the Blackest Ones: on exploring the significance of Cemani mutations

[nicalandia]

Quote:

 

[Svarthona]

This is such an interesting thread!
Here in Sweden we got the Swedish black hens which are all black.
They are said to be from Mozambique brought to Sweden by sailors some centuries ago, but who knows maybe they are somehow related to the Cemani.

I don't have pictures of purebred black hens, but I have some of my landrace type mutts which inherited their black skin from them

 

[Resolution]

Quote:
Yes- I've noticed that a good number of the birds born of each hatch will be "Dragon Bone", that is black bones and white flesh and then there's all the morphs in between.

As for the survival issue, i do tend to believe that more chicks will hatch from embryos nurtured on egg yolks generated from animal protein enriched diets- and that perhaps soy bean meal negatively effects junglefowl reproductive health. With more chicks hatching from a selective breeding founder flock one will have more cemani morphs hatch.
Keeping them from developing problems along the way, reducing infectious disease and mortality of those chicks- I prefer a soy-free diet plan. I'll use ultrakibble chick supplement mixed into finch seed and unhulled sesame seed with generous amounts of fresh ground pepper and dried and/or fresh oregano/marjoram as the maintenance diet. If I do use chick starter it will comprise no more than 25% of the maintenance diet. In other words, I feed and maintain my black bone segregates like green junglefowl and I find that I produce many more cemani and other black bone morphs ( from other composite stocks bred to this mutation type) when I do so. It is my understanding that certain genes are turned on and off like a light switch and many of these will only become active when certain micro and macro nutrients are present in the diet from breeding pair on- it effects the mobility of sperm as well the nutrition quality of the egg yolk itself. These nutrients must be consistently available- within the maintenance diet throughout the birds life for optimal health-

I use UltraKibble supplement as a small amount goes a very long way and it is soy free, with animal protein and a wide range of nutrients required by many wild subtropical insectivorous bird species.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
Here in Nicaragua, Central America we have Chiricanas, Araucanas and gallinas indias, some look like the ones in chile, black boned, dark skin, blue eggs, beards, no rumps... do you know if the Olmec came down all the way to central america? I know we had the Mayans but I dont know if they kept chickens or not...

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Beautiful!

Svarthöna :

This is such an interesting thread!
Here in Sweden we got the Swedish black hens which are all black.
They are said to be from Mozambique brought to Sweden by sailors some centuries ago, but who knows maybe they are somehow related to the Cemani.

I don't have pictures of purebred black hens, but I have some of my landrace type mutts which inherited their black skin from them

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/42342_kaja.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/42342_cassandra3.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/42342_imgp0375.jpg​

 

[Resolution]

Quote:
Here in Nicaragua, Central America we have Chiricanas, Araucanas and gallinas indias, some look like the ones in chile, black boned, dark skin, blue eggs, beards, no rumps... do you know if the Olmec came down all the way to central america? I know we had the Mayans but I dont know if they kept chickens or not...

I know of a race of black boned fowl called "Huastec" from Ecuador and Southern Mexico and then there is the Quechua Negro from Bolivia. The Black Quechua inherited its black bones and flesh from Huastec.

Ecuadorian Huastec

Some will have dark skin and black bones others will have black bones and grey flesh. A very few will be both black boned and black fleshed. Of course, they were originally all or mostly truly black boned with black flesh but genetic contamination from European stock has reduced the rate of mutation.

The term "Olmec" is a descriptive of an heirloom lineage with Yapese and Black Quechua and or Quetero genetics. They were Benhakker's flock of rare chickens that were eventually made into a composite. He collected Olmec art hence the designation. Some Olmec are black boned but few have block bones and black flesh. I have some birds that are black boned with very dark grey (not black) flesh and the trait can certainly be selected for and enhanced.

Olmec

 

[orientphoenix]

cool here is a old thread about black meat chickens
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=499625

 

[chrisf]

A fibro-melanistic Ohiki pullet......................................................................chrisf

 

[jocelynpei]

I have some mixed race South Americans that are fairly black.

Also some like this

Jocelyn

 

[revolutionmama]

Using the Ultra Kibble with great results!!! Love the stuff and always promote it on my Facebook page. So far I've been getting the black skin, here is another really nice looking one...

Quote:
Yes- I've noticed that a good number of the birds born of each hatch will be "Dragon Bone", that is black bones and white flesh and then there's all the morphs in between.

As for the survival issue, i do tend to believe that more chicks will hatch from embryos nurtured on egg yolks generated from animal protein enriched diets- and that perhaps soy bean meal negatively effects junglefowl reproductive health. With more chicks hatching from a selective breeding founder flock one will have more cemani morphs hatch.
Keeping them from developing problems along the way, reducing infectious disease and mortality of those chicks- I prefer a soy-free diet plan. I'll use ultrakibble chick supplement mixed into finch seed and unhulled sesame seed with generous amounts of fresh ground pepper and dried and/or fresh oregano/marjoram as the maintenance diet. If I do use chick starter it will comprise no more than 25% of the maintenance diet. In other words, I feed and maintain my black bone segregates like green junglefowl and I find that I produce many more cemani and other black bone morphs ( from other composite stocks bred to this mutation type) when I do so. It is my understanding that certain genes are turned on and off like a light switch and many of these will only become active when certain micro and macro nutrients are present in the diet from breeding pair on- it effects the mobility of sperm as well the nutrition quality of the egg yolk itself. These nutrients must be consistently available- within the maintenance diet throughout the birds life for optimal health-

I use UltraKibble supplement as a small amount goes a very long way and it is soy free, with animal protein and a wide range of nutrients required by many wild subtropical insectivorous bird species.