Ayam Serama – photo by Phalinn Ooi

At the most recent of my niece Lydia’s 4H meeting, the children were instructed to bring an egg from their flock for a lesson.  One teenage member, Aimee, brought a tiny egg laid by her Serama hen, a bird which she had just acquired a couple of months ago.  The tiny egg produced by her diminutive bird was about the same size as a candy egg for Easter. When the egg was cracked open as part of this 4H project, things got even more interesting.

Serama – photo by -ARING-

Seramas are the smallest of all of the bantam chickens and a relatively new breed having been developed in Malaysia in the past fifty years. A newcomer breed to the United States and the United Kingdom it was introduced in 2004 and later recognized by the American Poultry Association in 2011.  Wee Yean Een derived the pure bred Serama by primarily crossing Ayam Kapans and Japanese Bantams. Roosters typically weigh 15-20 ounces and hens 9-12 ounces. Named after a popular mythological puppet character Raja Sri Rama, these tiny birds are known for their striking physiques and big personalities. Seramas strut carrying their chests forward and heads back. Their tails distinctly stand tall at a 90 degree angle with their wings almost touching the ground. Seramas are often likened to toy soldiers for their posture and attitudes of bravery. These birds are so popular in their home country Malaysia that they are often kept as house pets.

Serama Egg Cracked Open – photo by Jen Pitino

Aimee’s Serama hen’s egg was candled at the 4H meeting as part of the lesson on egg structure and freshness.  As part of the project, the eggs which had been brought and candled were then cracked open and inspected.  Of course intellectually, one knew that the Serama egg parts on the interior would be in proportion to the size of the egg’s exterior. However, it was still surprising to see an egg yolk the size of a pencil eraser floating in the albumen.  All of the white and yolk together were slightly bigger than a quarter, but smaller than a fifty cent piece.

As the last portion of this 4H lesson on egg quality, the children were directed to cook their cracked open eggs for consumption.  The fried up Serama egg was a single bite worth of food – see below how little space it takes up on the plate.  It would take many a Serama egg to make a full breakfast.  Have you ever tried to make a meal of Serama eggs?  If so, how many eggs did it take to make the dish?

RESOURCES: 

• Raising Chickens – Malaysian Ayam Serama Chicken – ARTICLE
• Chicken Junkie – Serama  – BREED PAGE 
• Poultry Keeper – Serama Bantams ARTICLE
• Malaysian Serama Bantams – HOME PAGE
• Newland Poultry – Serama: Miniature Chickens – BREED PAGE
• Serama Council of North America – CLUB HOME PAGE 
• American Serama Association – CLUB HOME PAGE 

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