Chicken Breed Focus - Ayam Cemani

[mcbrown7513]

If it helps any, these are what my crosses look like so far:

Top chick is a cross with either a white leghorn or a California white. Other three are all crosses between a white NN male and an AC female. They are likely full siblings.

Beautiful birds. I want to get my granddaughter a few show birds. I would also use these birds to broaden the genetic pool of my flock.

 

[KippenPlatform]

Why you are cross those birds ?

 

[KippenPlatform]

Ok thanks!
I've always thought that they would lay black eggs also I would LOVE one for my birthday

Are they pretty friendly?

That black egg you see on the internet was for an promotion and not from the Ayam Cemani.
Those eggs below are from my Ayam Cemani.



If you have Ayam Cemani eggs with other color then this, more brown, you have no pure breed of the Ayam Cemani

 

[Pyxis]

Why you are cross those birds ?

For fun. I wanted to see what crosses look like. There's no harm in it unless I was passing them off as purebreds and trying to sell them to people as such, which I am not. I crossed them when I didn't have a rooster and couldn't have produced purebreds, and when my rooster hopped his pen into my egg layer flock and fertilized the hens in there.

On egg color, cream to tan is permitted for the proposed US Standard (which is actually the Indonesian standard, where the birds originated from, and actually there is no mention of egg color at all).The cemanis imported into the US lay a cream egg, as mentioned by their importer (Greenfire Farms) in their info on them, and being a little more heavily tinted would be fine here. The only white eggs I've run across here in the US are, ironically, from crossbred cemanis that were bred out to leghorns. In fact, in Indonesia, on the kedu plains, where the breed originates, they are a landrace, not really bred for anything but meat, so varying egg colors would not be surprising. It's a little hurtful to say that if someone's birds don't have one particular trait that is in a standard in one country, they couldn't possibly be purebred. I'm sure you meant no offense, but no one likes it when it is suggested they have impure birds

If you're interested in checking out the proposed US (and Indonesian) standard, you can check it out here

 

[Pyxis]

Beautiful birds. I want to get my granddaughter a few show birds. I would also use these birds to broaden the genetic pool of my flock.

Thanks! Just to let you know since these guys aren't accepted by the APA you won't be able to show them and take Champion of the show, but she could still have fun showing them and she can probably enter them and maybe win BB for unrecognized breed or BV for unrecognized variety, I think

 

[cafrhe]

My daughter and I have just started to breed these birds. She fell completely in love with them so I bought her some hatching eggs for her birthday last year. We were a little surprised at what we hatched and quickly started studying the breed more closely. We hatched chicks with some amount of color on them. Several had white toe tips and 2 had white down on their wing tips. They all darkened up and by the time they had all their feathers they were all black except for 1 who still had 1 white feather (that you couldnt see unless he flapped). We decided to give away the 2 roosters and keep the girls. They are beautiful chickens. Flighty, but very curious and if you sit quietly with them they will hang out with you. If we did more 'meal worm therapy', I am sure they would be in our laps all the time!

We did a lot of study and found out that the faults that our little flock had were not entirely unusual and part of breeding a fibromelanastic breed (especially one with a limited US gene pool). There seem to be 2 main issues regarding their color--mulberry in the wattles (and less often combs) and light colored mouths. We found a dark mouthed rooster to go with our lighter mouthed hens and have just started hatching chicks. We are very excited to start improving our breeding stock. But, I have heard that breeding this breed is not for the faint of heart! The color variation comes from an unusual type of mutation and is complicated in its expression. So genetically, there is a lot going on to get a fully black bird.

I will say that the birds with light mouths and some mulberry in their wattles (sometimes you only notice if they are excited or in full sunlight) are still very beautiful and great 'eye candy'. Those birds should be fairly affordable, but not good breeding stock if you are trying for darker insides (mouth and organs).

 

[Pyxis]

This last picture is super cute! Looks like you're getting some nice chicks from your new rooster

 

[cafrhe]

Thanks Pyxis--That was very soon after hatching. My first thought was ---that chick has a great survival instinct! We are having some hatch with white toe tips and we were disappointed (of course our fantasy was pure black all the time!). But we looked back at the pictures of the mothers when they were chicks and it is clear that we have a good improvement already. So I am happy (and trying to not be impatient!). We have the best chicks marked, 2nd tier marked and everything not marked will have to go at some point. It will be interesting to see how they all develop. This is definitely an interesting breed!

 

[CherriesBrood]

Do you know where I can get some of these? These are gorgeous birds and I would love to just have one!

You can order chicks from Greenfire Farms, who originally imported the breed, for $200 each. Or you can find a breeder like me, CJWaldon, etc, here on BYC and buy eggs or chicks if they're selling. Also check out this breeder's directory here. Good luck

Wooow! I didn't know they where that much. They really must be a majestic bird, if been trying to do some research on them. I really want some, but they are a lot of money! Thanks for your help.

 

[p1k4]

Tks alot @sumi a follow this website since i start in the world of chikens and in my opinion it's a good learning center!