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On March 7th 1999, I had the opportunity to visit the "birthplace" of the Ayam Cemani. Beji is a small village in the subdistrict of Kedu, Temanggung regency, Central Java, Indonesia. I brought some friends, my camera, and a copy of an article in Gatra magazine. We set off at nine a.m., starting from the town of Magelang. A one hour drive led us uphill, through irrigated rice fields and over a well maintained road.
Friendly people directed us towards Kedu first, and then we had to follow a narrow road to the clean and peacefull village of Beji.
More and more, I have become convinced that ayam Cemani is not just a colour variant within the Ayam Kedu breed, but that it is, or was, a breed of its own. By crossing Cemanis and Kedus, nowadays sometimes Cemanis are born from Kedu parents. After arriving in Beji, we asked directions for Mr. Mahmud's house. Within minutes, we found ourselves in his living room, decorated with prizes, paintings, and pictures of Cemanis. Where you would expect the TV set there was a simple incubator, producing a new generation of Cemanis.
It starts with selecting offspring of chickens that carried the best Cemani characteristics. The only criteria being the colour. Getting black birds with black skin, meat and combs is not so difficult. The major errors are white toes or white tongue and palate. Chicks having these errors are classified as "Kedu halus" (fine Kedu), and sold cheaply. The pure black ones are used for breeding or sold to people who need "special" chickens for ceremonies like the start of building projects, elections or to cure diseases. Unfortunately, I discovered that inbreeding is a major problem in Beji. Fertility and hatchability of Ayam Cemani have decreased, and nowadays, the farmers are lucky with 40 % hatchability when using incubators. One farmer told me that he has decided to use broody hens instead of incubators and he gets somewhat better results. In this case, inbreeding has also lead to genetic defects. I have seen Cemanis with deformed feathers having no flags, and one bird even completely naked. Since Cemanis are use in ceremonies, some people appreciate these abnormalities and pay high prices for deformed chickens. In this way, farmers are not encouraged to prevent inbreeding......
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© The Cemani site; by Jan Steverink |
We stopped at a few places along the main road where Ayam Cemanis were on
sale. Generally good birds, but kept in very dirty cages. Prices ranging from Rp 100,000
to Rp 400,000 (US$ 12-50). People here will buy chickens in Beji, which is of the
main road, and try to make some fast and easy money. To find the real breeders, we should
leave the main road.
On the road, we saw already small flocks of Ayam Kedu: an
improved local breed, definitely carrying Australorp blood: big black chickens, with big,
bright red combs and wattles. Ayam Kedu is known for it's high egg production, hardiness
and of course good meat quality. 
Mr. Mahmud showed us around, and introduced us to some of his colleagues.
Their breeding method is very simple: 
