You may have seen blog posts circulating of the ALL black chicken breed, Ayam Cemani. Very, very rare ancient breed and very, very expensive birds that are entirely black inside and out. You read that right, even their organs, muscles and bones are black. The comb, wattles, beak, eyes, the tongue and roof of the mouth are black. This genetic pigmentation is called fibromelanosis, the same genetic pigmentation found in the bantam Silkies. Though many claim that even the eggs and blood is black, we'll have to debunk those claims. The blood may be darker than most chicken breeds, but it is not black, and in spite of claims that they lay black eggs, those eggs vary from a light cream to a light brown, not unlike most brown egg laying chickens and in fact they are very comparable to our Orpington eggs in color and size, weighing a little over an ounce and half. The breed is considered friendly, weighing about 4.5-6.5 pounds for mature roosters and about 3.5 to 4.5 pounds for the mature hens. Ayam Cemani are very hardy, and tolerate cold as well as heat. The breed is revered in its homeland and used in ceremonies and rituals throughout history which continues to this day in some Indonesian villages.
This breed is native to Indonesia and a breeding pair costs thousands of dollars. They have only recently been introduced to this country through quality importers. The breed is friendly and though they are completely black, the eggs are light cream to light brown. The laying habits are as unusual as the breed. The hens lay 20 to 30 eggs then stop laying for three to six months before they begin laying once again. They lay about 100 eggs annually, which makes availability just as rare as the breed. The Cemani is not known to go broody, but we will be able to determine that in the future as these ladies begin to lay.
We received the chicks today, and will get them settled in. The brooder is calibrated and ready to go. So you may enjoy following along as these chicks grow to maturity and we see the first egg. We are very excited to be on the leading edge with such an unusual and ancient breed, you can be assured there will be hatches to follow as we increase our own flock and make this breed available to the public in the future.
Fortunately, these chicks are from two unrelated genetic lines, but in addition, none of the chicks are related. Greenfire Farms was the first to introduce the Cemani into a quality breeding program, part of our chicks are from the Greenfire imported stock. Our other line is from California and an entirely different imported stock, that is reported to be larger and blacker than the original imports. Both lines are top quality, and only the best of the best will be selected for our own flocks.
Though we raise some very rare breeds, the Ayam Cemani are very exotic looking and are the rarest of the rare, and blackest of the black. To our knowledge there are only a very few known quality breeders in this country, so to have the opportunity to be among those elite breeders is a true honor and we are so grateful to Yvette, co-administrator at Fresh Eggs Daily for the opportunity to see these rare birds first hand. We appreciate the confidence in us as a breeder of other rare birds. for partnering and entrusting us with these very rare chicks, here at JFA. We will be updating the Cemani profile as we observe their behaviors and growth patterns.
We expect to see the first eggs around May of 2017 and we will be hatching while those ladies are laying, to increase our own flock, so availability will likely not be until mid Autumn of 2017, reliant on their laying pattern. Check with us at that time or place your name on our waiting list for first come first serve basis. We do not ship our chicks, however hatching eggs are available for all of our breeds throughout the year, providing the ladies are laying. In the meantime you may enjoy learning about some of the other rare chicken breeds that we raise.
justfowlingaround.weebly.com/breed-profiles.
As many of you know we are a working farm, we ship our hatching eggs year round, as long as the ladies are performing and sell our rare and heritage chicks locally. We also raise meat birds and sell locally. Feel free to inquire about our chicken breeds either via email or phone, or via Private message on our Facebook page. Our information is posted on our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/Just-Fowling-Around-365743116845352/and our email is [email protected]. We pride ourselves in responding to all questions, comments and inquiries as promptly as possible. Be sure if you email us that you enter us into your address book and check your spam folder in the event our response is re-directed, we also request that in the subject line enter the breed of interest.
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