Ever heard of the breed ayam cemani?It was a wild sumatrian chicken,now extinct.Since Indonesian respect it for "mystical powers"blamed on it being all black inside and out,the recreated it by crossing Ayam kedu(or "australorp")with all black sumatra.
My question:could I cross my unusually black faced australorp with sumatras to produce ayam cemanis instead of importing chickens from Indonesia wich are exactly the same except for being made in another part of the world?Would it be smart/possible?I do know this:they don't exist in the U.S.A.but a single pair exists in holland.

For more info,try:
http://members.tripod.com/~steverinkjanspage.htm

Is my question to hard?No one answered it for a while.I got another question:

I just found out that all black sumatras don't exist in North America.Could I selectivly breed silkies to be all black and cross it with a sumatra to AT LEAST have an all-black sumatra?

You pose an interesting question. I suppose nobody has ever thought to breed for black innards in a chicken. You might try the silkie/Sumatra cross, but be prepared to deal with all the other external traits.

Your breeding program may or may not produce something similar in appearance to Ayam Cemani but thats all it really is, similar in appearance. True ayam cemani are a pure line that have been bred on the islands of Sumatra and Java along with adjacent islands for over a thousand years. They are not extinct, but they are endangered. The supposed Ayam Cemani being bred now adays by Malays and Indonesians are nothing more than imitations. Your'e best bet is to actually go to the islands yourself and seek out a reputable breeder. Dealers, on the otherhand, should be avoided.
Virak.

Purebred silkies should have the black skin and tissues. The genetics of this is mainly due to two genes. Sex-linked dermal melanin (id) and dominant fibromelanotic (Fm). From the pictures it looks like crossing a Black Minorca to a Black Sumatra and breeding out the pea comb would give you a single combed bird of the approximate conformation of the cemani. Breeding this bird to a male black silky will give you females with black feathers and black tissue. You will have to breed out the rose comb, muffs and beards, the fifth toe, silky feathers and the crest while trying to maintain the two tissue color genes that you need. good luck.

Hi, I just found this message board.
I think you should contact me, or at least visit my website (it has moved) at www.geocities.com/jan_steverink