A garden ornament? No, a real rooster!
WITH his beautiful jet-black plumage, beak and comb, this ultra-rare cockerel is an arresting sight.
Indeed, visitors often do a double take when they see him in the farmyard – as until he moves, they are convinced he is an ornament.
But he is actually one of the Ayam Cemani breed, naturally black and originally from Indonesia.
A dominant gene causes hyperpigmentation, meaning every part of the chicken is black – even its meat and internal organs.
A trend in 2015 for the breed meant day-old chicks were being sold for £150 in the US, with adults fetching thousands on the black market.
This rooster looks so unusual that when Craig Smith, 41, photographed him at the Murton Trust farm and showed the images to friends, he was accused of altering them.
The father-of-two said: ‘It is a very strange-looking bird but really beautiful. It’s so black it’s like petrol with the blues and greens that shine through its feathers.’
The bird lives in the farm’s ‘bachelor pad’ with five other males taken in by the trust. Murton Trust manager Alison Elliott, , said the charity, which is in Forfar, east Scotland, would love to find the rare rooster a mate of the same breed. She said: ‘As he’s such a goodlooking cockerel we would love to get him some lady friends.
‘Being all black he looks quite gothic and he struts around with an air of being a bit different.’