Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Kedu Chicken: The ancestor of Java Chicken

Some people relate Kedu Chicken with black magic. They think it can cure some diseases especially mystic disease. This chicken is originated in Kedu Municipal, Central Java, Indonesia. Most Kedu Chicken is black but they have other color variation like multi color and white. Only few chicken whose has multi color and white color. 

The cock height could reach to 60 cm. It is 2.5 kg weight. The hen is lighter. The black dominate the color of bird from beak to nail. The meat, blood, tongue, skin are black in color. The cock has long flowing tail. It has black single comb.

I have ever eaten a Kedu chicken whose has black meat and bone. The taste is not different with common chicken. My mother fried it with special spicy sauce.But most people do not like it because the color of meat is not disgusting.

More black, more expensive. In, my country people dare to buy the cock for hundreds dollar.Unfortunately, this chicken is not good for meat due to its meat color. Although the chicken is black but the eggs color is white. In Indonesia, This is the only strain that lay white eggs while most native Indonesian chicken laid light brown eggs. The chicken is prolific too. It can lay up to 251 eggs a year. Due to egg production, this chicken is suitable for layer chicken

To get the pure black color, the breeder breed the black chicken with black chicken or half-black chicken. The descendant will have the pure black color.

In United States, There is Java breed that is almost similar to Kedu Chicken. I guess US breeder has used Kedu Chicken as the parent. Java differs from the weight. Java is heavier than Kedu. Java is 4.3 kilogram weight. It is two times than Kedu Chicken.

4 comments:

  1. This is great. I breed black javas in the United States and have been searching for their Indonesian Ancestors. Black Javas lay light brown eggs, have yellow skin, Red faces and combs, and good size. I think some of the Ayam Kedu or Ayam Pelung chickens might be similar. Is there a dintinct race of large java chickens that has yellow skin instead of the white reported for the Kedu Kedu.---Jim Ward

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  2. This is a nice article. I raise black javas in the US and was looking into their ancestry. Black javas are big, lay light brown eggs, have yellow skin, and have red combs. In some of the pictures the black Kedu chickens suggest that they could be the ancesters of javas. Is it true though, that they have white skin, lay white eggs, and are small? Are there yellow-skinned, brown egg laying, large races of Kedu chickens. Could it be that the black kedu was crossed with a chicken like the Ayam Pelung longcrower to create the java? What are the indonesian breeds of chicken that lay brown eggs, are large, and have yellow skin and may possibly be black? Looking forward to your reply, sincerely, Jim Ward

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    Replies
    1. Black Kedu or Cemani lay white eggs, have black skin, and have black comb. According to Wikipedia, the ancestor of Java is unknown, however I saw some breed has similarity such as large body and black feather. I have also raise the Kedu that is almost similar to Java, It was big, yellow skin and red comb but the chicken is smaller than Java.

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