Australian consumers are slowly opening up to the idea of eating a different kind of chicken — the black-skinned chicken.

Key points: Two NSW chicken breeders have cross bred the small black-skinned silkie chicken to increase its size

Two NSW chicken breeders have cross bred the small black-skinned silkie chicken to increase its size The bird will now grow up to to a weight of 800g, and appeals to high-end restaurants

The bird will now grow up to to a weight of 800g, and appeals to high-end restaurants The unique meat is pitch black and is said to have a "deeper, richer taste" than standard chicken meat

On the outside, a black-skinned silkie chicken looks just like a fluffy show chicken, but under its feathers its skin and bones are jet black.

The chickens are a traditional food for the Chinese.

Australian consumers, however, have shown some resistance to the foreign concept and that is an area breeder Angus Shepherd has been working on.

He has bred the Chinese silkie, black-skinned chickens for almost a decade and has developed a breed of his own called the black namoi.

Mr Shepherd has worked at improving the genetics of his birds so they suit Australian consumers, who traditionally like bigger, pale-skinned chickens.

This chicken may look like any other chook, but underneath those feathers its skin is completely black. ( ABC Rural: Lara Webster )

"The silkie is traditionally a little, tiny bird … so what we have done is cross bred this bird [and] we've got more size in them," he said.

"We've taken them from the traditional 500 gram bird that the Chinese like, up to 700 or 800g and we are targeting the high-end restaurant market with that."

Chicken consumption in Australia is growing, and according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australians consume more than 40 kilograms of the meat per person, per year.

Mr Shepherd said he hoped to see more black-skinned chicken consumed amongst those figures.

Angus Shepherd has been breeding the black-skinned chickens for close to a decade. ( ABC Rural: Lara Webster )

While he admitted the black skin is off-putting for some, Mr Shepherd said once people have gotten over that and taken a bite, they liked what they tasted.

He said he was prepared to persevere for as long as it took to get more people to eat the unique bird.

"We have to get people to try it, that is where we're up to … just putting it in front of people," Mr Shepherd said.

"All the birds we're producing are still going into the Chinese market, so we're skimming the top-end off and putting that into [other] markets."

Demand keeps growing

No this is not a burnt chicken, it's a cooked black-skinned chicken roast. ( ABC New England North West: Donal Sheil )

Gunnedah farmer Cameron Ward has been Mr Shepherd's business partner, and has raised the birds on his family farm.

The birds live a pasture-raised life for 10 to 12 weeks until they head to the abattoirs for slaughter for the Sydney and Brisbane restaurants the pair supply.

Every fortnight Mr Ward sends about 1,000 chickens to abattoirs in the Hunter and New England regions of New South Wales.

He began producing the bird on his family beef farm about 18 months ago and said demand from Chinese consumers had not slowed down.

Mr Ward added that more Australian consumers were willing to give it a go, with some clever marketing from the restaurants.

Cameron Ward is seeing an increase in the consumption of his birds. ( ABC Rural: Lara Webster )

That marketing often includes the story of the pasture-raised product and where it came from.

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"Most people are quite off-put by the colour, especially Australians, and once they get past the skin colour and they try it, most people say it is just like chicken used to taste," Mr Ward said.

"When they are processed they're actually delivered with their head and feet on and it is really quite obscure when you see it.

"There's nothing really unusual about it [the taste], it just has a deeper, richer taste."

While the flesh is generally still white, even for Mr Ward it took some time to eat the chicken.

"They really look like black rubber chickens that you would get," he said.

"It's only been in the 12 to 18 months we've started consuming them and I can't eat white chicken anymore.

"A lot of the restaurants are really enjoying it because of the contrast between the skin colour and the flesh colour."