AYAM CEMANI - Pure Black chicken, inside and out!

[bigmrg74]

Eggs occasionally when I can't fit them in my own incubator. Chicks, not yet. The breed is still a work in progress here in the US, and a lot of babies hatch out imperfect. I wouldn't feel right selling imperfect babies to people, since it would overall hurt the breed if people were trying to breed from them. I do sell the imperfect ones as yard candy/layers, but only one per person to keep bad breeding from happening. Unfortunately right now all a lot of people can see about the breed is that it sells for a lot of money, and they don't care if they hurt the breed trying to get a piece of that.

That's true with about any animal out there.

 

[Sylvester017]

You should try Norwegian Jaerhons. They are Gull type birds who though active and good fliers are gentle and can be kept with other gentle breeds. I have raised them for years with EEs and they are less aggressive than the EEs. I have with 2 roosters and 23 hens, EEs and NJs, in one pen and they get along great. They have the added advantage of being auto-sexing and good layers. They are also very small for a large fowl but lay lots of medium to large eggs. I wish more people knew about them as they are my favorite breed.

Thank you for the feedback. I researched NJs 2 yrs ago and on the surface sounded ideal for size and temperament. I hesitated however because there was feedback that NJ's tended to be independent and flighty (I need birds that are happy staying in the backyard) and also that the 3+ lb hens layed LG eggs. In my mind a small bird should lay an appropriately sized egg like SM or MED because it takes a lot of nutrients out of a small 3-lb hen to be a prolific layer of LG eggs. Like most production birds the NJ was an engineered breed so I hesitated.

The temperament with flockmates is good but sounds human-shy. The tendency to be escape artists and laying such LG eggs also concerned us. The NJ sounded more like a bird for ppl who wanted production over temperament and we prefer temperament rather than high production. It was a struggle to rule out the NJ since we were looking for a gentle white egg layer and there just aren't that many gentle white egg breeds to choose from.

 

[aurissavannahs]

Thank you for the feedback. I researched NJs 2 yrs ago and on the surface sounded ideal for size and temperament. I hesitated however because there was feedback that NJ's tended to be independent and flighty (I need birds that are happy staying in the backyard) and also that the 3+ lb hens layed LG eggs. In my mind a small bird should lay an appropriately sized egg like SM or MED because it takes a lot of nutrients out of a small 3-lb hen to be a prolific layer of LG eggs. Like most production birds the NJ was an engineered breed so I hesitated.

The temperament with flockmates is good but sounds human-shy. The tendency to be escape artists and laying such LG eggs also concerned us. The NJ sounded more like a bird for ppl who wanted production over temperament and we prefer temperament rather than high production. It was a struggle to rule out the NJ since we were looking for a gentle white egg layer and there just aren't that many gentle white egg breeds to choose from.

I don't want to hijack this thread as it is about ACs so I will be brief. NJs were a landrace in Norway and are a heritage breed not an engineered breed. NJs are friendly and mine run to me if I have treats though the EEs usually chase them away. They lay a medium to large egg, most often medium, and I have three year old hens that are healthy and still laying though not as much as the first year. Their draw back is they do fly. I keep mine in covered runs so problem solved. If interested check out the Norwegian Jaerhon thread.

 

[Sylvester017]

I don't want to hijack this thread as it is about ACs so I will be brief. NJs were a landrace in Norway and are a heritage breed not an engineered breed. NJs are friendly and mine run to me if I have treats though the EEs usually chase them away. They lay a medium to large egg, most often medium, and I have three year old hens that are healthy and still laying though not as much as the first year. Their draw back is they do fly. I keep mine in covered runs so problem solved. If interested check out the Norwegian Jaerhon thread.

No disrespect but if NJs were ever a landrace they apparently WERE selectively engineered as the info below was taken from 3 different websites and is one reason we hesitated getting them. I need my birds to be happy staying inside the yard and NJ feedback was that they were flighty which was another reason for passing them up. I truly appreciate the wonderful feedback on their temperament and productivity But JMHO a small bird should not exhaust itself laying too-large an egg without going broody or its body doesn't get rest from being so productive. General sense is that nutrition will suffer either in the bird or its eggs but that's just my deduction - not that lifespan is shortened per se but nutritional defects cannot be overtly seen in areas like internal organs.

