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Ayam Cemani Breeders Association

The First Offical Breed Association for Ayam Cemani in the United States

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Articles

How to Breed Your Ayam Cemani for Better Results

The day has finally arrived: you’ve collected enough eggs from your Ayam Cemani hen to start incubating after waiting, and waiting, and waiting. You are just 21 long days away from seeing those beautiful chicks and FINALLY, your Ayam Cemani breeding program is getting started.

Well, not quite – unless you want to spend a lot of time spinning your wheels and hoping for a little luck!

Unlike other breeds, fibromelanosis makes breeding Ayam Cemani challenging. It’s not as simple as choosing a couple of black hens and a cock to breed!

What a lot of Ayam Cemani breeders do not realize is that the extreme pigmentation of fibromelanosis is controlled through gene duplication, not the presence of a singular gene. In order to breed quality birds, you must first understand fibro expression and this principle.

At the base level, all of your breeders should have two copies of Fm, but they might currently have only one (even if they look all black.) If you breed birds with less than two copies of the gene, you hold yourself back by creating inconsistent results and inferior stock.

In the diagram below, this is illustrated as chance breeding (which is how most breeders set up their programs): breeding together “good looking birds” in hopes of getting more of them.

On the left: We’re breeding together a two copy Ayam Cemani and a single copy Ayam Cemani. This will result in offspring “looking” black, but only half of them will have the proper genetics (two copies of Fm) for the breed.

The remaining half will only carry one copy of the gene but might pass for a good quality Ayam Cemani for quite some time. When these offspring are used in future pairings, you may end up breeding a single copy to a single copy.

On the right: We’re breeding together a single copy Ayam Cemani with a single copy Ayam Cemani. This will result in a mess of offspring! Only 25% from this pairing will be double copy carriers of Fm, while 50% will be single copy and the remaining 25% will not carry it all.

After a couple generations, a flock left to chance breeding will never advance and may even deteriorate in quality. And this is often why many breeders give up on their Ayam Cemani! No one wants to spend years trying to improve a flock and not see results or constantly have to cull more and more birds.

Instead, we recommend breeders employ a strategic method of starting their breeding program to ensure they maximize their success called test breeding.

Test breeding is the practice of breeding each and every Ayam Cemani in your program to a chicken without fibromelanosis to verify the genetics in your program.

In the diagram below, this is illustrated to show the potential offspring and what that tells you before you move forward.

On the left: We’re breeding a two copy Ayam Cemani and a non-fibro bird. The resulting offspring all have a single copy of Fm and look black similar to Ayam Cemani offspring. These chicks are still mixed birds and should be culled, but they verify that the Ayam Cemani is a two copy carrier of Fm.

On the right: We’re breeding a single copy Ayam Cemani and a non-fibro bird. The resulting offspring might have one copy of Fm or none. If all the offspring do not exhibit fibromelanosis, the Ayam Cemani from the pairing is a single copy bird and should be culled from the program.

What non-fibro bird you use for the pairings is completely up to you. It is best not to use a similar looking bird or a bird with black plumage, as it will make identifying the offspring more difficult.

In choosing your pairings, you obviously should consider what birds you have available and if you would like to use the offspring for anything else. For instance, pairing a blue egg layer with your Ayam Cemani may result in Easter Eggers that could be added to a layer flock or sold locally.

Be careful not to make the mistake of hatching too little of a data group to make a decision with. We recommend hatching at least ten chicks from each pairing to verify complete results.

You should test breed every Ayam Cemani you have: both hens and cocks, before moving forward with your breeding program.

Once you have test bred all of your Ayam Cemani, it’s time to move forward with your development breeding. As all of your Ayam Cemani has two copies of Fm now, all of their offspring will as well. Finally, you can start pairing your birds together for specific traits and making selections based on the Standard of Perfection!

Once you have your copies of fibro locked down, you might be dealing with some of the common breed issues like floppy combs, comb sprigs, short legs, and wide bodies.

Like other breeds, you can now start to work on specific traits in your program as well as your pigmentation. For instance, you could pair a large floppy combed cock to a small combed hen to work on the combs in your program.

With the right selections, every generation should continue to be an improvement rather than a random roll of the dice seen with chance breeding. But if you do not see consistent improvements, test breed your flock again.

The test breeding process feels like a big bump in the road, but ultimately, it will save you a lot of time, energy, and frustration!

This article was written by Kendra Cote and Vikki Papesh.

