A Walk On the Cemani Side

[AmayaOkami]

Most of my avian knowledge revolves around coturnix quail and a blue and gold macaw. We used to have bantam years ago and those have always been my favorite.


I can't remember when I first heard of the Ayam Cemani breed, but I remember I wanted one the moment I saw them. Well after finishing college and getting a job at one of the local hospitals I've decided to finally take the plunge. I went over most of this in my intro, but I wanted to start a kind of "journal" to help me keep track of the progress to better learn along the way.


My aunt was the one who showed me there was an ongoing summer sale of 6 cemani chicks for 200$ at feather lover farms. These chicks are from the greenfire farms line, so I decided I'd go for it. I guess the sale was bigger than they expected because it took a month for them to fill the order, but I had to give them credit, I got the chicks the very next day on 9/23.


When I got home to inspect them, I noticed two still had their egg tooth, two were still just fuzzy, and two were starting to feather. So I'm hoping I got a few from different hens.

In this one you can see the bit of size difference between them all.


Now I'm going to be completely honest with you all, sexing chicks has never been my forte. I can only really tell with the REALLY dominant males, and even that is when they've gotten a lot older, so any ideas or input will be a lot of help.

Like this guy. I'm pretty sure it's a male by the way he stands and holds himself. He'll also try to bow up at us when we walk by, but this is the only one I see acting this way.


My goal is to have pictures of every inch of each chick and to hopefully start telling them apart. On 9/27 we decided to put them out on the back porch, since it's been very hot in Florida lately. The first night they all did just fine and seemed to be enjoying the extra room they had, but that didn't last...


The night of 9/28 it rained really hard ALL night and got too cold out. When I went out the next morning, one of the youngest chicks was laying down near motionless and was really cold. We immediately rushed him inside under the heat light and made some sugar water to hopefully up his energy. I also moved the rest of the little guys in side instantly.

For over 3 hours I worked on him with dropping sugar water in his mouth and keeping him warm. He started to move now and was even starting to stand and peep a bit, but I had to go to work at 1pm, by 7om I got a text that the chick had died. I knew I had no one to blame but myself, but I have become extra vigilant with the 5 remaining.


I posted some pictures in my intro, but I'm going to post them here as well. I need to get each one individually and take pics of every inch, if just for better documentation.

This one is a nice color and has a really dark beak, but he has a couple white toes and nails :/

This is another, but this one seems to have nice black legs and feet, but I think there is a bit of white in the tip of his beak and wing.


These are actually the only decent pictures I have of them sadly. We actually just took about 50 quail eggs off the rocker. My mom has always been really impatient when it comes to hatches, but I think my cheeping chicks helped since this morning around 5am there are 14, but now there are close to 40 at around 8pm. It's also been really busy at work and my phone doesn't like to take close shots,but I'm hoping to maybe get some of one a day at least.


Here's hoping this journey has a happy ending! More updates coming soon

 

[AustralorpsAU]

Cool pics. Looking forward to seeing them grow up!

 

[AmayaOkami]

Here are some updates pictures of the chicks from 10-3.

This is the oldest of the 5 and I'm 99% positive it's a male. I tried to get close ups on his growing comb for any more verification.

So far his feathers are coming in all black, so here is hoping there will be no leakage. I know they don't look too dark in this photo, but that is because of the camera on my phone.

I couldn't get both his legs to stay in focus and couldn't get any pictures of his soles. Please ignore how dirty his feet are, he's been on freshly moistened pine pellets and was digging for the meal worms my mom has been sneaking them.

 

[AmayaOkami]

I'm posting each chick in their own post because it's easier on my phone.

This chick I think is from the same clutch as the first one, so I'm pretty sure this one is a female. Their combs are completely different. Why I have learned is when he's not around this little bugger starts calling for him REALLY loud.

Her feet aren't as dirty as his were. I know it's not the best picture, but from what Ive seen, only the very tips of her toes aren't that dark, but for the most part I'm pleased.

Her feathers are coming in all dark as well, again they are darker in person and I obviously need a new phone lol

And this is their buddy! We got a few eggs from my aunt in GA when we went up to see her, and this girl was sadly the only one to hatch. She's quite a bit older than them, but she seems not to mind them too much.

 

[AmayaOkami]

This one is the biggest of the babies we still have inside. I'm still not too sure, but after watching him walk around with the other two I have a suspicion it's a male. He's definitely the loudest of the 3.

His big boy feathers are starting to come in! All black so far.

So far his legs and feet are nice and dark (and cleaner lol)

 

[AmayaOkami]

This one is the second oldest of the 3. I'm pretty sure this one and the first one are from the same clutch since they are about the same size.

Their feathers are about the same size and nice and black. So far no white ones.

Nice black legs and feet. So far no green yet.

 

[AmayaOkami]

This is my baby baby. Any help on sexing with this close up? I'm not too sure on this one.

Feathers are starting to come in on this little guy as well. Soon all of them will be moved back to the back porch.

So far this one has the most white, and even that is just a few toes. I've read that can darken as they age so not counting anything out just yet.

 

[AmayaOkami]

Well I moved the rest of my guys back out on the back porch as the little guys kept trying to escape in the house. So far it's been a week and they even made it through the hurricane. My mother has created a bunch of monsters now though. She been sneaking them mealworms, so now EVERY TIME someone walks out they ate demanding treats, and when I open it up to feed them they have all decided they are going to bust loose and find those treats themselves! Every. Time.

That is Sammy. He likes to come visit them every time I go to feed. He thinks he's going to help me catch them when they get loose, but they just end up chasing him all over the place lol

Aaaaaaaand this is Titus their guardian. He likes to come over and yell at me if I am making the chicks peep too loud. He talks to them all day long.

 

[drumstick diva]

Glad I found this. I am really enjoying this thread and just subscribed. Love the progressive photos and your descriptions. Titus sounds like quite a character. Does he speak to the chicks in bird talk or human words?

 

[AmayaOkami]

Glad you like it! I haven't gotten any close ups lately because they haven't changed much. Titus is a trip with them sometimes it's soft bird talk to them and he'll even climb down like that so he can see them, or he'll go on with his "hi, hello, hi, pretty bird, hi." if they are peeping really loud on their own he'll tell them "no, stop it, quiet" but if I'm the one messing with them he climbs down to get eye level with me to tell me no and stop it lol

In that picture you can even see the feeder and the quail off to the side in his cage. She was very mean and would keep all the others all crammed in the nesting box and wouldn't let them out. She even killed one of our males so she is in a forever time out in his pen and he likes to feed her. I have sat back and watch him pick out seeds from his bowl to drop for her, then he'll eat one then drop one for her.