WEBSITE EXCERPTS confirming engineered breed

The Norwegian Jaerhon is a small breed developed in Norway in the 1920's from a single pair of birds and imported to the U.S. in 1996. Hens weigh 3lbs and roosters weigh 5lbs
The only truly Norwegian breed, Jærhøns were developed around 1920 near the town of Stavanger.
The Jærhøns was selectively bred at the state-controlled breeding station at Bryne in Jæren from its establishment in 1916 until it closed in 1973. Breeding stock was then transferred to the state agricultural college at Hvam, Nes. Following work done in the first half of the twentieth century, the Jærhøns is auto-sexing.

 

[enola]

Landrace chickens also do not have selected color patterns.

 

[aurissavannahs]

No disrespect but if NJs were ever a landrace they apparently WERE selectively engineered as the info below was taken from 3 different websites and is one reason we hesitated getting them. I need my birds to be happy staying inside the yard and NJ feedback was that they were flighty which was another reason for passing them up. I truly appreciate the wonderful feedback on their temperament and productivity But JMHO a small bird should not exhaust itself laying too-large an egg without going broody or its body doesn't get rest from being so productive. General sense is that nutrition will suffer either in the bird or its eggs but that's just my deduction - not that lifespan is shortened per se but nutritional defects cannot be overtly seen in areas like internal organs.

WEBSITE EXCERPTS confirming engineered breed

The Norwegian Jaerhon is a small breed developed in Norway in the 1920's from a single pair of birds and imported to the U.S. in 1996. Hens weigh 3lbs and roosters weigh 5lbs
The only truly Norwegian breed, Jærhøns were developed around 1920 near the town of Stavanger.
The Jærhøns was selectively bred at the state-controlled breeding station at Bryne in Jæren from its establishment in 1916 until it closed in 1973. Breeding stock was then transferred to the state agricultural college at Hvam, Nes. Following work done in the first half of the twentieth century, the Jærhøns is auto-sexing.

As I said NJ were a landrace. Were is the past tense. In 1935 selective breeding was done to save the breed. They are now a standard heritage breed in Norway. They are now available in 3 colors with other unrecognized colors in Norway. This information is from http://www.nrff.no/index.php/norske-raser/20-jaerhons a official Norway site. This is in Norwegian so you will have to translate. It has not been up dated to include the newly recognized, but one of the original colors, the gray stripe. As I said this is hijack this AC thread so if you are interested in Jaerhons please come to one of the NJ threads. Bye.

 

[Sylvester017]

As I said NJ were a landrace. Were is the past tense. In 1935 selective breeding was done to save the breed. They are now a standard heritage breed in Norway. They are now available in 3 colors with other unrecognized colors in Norway. This information is from http://www.nrff.no/index.php/norske-raser/20-jaerhons a official Norway site. This is in Norwegian so you will have to translate. It has not been up dated to include the newly recognized, but one of the original colors, the gray stripe. As I said this is hijack this AC thread so if you are interested in Jaerhons please come to one of the NJ threads. Bye.

All chicken breeds can be considered landrace at one time or another. The thing about today's Jaerhons is that they were deliberately engineered to be auto-sexing documented as early as 1916 and selectively bred to be non-broody to increase production - like the commercial Leghorns and hybrids of today. Auto-sexing was not a natural trait of the NJ. It was engineered to be auto-sexing. And as with any engineered auto-sexed birds they produce progeny that continue the trait. BTW thanks for your web reference if I ever get it translated

. TY AC thread for this space.

 

[paulscsxchicks]

Friend gave me one of these eggs there just all black but meat is still white

 

[Pyxis]

Friend gave me one of these eggs there just all black but meat is still white

On a good cemani, the meat is black too. Everything is black, even the bones. They're still a work in progress in the US, but breeders are trying to get that total darkness.

 

[Sylvester017]

I'm 10 years old and my father told me the meat is white but the rest is black even its internal organs can't wait to see if it hatches

How is the egg being hatched? In an incubator or under a hen?

I researched and found the Swedish Black Hen is related to the Ayam Cemani and is all black too. We have a Silkie that's all black too except she has grayish-bluish ears. It's really strange to have solid black eyes on a chicken. The eyes aren't truly black but so dark that you cannot tell the difference between the iris and the pupil.