10 of, say, Orpingtons). Although many breeds become uninterested in humans after the hormones start hitting, this generally doesn't apply to Seramas. They tend to enjoy working with people. Although they fly very well, they learn boundaries well, and will not usually fly over a fence, once they learn that it is off limits. Only one serama I've owned ever flew over a fence, and she started squawking and pacing to get my attention. Despite the fact that this particular hen despised me, she stood still for me so I could get her over the fence. To top it off, Seramas have something for just about everyone. Feather mutations, silkied, frizzled, sizzled, booted, tailless, with just about every color and pattern under the sun, as well as every size from huge to teeny tiny.
The bad: Seramas are extremely attractive to predators. This means they're best housed inside unless you don't mind losing birds on a regular basis. If they imprint on humans, you're pretty much guaranteed problems such as extreme bird-on-bird aggression. Infant mortality is high, and fertility is low(though to be fair, I've never had this problem with my own birds). You're virtually bound to not hatch anything if you use less than a state-of-the-art fully automated incubator, like the ones offered by Brinsea. It's less expensive than losing eggs and chicks by the dozen. Seramas are a work in progress. You can go dozens of generations before getting anywhere. To make this worse, Seramas are something of a fad now, with every backyard breeder pumping out unhealthy birds by the dozen and lying through their teeth. And then there's the feed wasting. Plus they love to mess up their food. I woke up one morning to a soupy swamp in the living room, a broken feeder and waterer, and a chicken who would be smirking if she were capable of it. :meh:
The ugly: Seramas will often kill a less aggressive bird, or just keep it away from the food and water until it starves. If one hen goes on the nest to raise offspring, she often ends up the low man on the totem pole when she gets back. As her offspring acquire her status, this usually causes problems, especially for less aggressive birds.
 
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