If you grew up in the 1990s or had kids who did, you may have some experience with the “goth” phase, where kids wear lots of black, dye their hair black, and wear tons of black eyeliner. My daughter went through something like this, but she called it “emo” and thankfully, it didn’t last. My nephew was older than her and was a 90’s child, and yep, he was all into goth, too. However, I can’t judge them, and I knew it was a phase. In my youth, I had my own unusual phases and fancied myself dark and mysterious (I wasn’t). However, chicken enthusiasts in the United States are in love with what they’re calling a “goth chicken.”
The Ayam Cemani is a rare chicken from Indonesia and it’s not just another chicken with black feathers. There are plenty of birds with black feathers out there. The thing that makes the Ayam Cemani so interesting is that it’s completely black, 100% black inside and out. Yes, his feathers are black, but also his beak is black, his feet are black, and his internal organs and bones are black. Check this out: this guy even bleeds black. Yep, Ayam Cemani chickens have black blood. The bird’s feathers are metallic black and the internal organs are somewhat inky in color. The effect is caused by a genetic mutation.
Fibromelanosis is a mutation that causes extra melanin to seep into a bird’s tissues when the bird is an embryo, and that’s how we get the mysterious and beautiful Ayam Cemani. Javanese folklore has found itself inspired by Ayam Cemani since the 12th century when this bird was a bird of the elite. The Javanese folklore says that the Ayam Cemani’s charcoal-colored blood was rumored to be a delicacy of spirits, bringing wealth and power, so for this reason, these chickens were considered to be lucky.
If you’re looking to get your hands on a couple of these gorgeous birds, good luck. It’s hard to find them in the U.S. because the U.S. Department of Agriculture has banned imports of birds from Indonesia because of fears over avian flu.
Veronika Kusumaryati is a Harvard Ph.D. anthropology student, and she said that the birds are a medium of sorts, describing them this way: “The blackness of the Cemani makes it a preferred go-between, an emissary between the human and the supernatural world.”
The Ayam Cemani has jet-black eyes and a black tongue, too. Because of their rarity in the U.S., the Ayam Cemani is an expensive bird. One day-old chick of unknown sex can cost about $199, plus shipping and handling.
There are other black chickens out there, but most of them have a pink tongue, unlike the Ayam Cemani, whose tongue is black.
Here’s a video of this unusual breed.