I know she isn't what you paid for, and I'm sure it was disappointing to get an imperfect representative of the breed, but I love her! She is gorgeous and unique.I wasn't sure which are to put this in, but it is a story so this seems like the best place!
The Beginning
I love Ayam Cemani, they're my favorite chicken breed! There was a woman who I had followed for a few months, she was on the breeder's list (I only say this now because she is no longer doing anything with chickens and I'm not stating where I live and who it was), was NPIP and had posted pictures of her chicks. She said she was getting out of Cemani and selling her flocks. When someone says this, I assume they mean their breeding flock, after all, she was posting pictures of her chicks, she was breeding them and was listed on the site as a breeder. After meeting scammers and poor birds, I thought I had done my research on her.
I go to pick up a few birds, and she brings them out in a dark rubbermaid tote, it's very early in the morning and I'm parked under a bunch of trees so I can't see well. I do go in and take a small tour of her other birds she had nearest the driveway. We unload the birds from her tote into mine and I thought I saw a flash of white, but hey, it's dark and maybe a stray feather from one of her polish got in the tote. I should have checked the birds, I didn't.
When I get home, one of the birds has a single black and white feather, and her head is very lightly speckled in white. I end up reaching out to the breeder and there is back and forth between us that leaves me angry, she says she didn't know her bird had white on it and never noticed, it's impossible not to notice. I'll leave the rest out of here, but I was furious...I acted respectfully, she gave me a partial refund but our conversations left me really mad. I found out later from my friends more local to her area (I drove over an hour) she's a bird flipper and buys birds from auctions and now she no longer has chickens.
What's Happening?!
But this story isn't about her and it gets positive!
Every single time I looked at this bird, I was mad about the situation...but over time...she got more and more white!
I reach out to some people, I became really great friends with a truly wonderful Ayam Cemani breeder who is dedicated to improving her birds and she said she's never seen leakage like it! Over the next two years, Cruella kept changing.
Last year I went outside around molt and her entire neck was white! And shortly after it grew back in black! My friend suggested Genetics of Chicken Colours - Sigrid van Dort so I reached out to her and she told me..Cruella likely has vitiligo!
My love for this bird has grown so much, she is a sweet girl and truly beautiful and her look is always morphing and astounds me. I'll post a timeline of her feathers below!
Photo Timeline
You can see at the end where she is mostly white - the picture after of her neck is only 2-3 weeks later. I'll have to get a more recent picture of her, those were from Fall 2023, but she is back to having more black.
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Edit: I found the picture I took of her after she revered back from white
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