Speckles

This is Speckles. He is one of the first four I ever hatched out of my first two pairs of Serama. His parents are huge, none of them would qualify in any of the weight classes accepted for this breed. With that being said, I think it is my fault, in a way, that my birds all end up weighing more than Serama are supposed to weigh.

This is not a real great shot, but I wanted to show his beautiful tail. He is only about 7 months old and has already filled out so beautifully.

 

A lot of people tend to feed their chickens scratch grains. There is not a lot of nutrition in this as it is mostly cracked corn. Chickens LOVE it, it is like candy to them, but just like candy, it isnt really all that good for you.

I don't totally deprive my chickens of scratch grains, but I do mix it with 16 percent layer crumble which is a complete diet for any chicken.

I raised my first four from babies. They are beautiful, but they are big.

I hatched off about thirteen babies from these originals. I traded some with Dwain for silkies and Twiggy. I have seen his birds since trading, they are not huge like Speckles. He feeds them scratch grains more often than not.

The largest an adult rooster can weigh and still be in the class C, which is the largest class is I believe 600 grams. I weighed Speckles.

Ummm....he is over 800 grams...oooopps.

It is too bad, I would have liked to have shown him.

Come to find out he has exceptional manners. I have never handled him. Day before yesterday I took an opportunity to snag him out of the pen. He freaked out for a second, but then amazingly he was fine. I took him in the house, took these pictures, put some vaselineon his comb (it has been so cold, and I am afraid he might get frostbite on his comb as he is in an unheated pen with others). 

 

I am still amazed to this day how one will act so differently than others. When I took pictures of Buzzbomb and tried to hold him to tame him down he was wild as all get out, never would settle down.

Speckles, he took it all in stride. I sat with him in the rocker and tried rubbing him under the wings like so many of my chickens like, and well he took right to it. Lifted his wing right on up, held it up for me. So we went to the other side and did that one too. He was even talking to me. Not in a nervous way, but in a little calm way. It is hard to describe, but they do have a lot of different sounds, and I have learned a lot of them and what they mean as far as what they are feeling.

I tried to put him down and let him walk around, but believe it or not, he didnt want to! He wanted me to keep holding him and petting him.

I still think some chickens are smarter than others. Some catch on really quick that you are not going to hurt them and they would enjoy a humans company.

Yesterday when I went out to make my rounds I talked to Speckles through the pen door and I want you to know he hopped up on the front perch and started dancing along that perch and looking at me, all happy to see me. Too sweet.

Shelby said she saw where someone had toilet trained their pet chicken, it was on a video. I have yet to find it, but I will! I want to know how to do this. If it possible, just imagine the possibilities!

Speckles temperament is perfect for show, but he is just too big, too bad really.

The second bunch of Serama I got recently have already 'bulked up' compared to when I got them a few months ago. I think they will still meet the weight requirements for a show though.

One morething, if you notice, he is not very typy. He does not pose like a Serama very much. He can do it, I have seen him do it. He did it when I put him back in the pen that day. He wouldnt do it for me when I was taking pictures.