ODE TO ASILS - a wonderful breed of Chickens

DEFINITION OF ASEEL
"Aseel" is an Arabic word meaning "pure" or
"throughbred". The Aseel gamefowl breed might well be
3500 years old as cockfighting has been mentioned in an
Indian manuscript "Manusriti" of the same
antiquity.Probably descended from the Indian red Jungle
fowl it has been moulded through countless generations of
special selection, always on the same lines, into a
magnificent warrior.

What do Asils look like and where are they from? Well, Asils are the ancestors of the Cornish breed, so they look sort of like a more slender, athletic Cornish. The Asil developed in India as a fighting bird, but different than the English games--an Asil is like a boxer (versus a fencer) and is valued for stamina. They are heavy boned, heavy muscled, very hard feathered birds (bare breastbone), with somewhat of an upright carriage. The eyes are a sort of pearl white with a greenish tint and a heavy brow ridge (like a hawk). Both sexes have a small pea comb, but no wattles, and the sloping tail tends to fan horizontally rather than vertically. Hens are poor layers, but very tenacious setters, and will brood for months on end (I usually use Asils to hatch most of my babies as they are the most reliable). Asils are usually very tame and easy to handle, and one of mine ("Ana") is a particular pet that likes to follow me around looking for handouts.

The main drawback to the breed is that thay are pugnacious to an extreme--my hens have learned to leave each other alone, as my dog will interrupt fights, but two-month-old chicks will fight until their eyes swell shut and they can't stand up. "Gez" [the dog] tries to help, but she can only handle just so many at a time, and while she picks one up and carries it away, another couple will be going at it. Fortunately, they are also very hardy, and seldom cause fatalities when young. Are they a nuisance sometimes? Yes. Are they interesting and unique birds that I enjoy anyhow? Yes to that, too. I'll never have lots of them, but I'll always keep a few.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Asil
• aseel
• fighter
• cock
• beautiful
• saipan
• thai
• malay
• ganoi
• malagachi
• xxx
• gamebird

[Illiasc]

Love Aseels but FYI - The first image is of a flock of Malays, 0:45 is of Easter Egger chickens, 1:14 is of an American Gamehen hybrid, 1:42 is a Brazilian, 2:39 is a Malay or Shamo, 2:42 is a Ga Noi, 2:57 is a Shamo, 3:09 are Aussie Pit Games, 3:20 are Shamos, 5:31 are Malays, 5:35 are Shamos, 5:42 is a Wyandotte, 5:58 are Shamos, - There's a whole lot of birds shown that are not Aseels, some I can't even name but are surely not Aseels.

[CockFighterz]

pictures taken by image.google.com

[Florinvld]

Super pictures ! I like them very much !

[hackalabac]

There are some Malays not ASIL

[ayub98516]

This hardiness, combined with wonderful mothering ability makes the breed quite useful as a free-range fowl, and they do well in confinement also; with the caveat that they not be confined with others of their own breed, unless of the opposite sex. The cocks are quite docile and easy to handle, and Asils in general seem particularly intelligent. Crosses make excellent meat birds (the original stock tends to be rather slow maturing).

[ayub98516]

Asils are a fowl of unusual appearance, having very short, hard, glossy feathers, so short that the breastbone is left exposed (as well as often the back of the head and the points of the shoulders). Large boned, with broad shoulders, an upright stance, heavily muscled hips and square shanked legs (legs rounded or D shaped in cross section are a sign of impure blood), strong, curved neck and short beak, the Asil is a very powerful bird.