The Serama Club Of Great Britain

The Serama Breed Standard & Breed Standard Q&A

Home
The Serama Breed Standard & Breed Standard Q&A
Join The Serama Club Of Great Britain
Serama Sizes
Feeding, Housing & Health of Serama
Serama Gallery
News & Events
Show Dates & Special Award Card Scheme
Club Merchandise
Useful links & Guestbook

This is the only Standard for the Serama bantam in the UK.  Formally recognised and accepted by the Poultry Club Of Great Britain in November 2008

SERAMA

 

Origin:  Malaysia

Classification:  True Bantam

Egg Colour: Varying from white to brown

 

The Malaysian Serama first arrived in this country in 2004.  Its ancestry is believed to date as far back as the 1600’s and is associated with the Thai King Sri Ama.  The modern day Serama was created by Wee Yean Een beginning in 1971 by using Ayam Kapans which gave them their very light weight.  He then introduced some Japanese bantams, eventually arriving at our present day birds.

 

The Serama

 

General Characteristics: male.

 

Carriage & Temperament:  Assertive with confident bold stance yet calm and manageable.  Should be easily handled and show no aggression.  The bird should pose readily and when viewed from the side should create a vase like or wide ‘V’ shape.

Type:  Body well muscled with breast carried high, full and well forward.  From above the shape is somewhat elliptical, tapering towards the tail.  The back should be very short and covered by abundant hackle covering both the shoulders and secondaries and flowing onto the tail coverts giving the base of tail a full appearance.  Tail should be carried high and upright at a 90-degree angle, parallel to the neck and should be large and full.  Main tail feathers should be long and broad and should over lap.  The tail should be open and when viewed from behind should be open to an angle of       45 degrees creating an open ‘V’ shape.  Sickles are slightly curved and protrude beyond the main tail.  Side hangers and tail coverts should be broad, plentiful and well curved..

Wings:  Fairly large in proportion to the body they should be held in a vertical position just clearing the ground and leaving the feet partially visible.  Shoulders should be set high on the bird.  Primaries are long of medium width with secondaries moderately long and broad.

Head:  Head to be small and carried well back.  The single comb is small to medium in size with five serrations preferred though more are allowed.  It should be straight smooth, free of folds or any deformities and tending towards flyaway type.  Wattles are to compliment the comb, smaller being preferred and free from folds and wrinkles.

Legs and feet:  The legs are of medium length, straight and set wide apart to allow for full and muscular body.  They should be strong and stable.  Thighs should be of medium length and well muscled with shanks of good thickness.

Plumage:  All feathers should be  in good condition with lustrious sheen.  Body feathers to be full and profuse.

Colour:  Male and female:  The principal colours seen are:-  White, black (with blue-green sheen), buff, red, partridge, wheaten, mottled, spangled and duckwing but any colour or combination of colours is acceptable and none to be penalised.

Comb, face and wattles bright red though  darker is acceptable in the darker colours.  Eyes clear and bright with any colour being acceptable.

Any colour legs and feet are acceptable

Female:  The general characteristics are similar to those of the male, allowing for the natural sexual differences.

Weights: 

Male           up to 600 grams (21.16 oz)

Female        up to 500 grams (17.64 oz)

 

Scale of Points:

 

Type and carriage     25

Temperament           15

Tail Carriage             20

Wings                       10

Body                         5

Legs                          5

Feather Structure       5

Head/Comb/Wattles  10

Colour                       5

 

Total                         100

 

Serious Defects

 

Lack of attitude, nervousness or shyness.  Long back, Low tail carriage, wry tail, cow hocks.  Duck feet.  Legs too short or too fine.  Feathering on shanks or feet.  Comb other than single.  Any general defects.  Weight exceeding the upper limit.

 

Silkie Serama:  Silkie feathered Serama are acceptable.  However they should still display a high and upright tail, wide as in the smooth feathered.  The comb should be moderate in size as in smooth feathered and not large as in the Japanese.

 

bluelogosmall.jpg

Breed Standard Q & A
 
if you have a question on the breed standard please email The Serama Club Of Great Britain at almanacnewfoundlands@hotmail.com for advise.
 

Q1, what colour should a serama's ear lobes be?
A1, any colour is acceptable.

Q2, How do I ask a serama to pose?
A2, using a judgeing stick or finger gently prod it under the wattles and it will pose.  try both in and out of show cage as some stand better in familiar surroundings, some better in unfamiliar to see full body outline.
 

click here to play video of asking a serama to pose

Q3, I have 2 birds utterly equal in type and quality in front of me. equal in every respect except one is smaller then the other. which gets 1st?
A3 the smaller bird if they are utterly equal as the breed is meant to be a miniture breed.

Q4, I have 2 birds in front of me. one is superb type but a bit larger -about 580g, the other has poorer type but is very tiny -260g..which should get 1st?
Q4, the more typy bird should always be placed first. without good type the bird is not a serama-merely a small bantam.

Q5, The black serama in front of me has one white wing feather. should it be penalised?
A5. No. any colour in serama is acceptable.

Q6, What is meant by a 'vase shape' , V shape ?
A6 , Please see the illustration which I think explains this clearer then words can!

serama_type_large.jpg
The Vase /wide v shape

please note..
it is not possible for a serama with good type to be a bad colour and a pretty coloured bird with bad type is not a serama-its merely a small bantam.

 
 
 
Pet Grade & Exhibition Grade.

below we have compiled a few photos to assist in identifying pet grade and show grade birds.
Please bear in mind photography in birds is differcult, a bad photo can make a very good bird look dreadful and a skilled photographer can hide a mulitude of faults in a poor grade bird. these photos are just here as bit of a visual aid.
if looking at grower youngsters also please remember all serama go through a horrible ugly duckling stage which has to be endured-wait until the birds are mature until making judgement.

petgradeserama.jpg

some of the faults (not all!) in the pet grades here.
 
A.  this hen has very poor wing set. she is also long in back. her good feature is she has a rather nice tail and the tail is upright
 
B. this cockerel is very poor. his wings are too long and badly held. his back is far too long. his tail is far too low and he lacks the desired V back.
 
C. this cockerel has got nice wing set however his tail set is far too low and he is long in back.
 
D. this hen has very poor horizontal wing set, a very poor U shaped back, an overly long neck and mangled comb

exhibition-serama.jpg

 
 
 
 
 
About The Exibition Serama
 
note the common themes with these birds. proud high chests, high tails, short backs, V backs and near virtical wings

medium-logo.jpg

Copyright NoticeThe website operator, affiliates and partners each reserve copyright in all content that they provide to the site, including but not limited to design, text, software, drawings, graphics and other files.None of these may be republished, reproduced, downloaded, displayed, distributed, posted transmitted or sold in any form or by any means in whole or in part without prior written permission of the copyright owner. No part of this web site content may be reproduced and reused for any commercial purpose whatsoever. All page headers, button icons, collection material, custom graphics and all other types of graphics used on this site may not be copied or imitated without the right owner's permission.