Preparing Your Ayam Cemani Flock for Winter

If you live in a climate that experiences cooler temperatures, you will also undoubtedly worry to some degree about the well-being of your birds. Ayam Cemani, like many other chickens, have the dreaded single comb that can succumb to frostbite, but there are ways to prevent this from happening to your birds. Lighting, ventilation, feed, and water are also other areas to focus on in preparation for cooler temps.

So how can we prepare our birds for the cold? Here are some tips and tricks to start winter off safely.

Housing

Protecting your birds from drafts and moisure / humidity is important during colder months. Giving them a coop free from drafts while allowing ample air exchange is imperative. Air exchange will help prevent humidity and moisture build up which can contribute to a number of health issues including frostbite.

Water

Maintaining fresh, clean water safe from freezing is imperative this time of year. It can seem like an arduous task, especially if you live in a climate where it doesn?t get above freezing until April. There are a few tips and tricks we can share and we?re certain others have some to share as well.

There are many heated waterers available that require a simple electrical wall outlet. Breaking up water and adding hot water several times a day are other ways to combat the issue. If you provide a heat source inside your coops, bringing the waterers in can give them the extra few degrees needed to stay in liquid form. There are even some DIY water heater ideas online that people have used with success.

Feed

Providing fresh feed is imperative to maintaining flock health. Staying warm can take a lot of energy! Corn can help add a layer of fat. A flock block can combat boredom and add some yummy treats as can mealworms and other treats. Greens such as alfalfa or lettuce are great additions too! Scrambled eggs for chicks (and adults alike!) are always a welcomed snack to most flocks.

Frostbite Protection

Straight combs and large wattles are some of the hardest to protect from frostbite. Here are some tips and tricks to help! Each evening when the birds are on a roost apply petroleum jelly or bag balm to their combs and wattles liberally. Do you have a product you swear by? Share it with the group on our Facebook page!

Heating

Each year lives and homes (both chicken and human) are lost due to fires from heat lamps in coops. Whether you choose to use a heat lamp or not is entirely your decision, however, please understand the risks associated with them.

Chickens do very well in the cold without supplemental heat if provided adequate housing and protection from moisture and drafts. Ensuring your birds have nice deep bedding will help provide insulation and added heat to your coops. If you see condensation on coop windows, find a way to add more ventilation without adding drafts.

For younger birds, look into heat pads or heat plates. They are much safer and just as effective. Whatever heat decisions you make be sure to stay safe and stay smart.

This article was written and contributed by ACBA member, Carlie Ostrem Johnson.

How to Understand Fibro Expression when Breeding Ayam Cemanis (Fibromelanistic Gene)

In hopes to help others better understand the breeding of the fibromelanistic gene, we have created a breeding chart.

The fibromelanistic gene is represented in one or two copies. Each bird will express the gene differently. In some cases, a one-copy bird will express in such a way that it appears to have two copies, especially when the gypsy face gene is present. This can explain why some that have two very fibro expressive breeding birds may not produce all fibromelanistic birds.

If both parents have only one copy of the gene when bred together, your offspring will be:

  • 50% 1 copy fibro offspring
  • 25% 2 copy fibro offspring
  • 25% non-fibro offspring

If 1 parent has 2 copies and the other only 1 copy then they will produce:

  • 50% 1 copy fibro offspring
  • 50% 2 copy fibro offspring

This can obviously present difficulty and frustration in breeding unless a person takes the time to breed in order to find out how many copies each bird has.

Possibly the best and quickest way to do this is through test breeding your fibro bird to non-fibro bird. For instance, a 2 copy bird bred to non-fibro bird will yield a 100% 1 copy offspring. While a 1 copy bird bred to non-fibro will only yield 50% 1 copy fibro offspring and 50% non-fibro offspring.

The goal in getting darkest birds is to find out which birds are 2 copies and breed then them together.

You cannot make a judgement of how many copies they have by appearance alone as some 1 copy birds will be more expressive when gypsy face gene is present, while some 2 copy birds may be less expressive when gypsy gene is not present and although having 2 copies of fibro they express in mulberry instead of black.

The true test is breeding.

I hope this helps and takes some of the frustration away from those who are just getting started with breeding this fascinating fibromelanistic gene.

And I would be glad to answer any questions in the hope of helping you with bettering your breeding program.

Article written and picture developed by Cliff Charles Simmons and used with permission

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