Narrator: This is a rare Ayam Cemani chicken.
And if everything, down to its beak and tongue, is black,
a chicken can sell for up to $6,000.
And its eggs can sell for up to $16 each.
They are incredibly difficult to find.
But if you can find a good one,
then you hold onto them like gold.
Narrator: That means taking care of these chickens
is a full-time job.
But they're rarely eaten.
So why do people buy Ayam Cemani chickens?
And why are they so expensive?
Narrator: The story of Ayam Cemani chickens
starts in Indonesia.
But even here in Java, where the chickens are native,
it still takes work to breed a top-notch all-black chicken.
The unique coloring of Ayam Cemani chickens comes
from a genetic mutation called fibromelanosis.
In other chickens,
only certain cells release pigmentation.
Fibromelanosis, however, causes nearly all the cells
in Ayam Cemani chickens to release pigmentation,
resulting in dark black feathers, beaks,
bones, and even organs.
But this requires the right pair of chickens,
which breeders in the US, like Rachael Stewart,
are hard-pressed to find.
To start a flock,
you're probably looking at $15,000, $20,000
to get a good group of birds, the housing,
and the feed and everything that you need for them.
Narrator: If a chicken doesn't have two copies
of the genetic mutation, it can end up
with undesirable characteristics,
like white feathers, lighter toe pads, or pink mouths.
Rachael: You want to not ever have, like, a pink mouth.
You want to have, if not anything, an oyster mouth,
which is like a grayish.
Narrator: While most of her chickens sell
for $2,000 or $3,000,
Rachael says a high-quality rooster
with a completely black mouth would go for $9,000
or even $10,000.
The Ayam Cemani chickens that weren't bred
on Rachael's farm came from Indonesia, but not directly.
Because of government restrictions on both sides,
breeders in the US can't get their hands
on these chickens easily.
Rachael: So what you have to do typically is find somebody
in a different hub, a different country,
that allows for you to import from them.
So, for example, my line was imported from Canada.
Narrator: As a result of all the export restrictions,
the quality and price of Ayam Cemani chickens
outside of Indonesia can range widely.
This is why chicks from different American farms
are listed online for anywhere between $35 and $90.
But who exactly is buying these chickens?
Rachael: I've noticed that the people who purchase from us
are rare-breed collectors of different avian species.
You think of it in comparison to an Amazon parrot.
If you get a parrot,
it's going to cost you at least five grand, right?
So these are rarer and more difficult to create, in general,
than even a high-quality parrot.
Narrator: Back in Indonesia,
customers come from all over the world.
Narrator: Surprisingly, Ayam Cemani eggs aren't black.
Despite all the pigmentation in their bodies,
the eggs they lay are a standard off-white color.
Here, Anas sells his best chickens for up to $6,000,
sometimes to other breeders,
but mainly to Javanese locals, like Ari.
On the island of Java,
these chickens have long been kept as pets.
Ari has spent 30 million rupiah, about $2,000,
on two Ayam Cemani chickens.
Narrator: Some locals believe
the chickens' jet-black coloring
allows them to travel between the human world
and the supernatural one.
Another mystical belief is that consuming
the very first egg one lays will help you conceive a child.
Although Cemani chicken eggs are highly valuable,
breeders will give these first eggs away for free,
either to couples in need or to healers like Fathiyatun.
Here in the village of Dungun,
Fathiyatun roasts the egg until it becomes a fine powder.
Narrator: Despite being used for healing,
Cemani chickens themselves tend to have weak immune systems.
And if a chicken gets sick,
its black color can fade and become dull.
But keeping Cemani chickens healthy can get tricky,
especially when there's no official guide
on how to breed them.
So breeders rely on their shared knowledge,
as well as constant trial and error,
to breed healthy, high-quality birds.
The chickens are bathed every week.
This helps prevent bacterial infections.
The coops are sprayed down for the same reason.
Spacious coops helps create a stress-free environment
but also help maintain the chickens' genetic lines.
Anas also provides the chickens with vitamins and vaccines
and adjusts their feed as they develop.
Narrator: The chickens' diet depends on their breeder.
In New Jersey, Rachael adds special supplements
to improve her flock's intestinal health.
Rachael: One of the things that we have here
is the crushed chilies.
They go crazy for them.
Chickens do not have the ability to taste spicy.
So for them, that's just like a really yummy additive.
They do better to have extra protein.
They just are a little bit hardier,
and they lay better, you know, more eggs.
The form of protein that we use are dried soldier fly larva.
They are 36% protein, and they love them.
Oregano leaves are antimicrobial and are super good
for the chickens' intestinal health as well,
so we like to add that as well.
So basically, they're just getting something
that smells like a huge pizza.
Narrator: In Indonesia,
Anas feeds his chickens a special mix of feed
twice a day to help them gain weight.
He also likes to add papaya and taro leaves to their food.
Narrator: A healthy Ayam Cemani hen
lays around 100 eggs a year,
which is only 40% of what most laying hens produce.
These eggs can sell for as much as 250,000 rupiah,
or about $16.
However, breeders prefer to keep most of the eggs,
because not every one is guaranteed to hatch.
Narrator: So it's more cost-effective
to incubate the eggs and to maximize the overall chances
of getting healthy chicks.
Narrator: More eggs also means more chances
to breed high-quality all-black birds.
Narrator: Roosters are more valuable than hens
because they have wider combs.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic did cause prices to drop,
they've now bounced back.