I like the cute little spurs.

Yes, wish my standard sized roosters had those cute little spurs!

Those white silkies are gorgeous. Like spun sugar, so white! And how wonderful that they are so friendly.

--Johanna

Here is a link that might be useful: My place: Busy Solitude Farm

I've never seen Serama Silkies, how beautiful they are! Are they extra-sweet and friendly, more so than standard Seramas? I'm interested in how the two breeds combined, personality-wise.

They look like the old-fashioned 'Angel Hair' they used to sell at Christmas (which was actually fiberglass, yikes!). :)

Velvet ~:>

Silky Seramas are very sweet and friendly. I don't notice the difference in any of the Seramas. Seramas have been breed to be very friendly for several hundred years.

Silky feathered poultry are not a breed. The Silky Breed has an extra toe, blue skin and the silky feathers is a genetic abnormality that is linked with extra toes and blue skin. The feathers lack the barbs that fasten the individual feather veins together like Velcro.

Silky feathered birds can appear in any specie of bird. It is most prevalent in poultry due the extensive in-breeding and line-breeding in their long captive history.

I year old Silky Hen called Dumpling. She loves to pose for pictures. She isn't anywhere near a Show Girl but she tries.

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Ah! I get it. I misunderstood your post. :)

Velvet ~:>

They are so cute! Do you eat the little wee eggs?

Yep!!!-hard boiled for salads-pickled with vinegar water with different flavors. Small fried eggs for the small children--they love them! Just like big eggs but you have to use about 10-12 to equal one Red sex-link egg.

Seramas This will probably sound combattive, but that is not my intent, and I apologize in advance if you find it that way. If the silky trait is the result of one gene (be it dominant or recessive) or cluster of genes is it possible that its appearance in poultry has more to do with the lack of selective pressure than a long history of inbreeding? A finch with the silky gene is completely and totally unfit and will not survive long unless it can make it with out flying ever, but poultry has outsourced all of its problems to people, who take care of them. If it is recessive rather than dominant then I would imagine that short term inbreeding has a lot to do with the expression of it, as with all recessive traits. I've always felt that inbreeding gets a bad rap, it has its drawbacks but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its advantages, but I digress.

It can be both dominant and recessive and there is evidence that it is connected with many other combination of genes that must be present before it manifest as 'silky feathers'.

Your correct that a silky feathered bird of any sort would not survive in the wild, certain birds that display abnormal colors usually don't survive in the wild either.

In captivity when these abnormal traits appear special needs can be catered to--flightless finches. There are frizzle canaries and silky canaries in many colors--many pigeon breeders are successful breeding these traits in their flocks. So in captivity these aberrations are breed for by many breeders who are more knowledgeable than put two together breeders and get babies are.

I have a line of Seramas that have soft feathers-they bend very easily and do not support flight. Haven't found any reliable information as to what gene causes this, but am still looking.

P.S. Inbreeding and line-breeding are the keys of a successful breeding program be it rats, goats or birds when done correctly. If there is fatal genes in your bloodline it will only become dominant, eventually cause the extinction of that bloodline if not handled right. So great care must be exercised when selecting your breeders. That is why I do many test pairings with new young stock that may eventually be added to the main bloodlines. This is the only way to find those hidden traits you may/may not want in your main breeding program.

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I want to talk with you"seramas"! What is your email address?

Could you please contact me by email? I am about to delve into the Serama Breed, and I would love to find someone in the SE. Is there some way to see the pictures that have been removed?

Thanks you so much!

Juliette

I'm trying to contact Seramas, or actually, to have Seramas contact me...shackinthewoods@bellsouth.net...I live outside Charleston, SC.

Thank you so much!

Juliette

He is on vacation right now, back in June I think.

Incidentally gardenweb attracts a lot of spiders (program's that crawl the internet) and putting your email address up is a good way to get extra spam.

Thanks, I appreciate your advice!

Seramas when are you coming back from vacation and where are you again??

okay his assistant is fired now. He was supposed to be responding for Seramas!!!
LOL